Katana Owners Club U.K.

Now last year when I rebuilt my pop-up in its new guise the day it was MOT'd I was taking it over to a show in Crewe. my hometown. Upon arrival, I hadn't even had chance to get off the saddle. A guy walks over and states quite correctly that it was a Pop-up. That he used to own one and you would recognise the seat and rear light anywhere.

This guy is called Tim and over the weekend got to talking and have became friends since, seeing each other at various events and rallies.

Now i went back home to crewe yesterday to do some bits and one of my tasks was to go see Tim as he had a set of gen 1 Bandit 600 wheels that I will be using on my chopper project.

I meets his wife sonia who never met before and over a cup of coffee we got talking about cats (the furry sort) so I jumps on Facebook and shows them our furry family.

I trundle off the toilet to come back downstairs with Tim and Sonias jaws on the floor looking like they have seen a ghost (which they have)

There is a picture of my bike on the screen in the old paint scheme from when I bought it



Sonia asks if that is my bike. Yup I reply. When I first bought it.

Tim "thats my bike!!!!!!! would recognise that paint anywhere. says scratch graphics on the seat!"

Needless to say he was right. It was certainly his old bike from the early nineties.

I have never seen a man so happy to see a picture. Not only was he over the moon that it was still out there. But more so that it was being looked after. And bowled over that we were friends and he never knew about it (couldn't remember the reg)

The next bit of news is interesting tho. Its got a trick engine!!!!!!! 810cc Big bore, gas flowed head and a few other bits. Now i have never ridden another pop up. But I have rode lots of other bikes and always stood firm that my bike was not standard. As he said you give it big beans and it goes bonkers!!!! which it does. You hit about 4-5000 revs and its like a power valve has opened.

So now I am really intrigued to find out if this is the case. As he said maybe the engine has been swapped out. Could be the case. but from my knowledge its the original lump. Is there anyway to check if its had an engine change????? but when it gets taken for its set up on the dyno over winter surely the horsepower figures would point to it having had anything done on it.

If it does end up that its been played around with then its the best £362 I have ever spent.

Only problem now, I have a friend who will always be hankering for my katana.

If you take off the carbs you should be able to see if there's ported inlets.

that means very little to me pedda. not too up on engine internals and that. And what wold that point to? the big bore or summit else?

You mentioned a flowed head. I'd expect bigger inlet ports as well as polished outlets. You can tell by the surface of the ports. Inlets should be done like smoothly sanded, not that rough surface like it comes from factory; outlets polished - if you can't figure out if they are widened.

ooooooooooooo right

You might be able to see just by taking the pod filters off, lift the CV & open the throttle (not running !!) shine a good torch in.

Compression test might show if they are the higher compression pistons like mine, thought it went well over that Mountain

Just need a nice bit of tarmac, say about 1/4 mile long, that should tell the difference between a standard motor & a modified one

Steve

Wiseco still list the pistons http://www.wiseco.com/ProductSearch.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have a compression tester. Hmmmmm.

Have never ridden another pop I have nothing to compare it to. But I do know it's not like a standard bike. Certainly summit different