Kiwi,
I was just at the local Suzuki dealer yesterday and according to him, he heard that the new plant is completed and should be starting production soon. As far as availability of the new Z400, delivery dates are slated for April of '02. There was also another post that Suzuki was taking orders for the new Z and that could lead a person to believe that the machines will be out within the next 3-4 months.

 

What is a "big block" Foreman? Over here that only applies to automobile engines. If you are referring to the 650 being a "big block" I guess that means the 450 is a "small block" and the 350 is a "tiny block" and the 250 must be a "teeny weeny block". You guys definetly have some odd terms for things. But anyway, the 650 that I was talking about is a TRX {as are ALL Hondas}. I don't know what the designations for the Hondas are in New Zealnd? If it is different let us know. Listening to some of the posts from you on here makes me want to go and check your country out just to get some more scoop on the different models we were talking about a few days ago about the RZs. Well I almost forgot to answer your question. The 650 I was talking about is a sport quad with a manual trans.,liquid cooling,and electric start. As far as a reverse, only Bruce Oglive could tell you that for sure. {only one that I would trust anyway}, but you aren't gonna get anything out of him. He helped develope the 400EX for a year before he spoke and that was only a week after Honda announced the model.

 

Pretty well the rest of the worls has seen allot of wild two stroke road bike sthat never made it into the US... we just bought a Suzuki RGV 250, 55hp screamer, alloy perimeter framed, banaha armed swingarm as a shop bike...... 91 model....... Yamaha made a wild range of TZR 250 that are real GP relica stuff for the street....... as did kawaskai withits KR's..... the yam and suzuki 500 watered 4's arethe sweetest sounding things ever though...... next to the hand built in New Zealand Birttian Vee twin superbikes......... absolute thunder machines.....

Honda quads, yes we call em TRX, E = foremans, EX = sport as does everyone else.

 

yeah that brings up another point i hate to mention..... sorry but i'm going way off topic.
we in the united states claim we are the 'land of the free' but we can't purchase things that are available in 90% of the rest of the world.. (i.e. 125 & 250 street legal GP replica bikes)

yeah we're free... with a TON of little regulations by agencies like the DOT, EPA, ATF, IRS.... the list is huge.

i love this country and all it's fascism err... i mean freedom, DON'T YOU????

 

hehe...they compared the mojave to the big sport quads...hehe. Maybe they thought the ex was gonna be too lonely in the back[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] ahah

No matter how fast it is though, the Z400 can only be good new for the sport quad market.
About the 650EX being at the Honda R&D, it doesn`t mean it`s gonna come out (though it is highly possible). A while ago, Honda worked on an automatic MX bike fro a year, I think, then gave up. Let`s hope they carry the 650 to the end!

Knwosalot,
How about the rumor of Bombardier coming out with a closed course quad? You know, that 380cc twin 2 stroke bla bla. Is it maybe? probably? no?

 

While I do sell Bombardier, I haven't heard of any "for sure" facts about any new models other than the fact that our Sales rep. said that they will continue to develope more quads in the next two years. As far as what they are, he doesn't know and neither does anyone I talk to at Bombardier. However a smaller bore version of the DS in a more compact frame sounds good doesn't it?


I meant to bring this up a week ago, and it slipped my mind. I got some juicy gossip on the folks at Bombardier. In case you guys haven't heard elsewhere, Did you know that Bombardier was set to PURCHASE Kawasaki!?

I'm not talking about a "alliance" like Suzuki ended up with with teir deal with Kawasaki. I'm talking about PURCHASE. [buy out]

The folks at Bombardier didn't say anything until about two weeks ago about the thing. Turns out that the Japanese wouldn't allow the buy out because it would mean that they would loose a heavy hitter in Japan and would eventually end up in Cananda. Sounds interesting doesn't it?

Just thought I would share that.

 

What?? Bombarider wants to buy Kawasaki?? Someone stop them! ahahah
Does kawasaki make heavy duty equipment (like most japanese manufacturer do, I noticed)? With this, they would pretty much cover the whole transportation world!
If it does happen...Kawi bikes are gonna become awesome, since Bombardier bets on "making different"...and looks it's a valuable politic!

 

That seems unlikely.

 

Knowsalot,
I don't believe you know as much as you think you do. The CRF450 has had more hype and expectation than any bike since the YZ400F. People have been waiting for this bike since the Yamaha first came out. There have been stories of guys putting their earnest money down a year ago in the hopes of getting the first bike that came in to their dealer. That is not the makings of a sales flop.

Where did you hear that Bombardier wanted to purchase Kawasaki? Another secret source? I've got a couple of beer drinking buddies you might want to talk to as they seem to pull things out of their asses with amazing regularity as well. Fuji Heavy Industries is the giant corporation who owns Kawasaki and rivals the size of Bombardier if not larger. I just don't see it happening. If cite your "sources" it would go a long way to increasing your credability.

 

Ooooohh them's figtin words[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] can't wait for the replies now.