1982 Suzuki GS1000SZ Katana
Miles: 19,800
Clean Florida Title
Listed Price: $9,500
Listing Ends: June 28th, 2026
The early 1980s saw dramatic changes in the motorcycling world, especially with regards to styling: simple unfaired bikes that would have looked at home in the late 1960s were sold along side shockingly modern-looking sportbikes like today’s Suzuki GS1000SZ Katana. Although, to be fair, the Katana’s styling by German designer Hans Muth was from a sexier motorcycling future that never actually arrived, as sportbikes quickly evolved to have bulbous, aerodynamic fairings and monoshock suspensions, neither of which are found on the Katana. And futuristic looks aside, the mechanicals underneath are far more evolutionary than revolutionary: there’s the aforementioned twin-shock rear suspension, and the engine was a development of Suzuki’s air-cooled, sixteen-valve, dual overhead cam inline four, here sleeved-down to 998cc to qualify the new bike for racing classes capped at 1000cc. Stroke remained the same as was found on the original 1074cc engine, although rules changes meant later Katanas ultimately got the bigger engine. Especially by modern standards, the original Katana was more a stylish, straight-line speed machine than a genuine corner-carver, but the bike remains an icon for its wildly forward-thinking style.
1982 Suzuki Katana. Low miles 19,800. A great bike. Well taken care of. Collectible and difficult to find in original condition. Runs and drives as it should. The photos show everything.
There isn’t much detail in the listing of this Suzuki GS1000SZ Katana and the seller does have a bit of an “I know what I got” kind of vibe but, to be fair, he probably does: the bike looks very clean, other than the cloudy windscreen, miles are pretty low for a bike of this vintage, and the $9,500 asking price seems very reasonable. Photos with better illumination would be helpful, but this appears to be well within the range for clean, first-generation Katanas of late.
-tad
