The Suzuki Katana just has to be one of the coolest, most badass modern classics on the market today—alongside the Yamaha XSR900. I’m biased, of course.
It’s Suzuki’s take on a modern classic that actually pays tribute to an iconic model of the 1980s, as around four decades or so ago, the Katana was offered in a wide selection of models. With displacements ranging from 400 to 650 to 750, the model stood out particularly because of its boxy bodywork which was pretty futuristic for the time.
And so when Suzuki decided to revive the Katana name back in 2019, it was pretty easy to see why it was met with a considerable amount of hype. And Suzuki didn’t even have to re-engineer it from the ground up. Instead, it built it off a tried and tested platform which in itself already used decades-old tech: the Suzuki GSX-S1000.
So yeah, in essence, the modern-day Katana is a GSX-S1000 cosplaying as its ancestor from the ‘80s. But that doesn’t make it any less cool.
What’s even cooler is that the Katana doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. You see, in Japan, there’s quite a strong following for the Katana—both in its modern and classic iterations. And in the recently held Katana Meeting 2024, none other than Suzuki President Toshihiro Suzuki showed up aboard a never-before-seen motorcycle.
As exciting as that may seem, in true Suzuki fashion, the never-before-seen motorcycle was nothing more than a brand new Suzuki Katana sporting “bold new graphics.”
Nevertheless, the bright blue Katana ridden by Toshihiro Suzuki certainly turned heads. And there’s no denying that it’s one good-looking machine. The blue paint, known as Pearl Vigor Blue, really accentuates the Katana’s boxy bodywork, while the anodized gold fork tubes and bronze wheels sorta give me Subaru WRX STi vibes.
But that wasn’t all, alongside the Pearl Vigor Blue colorway, Suzuki also announced a Metallic Mystic Silver colorway for the 2025 Katana. This hue sports a much more subtle design, resembling the classic Katana’s silver color scheme much more closely—save for the bright copper-finished wheels and gold anodized fork tubes.
The new colorways have been revealed in Japan, but as of this writing, have yet to make their way to the global market. And as you’re probably expecting, the 2025 Katana remains mechanically identical to the existing model, save for the addition of an O2 sensor in the exhaust system, presumably for Euro 5+ compliance.
But hey, Suzuki’s always been one to embrace the saying “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” with open arms. And quite frankly, having ridden the current Katana, as well as a bunch of other modern-day Suzukis, I think there’s nothing really wrong with that.
