After spending several hours on my dad's BF I would say kawi should have reversed the motors in the BF's. The rags say BF 750i has to much motor for its chassis and I can kinda see what they are talking about but on the same token you can ease up the on the right thumb too, but the Prarrie chassis can handel more horsepower and still handel well, So I would say the SRA should have the 750 and the IRS mdl the 650, the V2 cat beat out the P700 in one of the rags last year for there ATV of the year running the old 650. I would have been making a deposite on one tomorrow if it had the 750. Pennland did tell me the other day he was working on a head swap kit for around 750.00 so all I would be looking at would be the kit plus labor the heads are ready to go all he wanted was the stock ones back as cores. so for around the cost of a BF 750 I could have a BF 785 HO with the SRA chassis.

Oh well, I still like the new BF 650, it looks like I might have bought new plastic for my P650 a little to soon. It looks like I could have made a real update to my old P650.

Did you guys see the new mules? A 4 seater, I didn't see that one coming. Its a crew cab ATV

 

Now someone correct me if I am wrong here, didn't the "ole" Prairie 650 have dual 30 CV carbs and now the new Brute 650 has the same carbs as the 700 which are dual 32's? Would that not mean that the new 650 would have some better grunt than the previous 650? OOPS searched abit they were always 32's , nevermind then.

 

I'll admit, this seems an odd move for Kawasaki. Not so strange in that they decided to remodel the Prairie, but strange in that they jumped backwards over the 700 to the 650. I could be wrong, but wasn't the Prairie 650 discontinued when they released the Prairie 700? I didn't see the 650 available on their site once the 700 came out....but maybe I missed it.

Could it be that Kawasaki is trying to purge their inventory of 650 engines before releasing a remodeled Prairie 700 as a Brute Force?
I can't help but entertain the thought that the V-Force will be sportin' a new 750 engine before long.

This might make a good board game!

Moo,
WheelCow

 

Kawi is still building 650 V-twins for cat and you are probably correct in that the KFX (V-force) will become a 750 and The P700 will likely disapear leaving kawi building 650's and 750's. This is my best guess, unless AC is dropping the 650 V2 "there only shootout winning quad", in light of building there own H1 650 single wich is still not out yet, and the dealers I have spoke to say the expect the V2 to still out sell the H1
The AC dealer I spoke to saturday was telling me the V2 LE is their flagship model and the H1 he expects to come out just a little bit cheaper than the V2, and he expected the V2 to remain the flagship model for cat. Now I guess it would seem that the twin peaks wich is also a 700 V-twin wich I could see becoming a 650 with that new lower price tag to differentiate it more from the KQ. Its just hard to tell what is going to happen now they have desided to re-release the prarrie with the old 650 motor in BF looking plastic. It does look like the end for the prarrie style plastic so I am wondering if the BF 650 will have a Twin peaks clone or will the Twin Peaks just die off.

 

I would bet that suzuki will drop the twin peaks before they add a 650 to thier lineup. The sensible thing to do would be to drop the 700 and have a 633 in the lineup to create differentiation between the tp and kq. Why compete against yourself with a machine from another company? Your profit margins are much higher on the bike that you build in house than the one you buy and resell from kawi.

Arctic cat is betting on their new H1 engine. The pre release buzz is fantastic and the claimed performance is more than competitive with the 633 kawi. Dealers in the loop have great things to say about it. I wouldnt put it past AC to at least lower production numbers on the v2, if not drop the machine altogether in the next year or two. They will figure that if zuki and yamaha can build a flagship single cyl ute, why cant theirs be too? Why spend all that money to use kawi's parts, and have all of your customers pissed at you as the bike goes into limp mode and fries a couple belts. The new trans is supposed to be an all new design with a continuous belt tension, so that the belt doesnt slip on and off to move the bike. They think, and rightfully so, that the h1 is going to provide a good alternative to the v2. Combine this with a lower price, and you will see v2 numbers drop.

 

please clear up your first two sentences. First you said they would drop the twin peaks befor they would add a 650, then you said what I said that they would likely drop the 700 and make the STP700 a STP650 to differentiat it more from there own KQ700. I am sorry but you lost me which one did you think they were going to do.

The AC dealers I have spoke with, liked the idea of the H1 but they have all told me that it would have good low and midrange power but would not be as quick overall beacause the single H1 woun,t have as good a top end as the V2. the dealer I spoke to Saturday told me he wasn't sure what AC was thinking when they desided to come out with a 650 not somthing bigger with EFI, He told me he didn't see any point in it, He already sells the V2 as fast as he gets them in.

 

What I said was, that zuki would drop the 700 before they added a 633. Meaning, that they would have neither before they had both. Then I stated that the smart thing to do would be to have only the 633, to differentiate it further from the kq.

While a single isnt capable of the rpms that the v2 is, you dont need nearly as much top end power on a utility. You want that low end and midrange grunt. The KQ doesnt seem to have a problem, and the grizzly is also a very quick machine, even if its not as fast as the 700 twin. It is a very close race with the 633, but typically loses.

The bf already goes too fast for its irs handling capabilities. AC isnt trying to make the fastest machine, they want a better utility. More gc, better suspension, lots of low and mid range power to get it through. Thats thier aim, so the engine looks to be a perfect fit.

 

YA , Thats what I am thinking too, I am curious to see if SUKI keeps the Twin Peaks (which I hope they do) if it will get the new BF plastic only in blue and yellow or will Kawi keep building them with the prarrie plastic and bumpers ect.


I have to admit the main reason I am considering a CAT for 2005 is its V-twin., It would not have made my list of bikes to consider without it. I am also not at all worried about the limp mode thing besides the fact AC says its been fixed for 05', I would likely put a DYNA CDI on it anyway . I guess my next reason is I think they have made great improvments on their apperance for 2005. I also like its suspension setup for what I will be using it for, I think it would work out better than the BF would. I agree the 650's, 660's ect all have enough power for IRS suspension quads. Like I said I think they got their motors backwords in the new BF line. I bet Kawi would have had a sure winner in the shootouts this year if they had reversed the motor applications. At least I bet D.W. would have called it that way and I would probably agree with that call unless the KQ turns out to be as good as all the hipe.

 

To my knowledge AC's "fix" for the limp mode issue is a relay wired into the harness. Basically, you dont have to wire it in yourself. A dyna would be a must on this machine.

 

I am not sure, I was just told the problem had been fixed. I never had one of the Prarries or twin peaks do it so I am not sure what all the details were that caused it to go into limp mode in the first place. I also don't know why it was happening to cats alot more than Prarries. I love the DYNA CDI's anyway so I guess I should say if I buy a V2 it will get a DYNA CDI. I am mainly holding out for the shootouts and my SUKI dealer to get A KQ in so I can test ride it and compare them not only in the magazines but also first hand as best I can on a demo ride. I have all but narrowed my list down to the V2 or KQ.

Unless Bomb formaly annouces its new 800 V-twin then I will have to give that a very serious look too.