Katana Owners Club U.K.

I had occasion to purchase the April edition of Practical SportsBikes and it seems this is the last edition, the parent company have pulled the plug .
I know I didn't subscribe but I bought it occasionally ....I did buy it more frequently ( usually when off to France ) before it merge with Fastburkes , but they got over that and it got its mojo back..
Sad .. But the are covering the Kat in it .

all (sorry most) classic bikes lose their appeal as the generation that wanted them as teens get to old to ride them (despite now having the disposable income to afford them)
Hence classic bikes gain in price and then fall away again.
How long before Kats once again become affordable ? Just to long for any of us to want them anymore

They mentioned this in Classic Motorcycle Mechanics. I think they may be thinking of putting in a bit more of the stuff PS had. I'm a subscriber to CMM as I don't want them to go bust either. As it is, it runs on one full-time staffer and a lot of freelancers.

Pip Higham is going to do a feature on Smallkat in the summer (so might not be published until Autumn) and I will make sure the KOC is mentioned.

Just reading my final copy of PS. Good to see Kats in the magazine.
Have every copy from issue 1 onwards. They managed to survive the “Big Clear Out” of the attic* unlike about 10 years worth of Classic Bike, which ended up at the North Norfolk Motorcycle Museum.

Sad to see printed copy go, but as they keep telling us, digital is the way forward. I subscribe to CMM but through Pocket Mags.



*Still looks like a tip though

All the above comments are relevant and to be honest there lies the problem "relevant".
Right the beginning and to a degree with CMM it was asked about the models etc to be covered , I remember being in the camp of 15yr old bikes becoming relevant as they are the "becoming classics "
BUT they are still current to some and don't qualify as "classic" ( a term which is a non specific one ...to some age , to others a worthy item).
Digital is obviously the nail in the coffin of any printed quick read item ( to some )

Either way it's Magpie and Bluepeter all over again..PS being the cool kids who wanted quick trendy ,
CMM is the technical in depth more serious ....
***Though I must say PS's Jenny Handly wasn't Gary Hurd **

lomsavage wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 20, 2023 8:12 am

all (sorry most) classic bikes lose their appeal as the generation that wanted them as teens get to old to ride them (despite now having the disposable income to afford them)
Hence classic bikes gain in price and then fall away again.
How long before Kats once again become affordable ? Just to long for any of us to want them anymore

Overall I'd disagree with that. You just have to look at prices and they still are fairly high across the board (though have dropped but that's to do with cost of living rather than demographic), some more than others. If it wasn't then the Vincents and Brough Superiors would now be cheap, as the generation who wanted those at the time are now nearly all passed away - same with any bike pre 1950 - following your logic they should all be as cheap as chips but they aren't.
What will happen post 2030 in an electric world so you can't easily fill up your old petrol bike and ride miles and miles? My thought is they will still have a strong value as they will be a commodity to be traded for some, others will want just because they are nice to look at even if you can't ride them.

I did stop my subscription to CMM as I vowed I would if they ever put a Harley in it, which they did, so I stopped!
Also they still ignore the KoC for some reason - Morebikes which I do get as it's so cheap! (which is rehashed articles from other Mortons publications) recently had a Kat article in it again and at the end the Owners Club was listed as www.vjmc.com !!! - no mention of us! I've had a letter published in the past in CMM after they failed to mention as the club for Katana's in an article - I can only assume Fossie manged to pee them off at some point
(that's my rant over!)

UB

Possibly did piss them off before , as they did an article before on a pop up I think phoned me to check stuff , we spoke for 1/2 hr, at the end they said an advertisement page was only £250 or so , or a smaller ad. £150 ..When I explained we couldn't run or justify that ...No contact again .
When Rob Gibson was around as editor we featured regularly.

CMM are Lincolnshire way. If anyone has a Kat they would like featured, I can email the editor and ask if he would like to do a feature.

Alternatively, we could ask for something to be put in the 'news' page, but what would we say?

Thirdly, you can write your own story and submit it. I've been meaning to do a story on Smallkat, but what with one thing and another, I haven't got round to it!

This rings a bell. Did I dream it, or was the story of my 650, together with photographs, published in said magazine some years ago. Don't remember ever receiving a copy.

Smallkat wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 22, 2023 12:11 pm

CMM are Lincolnshire way. If anyone has a Kat they would like featured, I can email the editor and ask if he would like to do a feature.

Alternatively, we could ask for something to be put in the 'news' page, but what would we say?

Thirdly, you can write your own story and submit it. I've been meaning to do a story on Smallkat, but what with one thing and another, I haven't got round to it!

We've done all of those over the years , had the first EuroKatwrite up, end to end write up ,
Articles on various models over the years ...but we fell out of favour for some reason and I ran out of time / patience...