Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

Now that the image thing is fixed, here's a couple more pics:

aardvark wrote:Now that the image thing is fixed, here's a couple more pics:

It doesn't look too bad from the side.

From front-on....hmmm, that headlight...

Any idea of the seat height, looks like it might be a hoot to ride. A 650cc twin would be interesting.

I'll take a green one.


Felix quickly realises, however, that he just bought another bike and is probably going to become a poor uni student again...reality sucks, eh?

No other details yet. Not sure about the rear shock on one side only.

aardvark wrote:No other details yet. Not sure about the rear shock on one side only.

That farking logo over the top of the pic is so bloody annoying...arseholes

Actually, it doesn't look too bad from the rear either ,and the silver and red one looks pretty good. Weird enough to be individual and not just another UJM.

Wonder if it'll arrive out here. While they're at it can we have the US ZZR600 as well?

If that doesn't make it here, then kwak aus is completely furking berko. That'd sell...

Felix wrote:If that doesn't make it here, then kwak aus is completely furking berko. That'd sell...

Yeah, I'd consider it...

It does needs a carbon-fibre hugger though

Ratmick wrote:

aardvark wrote:No other details yet. Not sure about the rear shock on one side only.

That farking logo over the top of the pic is so bloody annoying...arseholes
Actually, it doesn't look too bad from the rear either ,and the silver and red one looks pretty good. Weird enough to be individual and not just another UJM.
Wonder if it'll arrive out here. While they're at it can we have the US ZZR600 as well?

I'm with Mick, silver looks reasonable but the red frame would have to go.
Spewie did the offset rer shock on the tls n they had heaps of dramas with it from memory.

Cheers Brett

Pontikat wrote:I'm with Mick, silver looks reasonable but the red frame would have to go.
Spewie did the offset rer shock on the tls n they had heaps of dramas with it from memory.

Actually I don't mind the red frame, a solid silver bike is really bland imho. It just breaks it up a bit, and as it's been whacked pretty hard with the ugly stick it needs all the help it can get.

You'd have to think if Kawasaki and Suzuki were sharing R&D until reasonably recently that'd the big K would be aware of any issues with offset rear shocks...wouldn't you???

Actually, it's starting to grow on me, I'll just need to cover the front end with a paper bag.

I like the level of the seat compared to the bars, looks like a pretty upright sitting position. Just right for old farts like me

...now where's that ugly stick?

Looks bloody great except the front headlight area/cowl needs a a bit of revamping, just looks too weird from front on. Still I thought the XA falcon looked weird from the front and ended up a bewdy by turning into the XB and XC with twin bonnet scoops. (but the nose of the XA was dead set ugly)

Bleh. I reckon the XAs had a good look. Clear indicator lenses rock too. But yeah, they weren't as agressive as the XBs. XCs just plain sucked.

Possibilities...

The swingarm looks fragile to me and i dont know about the buell style exhaust either then theres the lack of screen that would be bloody cold in winter but i supose it is suposed to be naked and they even used conventional forks and i bet they would be too cheap to put adjustable stuff in them....enough ranting I still like the look of it and it would be ok for what its designed for.

The way they have put the clocks on top at the front is going to make it hard to put a small screen on it.

deliciously ugly..as they say in the picnic ad.....weird, but it grows on ya...
more hardcore than the ER5 tho ..brakes, buell style can..hmmm

Pontikat wrote:Spewie did the offset rer shock on the tls n they had heaps of dramas with it from memory.

Not quite. Their setup had just a spring with a guide rod down the middle running between the rear cylinder and the right frame beam, and a separate rotary damper under the left side of the rider's seat, each bolting to the swingarm via its own linkage.

The layour wasn't the problem, it was the crap, budget design they went with for the rotary damper. It was too small, resulting in too much stiction and a choppy ride.

Kwak sticking the shock on the ER-5 where they did is a modern take on the cantilever shocks Yamaha ran on their motocrossers in the 70's. Braced swingarm, with the shock bolting to the bracing and running forward towards the cylinder head. Ofsetting it to one side eliminates the need to have a separate lateral cross-member to anchor the forward shock mount and channels the stresses from the rear suspension directly into, and along, the frame beam.

Think about how easy that shock would be to adjust , for one thing.

Don't think we'll be seeing it down here, unfortunately. Kawasaki will sell enough of them in France, Italy, Spain and Germany to not have to bother trying to eat into the SV650's dominance of the market down here. The Z750 is doing a fair job of doing that already, and the budget nudiebike market down here is too small for any manufacturer to be able to maintain multiple models in it.