Bikes Kawasaki Should Build Now.

[Strika]

I had another look over a blue 14 at RR the other day. It's looks have grown on me considerably. I reckon it looks wicked. I think I may even want one!!!!



































Well itis Christmas time after all..........and I havn't bought a bike for a few months!!!!!

[MickLC]

Bugger it,I want to see a top end ZX10RR dripping with quality-Ohlins,Brembo,Akrapovic etc- the Italians do it-so why not the bigK-no flame stickered ZX10R SE,I wanna see the real deal $35k ZX10RR limited edition in Green only akrapovic'd Ohlins suspension brembo braked tricked engine finger up Kawasaki.There.

Fark Yeah!!

[Gosling1]

mmmm, that sounds really nice !!

[phizog]

4. A soft sportsbike powered by a 900-1000cc version of the ER-6 engine. A TRX850/VTR1000F for the new millennium, of sorts.

Thats exactly what I would love!

[Slow and wobbly]

Ok then, I have just read this whole bloody thread - mostly squabling over whats a sports tourer and whats not, and who realy gives a fuck about how many bloody headlights there were during which year!

What about the 2 fiddys?
When Johny come lately wanders into his local K dealer and says he wants to get his licenses and try out this bike thing what have Kawasaki Australia got to offer? Not fucking much! .......
" Well sir over here we have a 25 year old design we call a GPX 250, and along side it we have the ZZR 250 which is basicaly the same -but with fairings, both of which are popular with the learner restricted market. Namely cause we cant offer you fuck all else"
Why cant the marketing experts see that people are buying 16 - 17 year old grey import Hondas at exorbitant prices because there is nothing else in the market that satisfies they're yearning for a "sports" bike if they are LAM / 250 restricted? The Balius was a good thing, although dated even when it was released here in Orstralia but it has disappeared. FFS people bought that bloody awful NSR 150 just because of the perceived sportiness of the wretched little things, I have ridden one and would far prefer a Balius or CBR over one of those.
As the Marketing experts harp on " it's all about brand recognition". How can Kawasaki Australia expect to build upon brand loyalty if they cant offer anything to the newcomers?
Historicaly I know that Kawasaki have always considered motorcycles to be a very small part of their operation, but they have produced giant killers like the Z900 Z1000 ZZR1100 ZX9 and dare I mention the cult status of the MACH III. The engineering strength and knowledge in the company is huge. Now if they just took all those teams they have that design ships, trains, mining equipment and robots and focused them all on producing motorcycles then I know that the world would be a happier place.



Oh and what the fuck was so wrong about the 9 that it was dicontinued? Let Suzuki own the racetrack, I just want to travel to it and back in comfort and style.

[Strika]

Sales Figures ranked the current GPX250 as third overall nationally in the entry level class behind 1.CT110, 2.GT250 Hyosung (another agricultural twin cylinder 250 with a steel frame and crappy suspension and brakes.

The facts are (if you ask the manufacturers who actually have data on this) that although "some" learners want a full on sports bike, the majority of the entry level riders want something which is..
easy to ride-check
easy to maintain-check
Cheap to run-Check
Cheap to repair-check
has longevity and reliability-check
Runs inexpensive tyres-check

And the GPX and ZZR fit that bill nicely. If race reps were ever going to be a success, then why did Honda stop bringing them in ???

[I-K]

What about the 2 fiddys?

Why cant the marketing experts see that people are buying 16 - 17 year old grey import Hondas at exorbitant prices because there is nothing else in the market that satisfies they're yearning for a "sports" bike if they are LAM / 250 restricted?

There's a very good reason why the Japanese manufacturers couldn't discontinue their four cylinder sports 250's fast enough when JDM demand for them started to dry up.

Complexity.

Give or take a couple of suspension adjusters, a four-cylinder sports 250 is every bit as difficult to manufacture as a four-cylinder litre sportsbike; there are just as many pistons to forge, just as many camshaft lobes and crank journals to grind, just as many rods to carburise, just as many aluminium alloy beams to cast and stamp and weld, just as many fairing panels to mould... but, because the finished product won't go anywhere near as fast, they have to charge much less for the 250 than for the litre bike.

In other words, manufacturers have to spend just as much money on workers' wages, electricity, tooling etc and almost as much on raw materials (which are only a very minor portion of the total unit cost, anyway) to build a bike which they can sell to importers for, say, $7,000 as for a bike which they can sell for $14,000.

What makes more sense? To build bikes with a profit margin of, say, $1,000, or bikes with a profit margin of $7,000?

