What has happened to Kawasaki?

simply put, what has happened to Kawasaki in MotoGp?



also in SBK they are way behind they game...what is going on?

As seen in 09 Motogp,

they wanted to chuck the towel in then but dorkna helled them to an agreement they had

so they just put the hayate on the grid and basically walked away until the season was over and that was it



as in WSBK.BSB thay not done a lot in ages,think they had a bit of success in AMA that's about it



last time i seen anything that looked good from KAWASAKI Was the Robots in the Toyota Car Factory at Burnaston.Derby

they suck with bikes



Welcome btw

At the risk of asking a stupid question...they still make good road bikes don't they..the bikes you can go to a shop and buy I mean...the z1000 looks great.

yeah why they don't get success at least sometimes is a mystery when there in AMA.BSB.WSBK.MOTOGP.XROSS.Etc

even Suzuki what have they done since Schwantz days..KRJR.2000 thats it really

Word on the street is that Kawasaki can't make a proper chassis. The 2008 Kawasaki ZX-RR chassis was a disaster, and the WSBK chassis has been lacking as well. Imo, the company has done a poor job developing GP, WSBK, and their production machines. Their brand is borderline as well.



WSS is the only bright spot for them. I've heard they are playing around with a new 600cc engine layout, but if I were Kawasaki, I'd leave well enough alone. One more ill-fated change to a competitive bike could put them out of racing for good.

Kawasaki makes great street bikes, i wouldnt flip a coin for the difference in the big 4 jap bikes. They seem to have lost their mojo since the 300 kph agreement between the OEM's. Having the baddest fire breathing beast on the road was who they were. If you wanted big ... power, you bought a Kawasaki. It was that way for decades. The 500 H1, the 750 H2, Z1900, Zx1100.

Honda built the Black Bird and released the stranglehold that Kawasaki had enjoyed forever. Immediately, Suzuki came with the Busa that crushed the Black Bird. Kawasaki came back with the zx12r that missed the mark by a couple miles per hour and before they could do anything about it, the agreement was made to limit the bikes to 186 mph, forever giving Suzuki the title of fastest production bike made. That seemed to suck the life out of Kawasaki. They still make a very good product, they just seem to have lost their soul. This brings up a question about the speed limiter, is it just between the Jap oems's or does the new BMW have to follow the agreement also.

I predicted Kawasaki's demise from motoGP along with Suzuki's. One has come to fruition, the other is not far off. Simply, no bang for the buck. WSBK will become the preeminent series. It's just a matter of time, unless they radicalize the series, a la Moto2.

Son of Doohan said:

I predicted Kawasaki's demise from motoGP along with Suzuki's. One has come to fruition, the other is not far off. Simply, no bang for the buck. WSBK will become the preeminent series. It's just a matter of time, unless they radicalize the series, a la Moto2.

Click to expand...

All they need to do is reduce engine speeds (bore limits, rev limits, whatever) and increase fuel capacity. It won't take an act of God to make MotoGP more commercially viable.



In the short term, they just need to get Kawasaki back into the mix, imo. If GP has 5 manufacturers and each manufacturer is actually required to run a satellite team (the original MotoGP plan) the grid would have 20 bikes. If Ducati and Honda continue with 6 bikes each, GP would have a grid of 24.



Long term, both international racing series need a complete reboot, but they don't need to panic yet, imo.

Early reports of the 2011 ZX10 sound awesome. It will be the most advanced Jap litre sports bike on the market. There was an article in the recent AMCN that discussed the fully variable valve timing that they have patented among other things. They had some comments from Chris Vermulen and he is absolutely kid like in his enthusiasm for next years bike saying that it is going to be so good that he was willing to throw the chance of being competitive away this year just so he can be on that bike next year.



I reckon we will see alot more green on the streets in 2011.

Personally I wouldnt own a Kawi, Seems like everytime a bike breaks down on our rides its always a kawi. Its like buying a Kia. Good Price, Loaded with options, but the quality is iffy. You might get a good one, or you might get junk. With Proven bikes from Yamaha, Suzuki, Honda you've got great choices already. There not horrible bikes, I just wouldnt own one.

A couple of years back, I bought a Kawasaki pit shirt signed by Hopper and Ant West at a charity auction....Since then its all gone .... up for team green