New Scooter From Kawasaki

Lance Corona · Post by **Lance Corona** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 6:05 pm

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/925/17401 ... -Look.aspx

It's a Kymco in sheep's clothing.

OldGuy · Post by **OldGuy** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 7:19 pm

This is good, and is a reasonable way fow Kawasaki to enter the market. (I wonder why it took them so long...) With the styling, it is a little different from many other scooters and should get attention. I hope they do well with it.

SonnyD · Post by **SonnyD** » Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:26 pm

Got a feeling it's really going to be pricey..... it's 6000 with Kymco's name on it..... wonder how much more the Kawasaki moniker will raise it....?????

Dooglas · Post by **Dooglas** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 6:01 am

Another discussion thread on the new Kawasaki scooter.

http://modernvespa.com/forum/topic12113 ... t=kawasaki

Post by **jrsjr** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 1:57 pm

Lance Corona wrote:It's a Kymco in sheep's clothing.

Badge engineering is never a great thing, but cross-pollination often is. In Kawasaki's case, considering the state of their motorcycle business, their forced partnership with Suzuki and so on, now is probably the wrong moment for them to pour a ton of capital into a new scooter design. If the J300 sells, maybe we'll see some creative cross-pollination. Besides, when Kawasaki design a new vehicle, the results are sometimes a bit "interesting." Be careful what you wish for, you know, you may get it.

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 2:09 pm

^ dumbest looking, most overdone "naked" bike ever. even when less faring is involved seems some bike makers still tend to make MORE out of it. in a bad way

the scooter? should be a good one. looks like Kawi retained the less then practical seat of the DT, though. it gives taller, long of leg riders some frustration i have read. i also read a seat is available without a "hump" in some markets and one owner just cut the thing open and did a custom job, allowing him to slide back further while riding

dkw12002 · Post by **dkw12002** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 2:17 pm

I dislike this style scooter with the big hump in the center. You lose lots of storage for one thing and they are harder to get on and off of. I'm sure it will be a good touring scooter though, just a little too heavy and too humpy for me.

Alexbv200 · Post by **Alexbv200** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 4:21 pm

Unfortunately, unless they make a 125cc version, this scooter will sell in small numbers in most of Europe.

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 4:43 pm

dkw12002 wrote:I dislike this style scooter with the big hump in the center. You lose lots of storage for one thing and they are harder to get on and off of. I'm sure it will be a good touring scooter though, just a little too heavy and too humpy for me.

the Kymco Downtown has a dry weight of just 366 pounds. so where is the extra 55 pounds on this scooter? is 421 pounds its wet weight? does gas, oil, and coolant weight 55 pounds?

it would be nice of you're wrong about the scooter, a bit. the Downtown is said to feel very light and agile in traffic. one Agility rider said it felt very much like that scooter to toss around. its a small(er) frame scooter with big plastics and a 300cc engine. so it takes some by surprise when they ride it and it feels very much a scooter

hopefully Kawasaki has not doen much to change that. or Kymco? maybe this is a "new" Downtown?

Post by **ericalm** » Thu Nov 14, 2013 7:30 am

It's interesting to launch this at this time. The bike and scooter markets in Europe are awful this year, with losses across the board. But a lot of the big companies are looking at this urban mobility issue and turning to scooters as a possible solution for some people. BMW's C-series are selling better than expected. Yamaha has an MP3-like scooter coming out in Europe. So this is Kawasaki dipping their toe in without having to go through the expense of all the R&D.

There are some maxiscoots that sell well in Europe (T-Max was top selling model in 2012, SH300 does well) but 77% of 2012 scooters sold were under 125cc!

SonnyD · Post by **SonnyD** » Sat Nov 16, 2013 2:27 pm

Almost every time I see someone looking at those Downtown models at the local dealer, they complain about that seat. The scooter shop even has a "hook up" for having the hump removed. Last guy I saw looking at one moved his butt back to the rear section, and it fit him pretty good then

Post by **jrsjr** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 2:44 am

jrsjr wrote:
Lance Corona wrote:It's a Kymco in sheep's clothing.
... Besides, when Kawasaki design a new vehicle, the results are sometimes a bit "interesting." Be careful what you wish for, you know, you may get it.

See, I told you thusly.

Welcome to the MP3 - Kawasaki-style...

Modern Buddy

New Scooter From Kawasaki

New Scooter From Kawasaki

Re: New Scooter From Kawasaki

Re: New Scooter From Kawasaki