Kawasaki plays host to Tom Sykes in Japan

For the first time since securing the 2013 World Superbike title, Kawasaki Racing Team rider, Tom Sykes, has visited the Kawasaki factory in Akashi, Japan.

Site of a huge Kawasaki motorcycle production facility, the enormous Akashi works complex is additionally home of the company’s racing research and development department who were keen to congratulate the Ninja rider who won nine of the 27 races in the 2013 WSBK Championship series.

Eager to thank all those who played a part in his success, Sykes also wanted to meet as many Kawasaki employees as possible during his brief stay in Japan. With the privilege of a factory tour – along with the Kawasaki Motors Europe Race Planning Manager (Steve Guttridge) and the Manager of the Kawasaki Racing Team (Guim Roda) and crew chief (Marcel Duinker) – Tom saw a variety of machines being built.

L>R Marcel, Tom, Steve and Guim 

For many production line and quality assurance staff, the chance to meet the person humorously referred to as “Mr Kawasaki” was a rare treat. Many were ready with personal items for the World Champion to sign and to have the opportunity of being photographed with the 28 year old rider from Huddersfield in Yorkshire.

“I have an engineering background myself”, commented Tom. “To see bikes being made and witness the skill of the workers plus their amazing attention to detail was really fascinating. There were plenty of Ninja ZX-10R’s being made for markets across the world and the production line workers took the chance to have a group photo taken which was really a really nice moment"   

On the production line

                                                                                                                                                                From the factory floor, Tom and his entourage were also allowed another rarely granted privilege, a chance to visit part of the Kawasaki motorcycle collection housed within the buildings at the entrance to vast manufacturing complex that also produces industrial robots and gas turbines as well as aviation and aerospace components.

“I got a chance to see one of our former Superbikes, a lovely ZX-7RR ridden to a memorable double WSBK victory by Hitoyasu Izutsu at Sugo, Japan in 2000, the same year he won the Japanese Superbike Championship. To be honest, if you left me with the display of historic bikes for a whole day I would not have minded. That said, there was a tight schedule to stick to and some important people to meet”.

Racing legends

Among those keen to shake Tom’s hand was Mr Shigehiko Kiyama, President of Kawasaki Heavy Industries Motorcycle & Engine Company. Taking time from his busy schedule, Mr Kiyama discussed Tom’s racing season and numerous victories with both Tom and his Crew Chief, Marcel Duinker.

Meeting Mr Kiyama

At the end of the meeting, Mr Kiyama congratulated Tom once more and presented him with an ornate and highly prized Samurai helmet, a gesture of thanks from the entire Kawasaki family. Speaking after the presentation Mr Kiyama said.

Samurai helmet gift from KHI

"KHI was delighted to play host to World Superbike Champion, Tom Sykes in Japan. All Kawasaki family members would like to congratulate Tom and the Kawasaki Racing Team on their outstanding achievement".

Shakey and Stalker in the KRC Spotlight

Recently Kawasaki Riders Club members were given a chance to ask their Superbike heroes some questions. From the hundreds of brilliant, funny – and sometimes left field – questions five lucky winners were selected and their questions put to a brace of the most popular, long-serving and successful Superbike riders to have ever swung a leg over a Ninja, Shane “Shakey” Byrne and Chris “The Stalker” Walker. Here is what they said:

Adrian Knight asked:

“What are the happiest memories of your career so far, and also which memories would you most like to forget!?  Also, who would you say is the toughest rider you have raced against?”

Shane Byrne Answered:

“Well, that’s three questions in one LOL, I’d love to say my happiest memories of my career are yet to come!! Winning my 1st race, my Brands Hatch WSB double and last year’s final round are pretty high up there though!!

Double Brands Win

In terms of lows (not Lowes – ha ha), 2000 was a pretty bad year, I got hurt bad a lot that year, a broken back and a split liver in two separate crashes!!!

