Was it less than 3 years ago that the motorcycle industry seemed to wonder whether Kawasaki could still compete. Kawasaki has come back with a bang.
Not only is Kawasaki introducing class-leading motorcycles (such as the Vulcan 2000 and the ZX-10R), but it now seems to be shortening the development cycle in one of the most important categories of all, the 600 supersport.
In case you forgot, 600s are typically “refreshed” every two years and completely replaced with a new model every four years. Kawasaki had an all-new ZX6-R and ZX6-RR just two years ago, but is effectively replacing them with entirely new models this year.
Kawasaki may not be the biggest player in the motorcycle business, and it still may be incapable of introducing four or five entirely new models in a given year (only Honda seems capable of doing that), but it is certainly making its presence felt once, again.
By the way, when we speculated on October 3, 2002 that Kawasaki’s 636cc ZX-6R may have sparked a trend toward larger-displacement “600s”, it appears we were right. Expect the Triumph Daytona for 2005 to displace more than 640cc.