Yes, the development costs of the 250 will be less, and more components will be off-the-shelf and shared across multiple models, but the profit margin will be so much smaller that it won't make any difference; the 250 will take more units sold before it recoups the manufacturer's investment.

Hence, we get cheap, simple, old-tech 250's.

The engineering strength and knowledge in the company is huge. Now if they just took all those teams they have that design ships, trains, mining equipment and robots and focused them all on producing motorcycles then I know that the world would be a happier place.

Unfortunately, there's more money in ships, trains, mining equipment and robots than in bikes...

Kawasaki is a conglomerate. That means that each of its divisions has to survive on its own, beyond nominal sharing of research data and such; eg. the aerospace division letting the bike division use its wind tunnel and such.

Oh and what the fuck was so wrong about the 9 that it was dicontinued?

In a word, it wasn't selling. Suzuki and Yamaha were selling 1,000 R1's and GSX-R1000's in a year in Australia alone when Kawasaki were selling 150 ZX9's. True, the design worked far too well for just dropping it from the lineup to be sensible; they should have reoriented it as a full sportstourer and reduced the sales of the VFR to zero overnight, but you could say the same thing about the Yamaha Thunderace, too.

There's only so much manufacturing capacity to go around even in a very large factory, and they have to prioritise what they build. I don't agree with their decision, but I can understand it.

[zzzak]

For my money, they should be...

3. A serious adventure-tourer in the mould of the KTM Adventure, based around a dry-sump version of the ER-6 engine, possibly taken out to ~750cc.

Discuss.

Yep,one of them thanks,with the on road penalties these days it would be worth fanging on the dirt with a light 750 but make it a v-twin for preference.

They'd want to avoid looking like a Suzuki Strom as well,an apparently excellent bike but cheaply made to my eye and the styling is a personal thing.

And some integrated luggage maybe,the panniers on the big BM's are quite tasty so Kawa should follow the trailblazer.

Some sort of motard friendly tourer thingie with a 17" front and town and country tyres,stuff like that.

I think that dual purpose bikes will prevail seeing as they've made enjoying a ride some sort of crime said the guy with 5 points left,I quite like exploring as well so that's in the equation also.

[WRT_GPX]

id prefer a newish sports touer, based on a big twin, 800-900 :O?

somthing smooth and comfortable, longer, with similar looks to the old 96 zx7r mixed with a zx14...


i should photoshop it up

[Gosling1]

........these days it would be worth fanging on the dirt with a light 750 ........

You mean something like this ??.............

If you want the ideal bike, the solution is to build it yourself......

[Strika]

Mate!!! It's got no cred!!!! Swap the forks off the YZ!!!

[Gosling1]

not on your nelly, I need those forks on the wizard, it has *real* pace !!

[QLDZX6R]

3. A serious adventure-tourer in the mould of the KTM Adventure, based around a dry-sump version of the ER-6 engine, possibly taken out to ~750cc.


Discuss.

Ah,now we have the Versys,only the er6 engine but pretty handy-and with rumours of a litre version of the er6 it may filter to the versys...

[I-K]

3. A serious adventure-tourer in the mould of the KTM Adventure, based around a dry-sump version of the ER-6 engine, possibly taken out to ~750cc.

Ah,now we have the Versys,only the er6 engine but pretty handy-and with rumours of a litre version of the er6 it may filter to the versys...

The Versys has cast aluminium wheels, an underbelly exhaust and sticky-outy bodywork with a metal tank. Off-road, that thing'll be only marginally handier than a Lamborghini Gallardo.

Like the Ducati Multistrada, the Versys was built tall so the rider could see over the tops of cars and so it could float over rough tarmac. Drop it as you would if you were negotiating a gnarly downhill single-track, and it'll shatter into just as many bits as a sportsbike would if you did the same thing with it.

This bike needs a plastic tank, spoked rims, a pipe tucked up behind the frame rails, oil in the frame, minimal bodywork, a narrow seat, serrated footpegs... something Kawasaki could enter the Dakar with.

[duncanZX10R]

Whatever the type of bike, whether it be a sports/sports tourer/Ag bike etc...

we are all forgetting one essential design element.......

The power plant shout be a multi-cylinder air-cooled two stroke, with none of the powerband massaging exhaust valves...

Ahh for the good old days of screaming around from point A to point B leaving a blue smokescreen of pre-mix in your wake. Not only was it a joy to be out on the road it was also time to celebrate every occasion that you actually arrived somewhere (hand grenades do have a tendency to go off )