Toughest rider, not too sure to be honest, I think if you’re a clean rider you get ridden cleanly against. I remember Ruben Xaus trying to stripe me a couple of times, a BIG block pass put paid to that, what goes around comes around!!!

Xaus comes off second

Chris Walker’s response:

Happiest memory? Easily the World Superbike Win at Assen. Pouring rain and went off just after the start. It was a fairy tale race. I literally rode from last to first having just got engaged to Rachel the week before!

Victory at Assen

Time to forget? My time on the Shell Advance Honda in 500GP's – too many maybe’s and too many disappointments to make up for the excitement of being in GP’s.

A time to forget

Toughest rider? So many people think they are tough but it’s a tough business anyway so it takes something special to stand out as being exceptional. For my money, the “never give up” attitude of Troy Bayliss stands out. Whatever he rode, he rode it to win… and who can forget him coming out of retirement and winning a MotoGP race – now that’s tough!

Bayliss is super tough

Simon Lee was keen to find out what advice the pair of Kawasaki veterans had for those just starting out saying: If someone was starting out in competitive racing what would be the best advice you could give them from your own wealth of experience?'

Chris Walker is typically enigmatic saying: “I now work with young up & coming racers at the Chris Walker Race School. The advice I always give them is you have to be prepared to lose to win. It’s a learning curve, I am still learning…. If I don’t qualify well, or do as well in the race as I expected to, I don’t just turn my back, I analyse it and learn from it.

Shakey is more succinct commenting:

“I guess you have to have a dream and follow it. Listen to only those you know and trust because all paddocks are full of know it all’s that are full of sh*t!!

A welcome question from David Cook who wanted to know: Of all the great motorcycle riders, which one would you like to have raced against?'

Considering his light the blue touch paper style – no surprise that Shakey nominates all action hero and recent Suzuka 8 Hour returnee, Kevin Schwantz.

Schwantz never gave up

For Chris Walker the chance to reflect on one of the highlights of his brief 500cc GP career: “Rossi...& I have! He is a legend!

Stalker has raced the greats

Still on the subject of past glories Alan Pucknell asked 'If there is one race in your career that you could go back and race in again, for whatever reason, good or bad, which one would it be?'

With his own memories of GP’s (after a stint in the early MotoGP paddock) Shane Byrne nominated a memorable Italian round saying:

“Mugello Moto GP 2004. I got up to 4th place right behind some Italian guy called Valentino. I tried too hard and made a big mistake at the final turn and dropped to 10th at the finish, still in the points but not where I should have ended up:

Byrne had a year in MotoGP

If anyone thinks Chris Walker would give an answer other than this then they might as well pack up and go home:

Donington British Superbikes 2000 - last round, last race... All I needed was a valve spring retainer to last another five laps & I would have been British Superbike Champion. What would I change? Simple: I'd make sure the modified updated ones that Suzuki sent us the week after were already fitted!

But for a broken spring eh...

The final question for our racing legends Patrick Mead asked about the ever-present issue of rider safety:

 'While we all accept racing can be dangerous and no one likes to see riders get hurt, if there was one thing you could change to help protect riders what would it be?'

Pragmatically, Shane Byrne reflected on the modern pressures of racing saying:

“I'd take away the pressure riders get put under to return too quickly whilst still injured, it's a cut throat business racing bikes, the second your off your bike someone else will be back handily trying to get on it”

And, for Chris Walker, the amusing yet wholly understandable plea for riders to have:

“Free BUPA private health care”

With thanks to:

Simon Lee, Patrick Meads, David Cook ,Alan Pucknell and Adrian Knight. Plus, of course, Shane “Shakey” Byrne and Chris “Stalker” Walker

Kawasaki Riders Club

DragonMotoTours – Touring Season 2013, The Story So Far….

So far this year the Versys 1000 mounted team at DragonMotoTours have completed five of their planned ten motorcycle tours, two in the UK and three in Europe.  Here is a summary of the action in their own words.

On all of our tours we’ve had a great variety of bikes, people, weather and roads although the over-riding factor has been everyone’s enjoyment of motorcycling and sharing the experience with other like-minded people.

