The greatest bike of all time. Nothing in the way of the engine. Air cooled. Torquey. Felt fast. Could be a tire sliding WFO hero below the speed limit. Fast enough. Definitely not too fast. These things were ubiquitous in the early 90s. Cheap too. Regrettably, they were Yamahas.

Hey, Doug Polen liked it. Suzuki paid contingency money and Honda didn't. So he went out and whupped Hurricane ass with the Katana. It was a good bike. The power and handling were OK. It was just heavy and the styling left something to be desired. Performance Bikes said it looked like a teapot.

With the sudden demise of the Katana, another 600 was needed. This one was from a previous generation, but was lighter, being sold by a friend, and it was cheap. Once set up with some 17" wheels and a Fox shock, it was probably the best set up streetbike I've ever owned. It took full throttle to sportride though, and it smoked something fierce. I sold it to the dumbest kid of all time.

The first bike I ever basically just flipped for a quick profit. Got it cheap because it had been crashed and wouldn't start. After tightening the battery terminals and buffing out some scratches, it was as good as most of its kind. It would have needed a shock and some other investment of time and money to be what I wanted, so I got out while the getting was good. Gear driven cams are cool. Race exhausts with no packing on inline 4 streetbikes are not cool.

The guy selling this thought it was an XT600. The XT is a dirt bike. I explained his mistake. Just put some knobbies on it, he says. Guess when he last rode bikes before he got his hands on this one. The SRX is a fun bike, especially around town. Peak power is surprisingly low, but it manages. Such a narrow bike. And the man in the street thinks it is a Harley or a Ducati or whatever. Anything but a Jap bike.

Bought this when it was a mere year old from a fellow racer. It had been on the ground a few times, like you do, but looked pretty good and only had 3500 miles on it. Smoked on startup from the get-go, but the problem never got worse over the next 45000 miles. The stock suspension isn't that bad. Can even be used at a reasonably smooth racetrack like Laguna Seca. Was crushed by a drunk driver while I ate dinner with friends in a nearby restaurant.

Narrowly won out over the Suzuki V-Strom to replace the GSXR as my daily driver. My first ever new-from-the-showroom-floor bike. Warranties are fun. All of this confirms that I am an old man now.