Kudos to knowsalot alot of people doubted him and he knew this was coming out! this just proves he knowsalot more then the rest of us!
Kawasaki did a great job of keeping this quiet!

 

Checked out the Prairie which I had no knowledge of and threw in my experience with the only auto tranny quad that I've been around, a polaris sport 400 with stage 4 mods.
Stock prarie was 43hp. V-force will be in the low 50s. Cams, pistons, carb and exhaust in the mid 70s and higher with ported heads, big bore and bigger valves around 100hp. The shaft drive should hold up because the belt drive reduces most of the shock.
I think the weight would be a little under the DS because its do-able and good advertising-Lighter than the DS.
This machine could use 22 inch 10 paddle taller haulers and people will be tweaking the clutch springs for optimum gearing.
I've got no predictions for sales but these are going to be great all around bikes that your wife can mess around on and when someone nails the tire and clutching down these bikes will be spanking everything else out there, stock vs stock.

 

<< I see this machine having great sales figures . I could be wrong, and it wouldn't be the first time, but we carry over 6 brands of quads, and we know that the average sport quad buyer is not into racing, but recreational riding, and by looking at the specs, it seems to have the possibility to be the best out there for those type of buyers....Fast, easy to operate, and low maintenance. [aka..Polaris Sport buyers] >>



Once again I agree with Knowsalot, I know a lot of people that have big utility quads &amp; are jelous of my Sahara stories but will not ride a manual shift quad, &amp; know that they can't rip in the dunes with a big heavy 4X4.
I bet a bunch of them are going to head for the Kawasaki dealer for one of these &amp; join me at the dunes!!

Even though this forum is loaded with hard core sports riders not every one is comfortable with a high reving high powered manual shift sports quad, this is a quad that'll appeal to a lot of people!

No matter what you think of this new quad (I wouldn't want one, I love my Raptor!!) at least Kawasaki is trying!! &amp; at $6499 it's a great price.

Rember all Honda gave all it's loyal buyers was 2 Ranchers &amp; &quot;Exciting new graphics&quot;!! LOL!!!!!

 

What a joke!!! It will be a stock drag monster but that is all I can see about it. Great motor, I could see alot of potential in it but the rest of it should have stayed on the prarie. Put a chain on it and you might have something but shaft drive NO WAY.

 

maybe or hopefully the suzuki will be the 6 speed with reverse [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

 

At first i was sure it was a mini quad, kind of like the raptor 80....

 

I look at this way... Every possible aspect of the utility quad segment has been filled, right? Almost every aspect of the sport quad market has been filled. We have everything up to 660 cc machines, 2 strokes, long travel, 5/6 pseed trannies, etc... Why not introduce a 700cc V-twin auto with shaft drive. personally, it's not for me but all those people cruising the dunes, desert and trails on Polaris or other automatic utility machines will probably like this. Besides think of the potential of the engine.....

Good move for Kawi.

 

I think it's a great move. It's different. Not everyone wants a clone of the 250r. And they already have the Z-400 for those riders.
... There are all kinds of different riders out there. No quad is right for everyone. This will appeal to the over 30, recreational, power hungry couch racer. It will be a big hit at the dunes, and trail monsters will eat it up. I have friends who like to go fast, but don't want a full sport machine, this will rock their boat.
....I've thought Suzuki got the short end of this alliance, trading the Z for some little dirt bikes. My crystal ball tells me the Prarie and this new 700 are going to show up at the Zuki dealers show next week in yellow with Suzuki badges...Sure, the SV-650 would make a great quad motor, but why bother? They already have a 650 V-twin with their new buddy Kawi.
Honda is in deep do-do.

 

When I made my guess at the weight, I hadn't realized that they had used the entire Prairie rear end under it, so I figured close to 525lbs. That wetbrake does do it job though. Much better than hydraulic disc or drums for sure.

ATV Connection has a few more details on it posted now and states that the weight is 506lbs.

 

This machine will offer a very spirited trail ride for the casual, semi-aggressive rider. But make no bones about it. This new quad will not compete on the track versus any number of the new sport quads because of its weight and tranny. But that is ok because it wasn't designed to do that. Hopefully it will attract new people to the sport that don't want to throw a leg over a five speed death trap. I sure hope Honda will now step up to the plate. The more new quads the better.