The UK tours have seen us spending three days in Mid Wales in early May and four days at the end of May riding through Northumberland.   We’ve toured Mid Wales on a couple of occasions and some of our clients this year have been with us before, they clearly enjoy the roads that this part of the UK has to offer!

Brecon Beacons

Northumberland was new on our programme this year and we were blessed with excellent weather for our two main ride-out days.   

Deserted Northumberland Roads

Taking tea - all part of the fun

We had a number of experienced tourers with us and yet none of them had ridden through Kielder and were blown away with the open road which flows through the largest forest and alongside the largest artificial lake in the UK.  On the Sunday we visited Lindisfarne crossing the narrow causeway which is governed by the tides before heading into the lower reaches of the Scottish Borders riding by the White Adder Reservoir stopping for lunch and coffees along the way.

For our first tour into Europe, we went to Northern France for four days.  We had a “first” on this tour with no pillions.  Including Jan (from DragonMoto), we had five lady riders and 45% of the clients had never ridden abroad before making this particular tour ideal to show them what Europe has to offer.  Many motorcyclists ride through Northern France on the autoroute to destinations further afield, but they are missing out on wonderful open roads, very little traffic and great places to visit such as the Caverne du Dragon, the old race circuit at Reims and the stunning chateau at Pierrefonds.

The old track at Reims

In early July we ran a six day tour to one of our favourite regions for motorcycling – the French and Swiss Jura mountains.  Another “first” on this tour – all male riders and no pillions.  Over 50% of the guys with us had not ridden abroad and we had a wide variety of bikes too - even had a 30 year old Honda “Nighthawk”. The great thing about the Jura is that it has such a fantastic mix of roads, tight twisties, wide open hairpins, mountains, valleys, lakes – the area is just stunning and we ‘re back there next year as we love it so much!

Typical old Harz village

The Jura mountains

Most recently we’ve been on a ten day tour through the Harz Mountains in Germany and the Northern Vosges in eastern France.  Unbelievable weather with temps rising to 30⁰ at times!   This was a destination tour where we stayed for 3 nights in the Harz and 3 nights in the Vosges with some transition days in between.  In Germany we had ride-outs through the Western and the Eastern Harz, two contrasting areas with meadowland and low lying hills in the West and mountains in the East, along all of our routes we encountered scenic villages and towns interspersed with great riding roads. 

Staying in the Northern Vosges, we were able to ride the roads over the Col Du Donon, with 11km of endless flowing bends rising to the highest point in this region.  We visited Dabo which is home to a wonderful little chapel which has 360⁰ views over the region.

In the Vosges

Coming up we have tours of South Wales, France & Italy (which is a repeat of the tour we did in 2012), ten days through Wales, Ireland and Scotland, a tour of the Eifel region in Germany and a 3 day tour of North Wales in October….. Plenty to keep us busy and to entice riders to join us!

Fairytale Chateau

A Dragon in the Emerald Isle - Versys touring in Ireland

Dragon Moto-Tours run accompanied touring events across the UK and Europe. They have chosen the Versys 1000  as their lead bike, Kawasaki News UK caught up with them after their most recent event in Ireland.
 

Since buying the Versys 1000 in August 2012 it has now covered in excess of 12,000 miles and just over 1,000 of these have been over a recent 6 day tour to Ireland and if you want a few days away this is a great part of the world to visit on two wheels, offering you a good mix of roads, routes and scenery.

Our visit to Ireland took us first over to Dun Laoghaire and then a ride north to pay a visit to Phillip McCallen motorcycles in Lisburn where he sells Kawasaki’s as well as other machines.  We got a great welcome from Sam McClure the General Manager and Phillip was also on site and we had a photo taken alongside some of his racing leathers which are now on display in his shop. 

