The MCN Test: Suzuki’s Katana gets another life, but can it beat its Japanese retro rivals?

Japanese retros have a different flavour from their European rivals.

While brands like BMW and Triumph tip a twin-cylinder nod to machines from a black and white yesteryear, the halcyon days of the Japanese inline-four invasion exploded in the 70s and 80s.

Big-capacity muscle bikes from the land of the rising sun made their name by being fast, fun, fantastic all-rounders that were affordable and wouldn’t leave you stranded at the side of the road.

They were soon nicknamed, somewhat cruelly, ‘Universal Japanese Motorcycles’ (UJMs), but what they lacked in character they made up for in clean fingernails and dry garage floors.

Today’s retros have been conceived to conjure up memories of bygone days, especially the sit-up-and-beg variety.

They’re spacious, easy to ride and as much about how they look, as the performance they offer. It’s why they, and hangouts like the Bike Shed in London, have captured the imagination over the past decade or so.

Ducati must still be kicking themselves for dropping the superb Sport Classic all those years ago, just before the retro scene blew up…