Kawasaki

I think the bike is a piece of pus.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Son of Doohan @ Jun 22 2008, 10:30 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>I think the bike is a piece of pus.


me to and how long isit going to take kwak to realise they need someone who has "real" knowledge how to develop a bike, problem is most of those guys wont be in reach but i do think if colin edwards went to kawasaki then they would have atlast found themselves a half decent development rider.

i put the blame squarely at the managements feet. they have no main sponsors so must be running on a shoe string. all the other factory teams have sponsor money. then they take a skilled but a mediocre rider called hopper and waste the little money they have on him. i dont think its the engineers fault but had to pick the choice because the poster grouped them in with the management .

the whole kwacker effort seems a bit of a joke right now. that whole outfit need to pull thier heads out of thier ...'s.

Crap riders crap bike.

It's the whole thing. While Hopper is a decent rider, he cannot carry the whole team on his shoulders.

West needs to go.

Management needs to go.

Kawasaki has always seemed to be behind in all it's classes it races in. SBK's, 600's, MotoGP, they are just not competive. Either the riders, the machines or the company in general. Rog Hayden has done well in AMA SS, but with him out they have struggled. WSBK is so bad, that you do not even notice them competiting, and the only reason you notice them in MotoGP is because there are only 18 bikes.

Everyone at Hoppers former site .... squarely on my head when I told them it was a terrible move for him to go to Kawasaki.

I was right!

This Kawi bike is not ever going to win the championship. Ever. They are just too small. Kawasaki doesn't win anything so why would they say things like this year is development and 09 we go for the title. No ....... way is that ever going to happen. This year is a complete write-off for both riders and west, who is a decent rider, hates the machine as much as Melandri hates the Duke. It wins the POS award if there is one.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gsfan @ Jun 22 2008, 07:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>They are just too small.
to small..... kawasaki are huge! thier just doin a ...... job.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (frosty58 @ Jun 23 2008, 01:23 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'> to small..... kawasaki are huge! thier just doin a ...... job.

The same is true in WSBK Kwaks....fast but useless.

Kawasaki heavy industries could sponsor the whole damn grid they are so ...... huge company wise. .... they make just about everything there is to either move earth rock or people.

Kawasaki Heavy Industries may be huge but the motogp team isn't.

The entire team/management had to work to screw-up the progress of 2007.

It was rumored that the Kawasaki had the fastest accelerating bike on the grid by the end of 2007. Handling was the only thing holding them back. They bought Hopper to pick up a few tenths in the braking zones, and then went about the business of completely ruining the bike. The riders haven't been able to provide any good input to help rectify the situation.

Now Hopper and Westy scream for the screamer because it needs less electronic intrusion to make it go smoothly around a circuit. I'm sure they love the noise it makes too.

Kawasaki worked very hard and spent a lot of money reinventing the wheel this season. Patience and proper development would have seen them improve into a world class effort. Oddly, now that they have ruined their GP effort, they are dragging their feet bring new developments down the pipeline (screamer). They deserve what they are getting, imo.

Kawasaki always do the same, was good bike, in general bad riders or developers, then just give up. They need a complete f89888ing shake up. and start again. i ride a kawk and would love to see then do well. but the effort the engineers put in is zero.

could you imagine if the rummers of rossi going to team green was true his carrer would of been dead by the end of it. unless he the only man that could turn it around with loads of whinging.

I wonder if Kawasaki still have Mick Grant's telephone number?

Wouldn't Kawi benefit from having more bikes on the grid. Two bikes on the grid is ridiculos,having an offical factory and satellite teams would speed up the development of the zxrr and make it more competitive...

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (alex29 @ Jun 25 2008, 04:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Wouldn't Kawi benefit from having more bikes on the grid. Two bikes on the grid is ridiculos,having an offical factory and satellite teams would speed up the development of the zxrr and make it more competitive...
this year IMO that would have only succeeded in making 4 people slow instead of 2...
kawa need to sort their factory bikes out before thinking of launching a satellite team.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (alex29 @ Jun 25 2008, 11:59 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Wouldn't Kawi benefit from having more bikes on the grid. Two bikes on the grid is ridiculos,having an offical factory and satellite teams would speed up the development of the zxrr and make it more competitive...

Agree with that..they should supply the same engine to team KR or other private teams. KR team can give input on the chassis and tire development. Most importantly, they should attract Collin Edward , Sete , Capirex, Barros, Nakano or Checa to develop the bikes .

Not to discredit Hopper as a good rider , I think Kawak made wrong direction by having both Hopper and Westy in their green team. ..

I have never really figured out what's going on with Kawaski. Sometimes they seem to be getting better, but mostly it's just... I don't know. Maybe they'll get something done for next year?

What's wrong with Kawasaki's MotoGP effort:

1. Management - in 2006, there was a big scandal with Kawasaki and Eckl having a very acrimonious split. Rumors that Eckl was sharing confidential data with the Ilmor team were rumbling through the paddock. This was why they went in-house and threw Yoda at the problem. Organizational focus and leadership suffered greatly. They were reeling from the blow through 2007. I can only imagine there are still some gaps in leadership and organization.

2. Riders - Hopkins, unfortunately, has been given the task of developing the bike, but only has a podium or two and no race wins in n years. This is not to take away from his skill, it is simply a statement of fact. He is obviously a great rider who corners lower than anybody on the grid. However, it is unwise to place the burden of development on an unproven factor. Again, this is speaking just from the math. Maybe Kawi/Hopkins could have had a serendipitous relationship like Ducati/Stoner (which was another unproven relationship), but those types of special matches are few and far between. West - n/a. Sorry.

3. The Bike - Who knows? Everybody seems to say that the bike is good!!, the bike is good!! To quote Rainey, when speaking about Yamaha's success with Valentino, "I always said, they just needed a rider."

Maybe Kawasaki "just needs a rider"

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (alex29 @ Jun 24 2008, 09:59 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Wouldn't Kawi benefit from having more bikes on the grid. Two bikes on the grid is ridiculos,having an offical factory and satellite teams would speed up the development of the zxrr and make it more competitive...
Generally I agree with that line of thought but look at Ducati's efforts this season. No help there, although that could have a fair amount to do with the team.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Parc Ferme @ Jun 25 2008, 03:36 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>Maybe Kawasaki "just needs a rider"
I don't think Kawa are nearly as close as Yamaha were prior to Rossi's arrival. I believe that Kawa are slightly behind Suzuki and look what Cappers has done there. Admirable results but hasn't measured up to his Ducati results and I rate him as a top rider.