Just got back from a week stay at Hungry Valley, and guess who camped next to us? The R&E guys from Kawasaki. They were testing two new machines, a four stoke mini two wheeler (looked like an 80 or 90) and a V-twin sport quad. It took me a while to figure out what I was even looking at, since I was busy setting up camp at the time, but after one of the kids testing the mini said it was a 2003 model and that nobody was supossed to know about it yet, it finally dawned on me that that weird looking four stroke with duel exaust was the new 650 sport ATV! This thing sounged awesome and looked to have a ton of power. Sorry I don't have more detailed info, but we got asked to leave when we walked over to their camp site, and they stashed it in the trailer when we broke out the camera. Anyway, it shouldn't be too long before we see start seeing them in the showrooms.

 

hmmmm sounds awesome...too bad its a 2003 instead of a 2002

 

Hey Trxter
How was the weather in Hungry Valley?Was it to hot to ride comftorably?Did the new vtwin look like the same one in the new praire
Bearman

 

How did it look what color was it.

 

The looks are partly what had me puzzled. It seemed to have Banshee plastic on the front and 400EX plastic on the back. Maybe it was supposed to a diguise, or else they havn't gotten the the stage where the plastic has been designed? The motor looked just like the one in the Praire. I got one crappy picture of the back at about 50yds. Just looks like a 400EX with dual exaust from that angle.

I was told that the mini was a 2003. I don't know when the quad is due, but if they're out testing it here in the States I assume they're getting serious about putting it into production. They had a dozen, or so, Japanese techies and maybe another dozen Americans wrenching on these things and they got extreamly p.o.ed when we broke out the camera. In fact, yhey even called the ranger on us, expecting him to make us leave the campground. I guess in Japan the cops would have beat us up and sent us packing. They ended up packing up and moving somewhere else, leaving a couple of spys to watch us the rest of the day to make sure we didn't blunder into them again. You'd think they would have better sence than to test a super secret progect quad at a public riding area right before a major holiday.

As for the weather, it was over 100 on Tuesday!! I would fill my Iceback with ice, wet down my jersey and could ride hard for about 20 min. before having to take a break. It cooled down later on in the week, even got some rain on Saturday that washed part of the road out in our campground. The biggest nuisance were the yellow jackets & horseflys. It was a good time anyway.

 

Thanks for the info trxter.
Bearman

 

hey TRXter, can you email me that pic you got? my email address is MikeBMX81@aol.com

thanks alot
-Mike

 

I suspect Kawisaki will unveil the new models at this next coming dealer convention this fall. It will probably be in showrooms in the 1st quarter of 2002 as a 2003 model.

 

Hey, id love to see one of those pics! can u mail me one at brian_thompson20@hotmail.com

 

If I were a betting man I'd say you're right on the money with that assessment. I believe Kawasaki's dealer meetings are in Vegas in September. It would make sense that that's when they unveil it as they did the Prairie 650 last year. Remember with the Prairie Kawasaki played it extremely close to the vest. There were no Yamaha style "Spy Photos" in the magazines. Some folks saw a black Kawasaki truck make it's way from so-cal to Vegas for the meeting and we found out later it was carrying the Prairies. I'm pretty excited-we've all waited long enough. Perhaps by new-year's we can again break out our lime-green riding gear with pride.-Keith