YOSHIMURA SUZUKI KATANA

Katana: yes, it means blade.

The sort of blade a Samurai warrior uses.

Could there be a better name for a weapon of such brute delicacy? We don’t think so.

There’s a zennish conundrum at the heart of the Suzuki Katana – especially this one, which was raced in the AMA champs by legendary racer David Aldana, for equally legendary Superbike pioneer ‘Pops’ Yoshimura.

The styling is a little awkward – especially on the stock version of the bike (below) – but there’s something off kilter, yet elegant about it too.

The awkwardness probably comes from the design being outsourced to Target Design – a German agency that was commissioned to revamp Suzuki’s aesthetic at the end of the 1970s. At the time there were the predictable purist sneers.

The Katana always felt a little left field – but now, with minds opening up the world over to fusions of all colour and creed –

– it is looking better than ever.