Katana Owners Club U.K.

that is the question......
or for that matter, to sd or not to sd.....
ok, im after info from folk who know about either sd or fe katanas. i got a kat from chris a while back, he thought it was an 1100sd, there wasnt much left of it, rolling chassis, engine and thats it. no bodywork or wheels or v5, so it was assumed to be an sd. however, im stripping it tonight cos the frame is going away, and ive got some suspicion that it might actually be an fe or a 70th edition kat. the frame has a few features that ive not seen before. firstly its currently black, but underneath the paint is silver, its got sd footpegs but a rather nice cast ally brake lever rather than the steelmone of the sz, does the sd have this? the frame also has a bit of extra bracing under the headstock, as well as two mounts on the frame at the fromt of the engine that look like oil cooler mounts and that arent present on my 750sd frame. the front engine mounts dont bolt through the frames but are only bolted into captive nuts from the inside, so no bolt holes on the outside. the frame also has a mounting for a sidestand cutout switch which im pretty sure the sd didnt have. as well as this there are a couple of extra fittings on the frame that arent on the sd, near the front of the seat rails. to add to this, the wheels are both all black with no bright bits, i thought they had been painted matt black, but under that there is more sniney black paint, the original finish. theres also an extra set of numbers stamped on the headstock and it just doesnt look to me like its an sd frame. so, anyone know about sd or fe frames.

Would like me to post some pics of my frame John?

Pete

You can do Pete. I'm struggling with the phone!

Here's some of my 1100SD which was an Italian import (if that makes any difference)

Alloy Brake Lever - CHECK Stand Switch Bracket - CHECK Holes in frame above and below plastic fake oil grill thingy - CHECK Front Engine Mounts not pass through - CHECK Not sure what you mean by the seat rails so here's general frame image from around there(ish) - Next post as 5 images max!

Wheels could have been painted and painted again? What's the Frame number (PM it if you want to and just miss off last few digits as beginning more imporant in this case I guess)? I can see how that compares to mine.

Hope that helps

Rob

Side view (mainly frame)

they help a lot, cheers, i never realised the sd had the sidestand cutout switch, my frame has extra mounts on the thin crossmember between the lower mounts that look like lower mounts for a cooler. but its the extra chassis number thats thrown me.

dont feel so bothered about giving this frame away now!

https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... e=56779B0D" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Checked bike again and my SD also has that number stamped in the same place as yours, so must be normal. Looking at mine it's DGM then the number:

Had a quick look at the parts books I have for the (admittedly) 750's

In one copy there are 4 different frames listed for different "E" markets.

So it is feasible that the 1100's were the same.

750sd frame in my shed hasnt got the extra number, nor the cutout switch or engine bolts straight through the frame. but it has the sd footpeg monts and the steel brake pedal off the sz! there are a lot of variables here. i think we should perhaps compile a list of differences.