 

Just some of Phillip McCallen's mementos

 

From here we rode onto watch practice for the Cookstown 100 road race which proved to be an exciting afternoon, first time we’ve experienced any road racing and will certainly not be the last.  Our ride to east of Belfast to our hotel from Cookstown was an interesting one in torrential rain and a howling gale – at one point the bikes were blown sideways by the gusts of wind but even fully luggaged, the Versys handled extremely well.

On the Saturday we rode on a 200 mile route around Strangford Loch and the stunning scenery of the Mourne Mountains before heading towards Larne and inland through the Bann Valley.  There were several changes of terrain for our route this particular day, we had motorway, single carriageway, some gravel tracks, country roads and coastal routes – the Versys is a perfect all-rounder for this variety of roads and extremely comfortable.

 

A quiet moment by Strangford Loch

  After a couple of days in Northern Ireland we rode across to Enniskillen and onto the West Coast and the stunning scenery of County Clare which was to be our base for the next two nights.  We had a 285 mile ride on the Sunday to our hotel in some very blustery and wet conditions so when 35mph winds were forecast for the following day, Jan decided to ride pillion and use the opportunity to take some photos “on the move”. 

We rode to the Cliffs of Moher which are just awesome and well worth a visit (so good we are taking a tour there in May 2014!). 

Now that's what you call cliffs !

The promised high winds came in but they were fortunately devoid of much rain and any dark clouds that rolled in over the sea soon passed by.  We continued to ride around the spectacular coast line (*photo4) and over The Burren which is the largest karst landscape in Europe – a very eerie rock formed area with spectacular riding roads and scenery. 

Spectacular coast roads beckon

We then rode alongside the Shannon Estuary before a final photo opportunity by the coast  and back to our hotel for our final night before returning to Holyhead on the Tuesday.

This was a short trip with not only a mix of roads and terrain but varying weather conditions.  The performance of the Versys 1000 was never in doubt and the fuel range is excellent when on the ride to County Clare the 240 mile range was tested and proved correct!!! 

The trusty Versys 1000

Since August 2012 the Versys has covered over 12,000 miles and continues to make us smile.

 

To find out more, go to: www.dragonmototours.co.uk

Z800: Kawasaki reveals its super middle-weight secrets

As trend-setters and sales leaders in the vibrant middle-weight naked class, Kawasaki has enjoyed unrivalled success with its Z750 super-naked Streetfighter style machine with over 125,000 units sold so far in Europe.

Bringing the new Z800 and Z800 e version to a fiercely competitive marketplace, the company has drawn heavily on its engineering and styling expertise to create machines that look set to continue Kawasaki’s class dominance.

Now – in response to significant media and public interest – the engineers and designers have stepped into the lime-light to add a new and interesting dimension to the Z800 story. In their own words, they have been keen to explain what the very essence of Z means; and how the forty year dynasty of the Z family blends with their approach to a cutting-edge machine expected to lead the market in terms of style and sales.

Matching the traditional Japanese notion of team work with an additional focus on highlighting individual talented engineers and designers, the Z800 project has pushed the Z family boldly forwards without losing the essential Kawasaki DNA as Head Designer, Keishi Fukumoto, explains.

“With the Z750 as a starting point, we wanted to take a step aside and consider the meaning of Z for Kawasaki. As one of the most popular bikes in Europe – and a machine that many other manufacturers have tried to emulate – the Z750 deserved a worthy successor.

First designs were sketched in Paris

Because of this European focus, we considered key words in several European languages that we felt described the attributes of the Z family and started our thinking from there.

Two key words emerged over all others, form and ferocity. These words helped dictate the image of the bike as a whole, its entity and personality; in other words its reason for existing”.

As Project Leader in charge of engine and development, Hideheko Yamamoto was keen to integrate the design ethos into the way the engine and chassis performed. 

“Already the Z750 had established a reputation as easy to ride around town and on sporty twisting raids. European customers told us that power and acceleration is a key attribute so, with an increased engine size and short gearing, we improved the acceleration feeling in some key areas such as low and intermediate road speeds.

By increasing the bore rather than the stroke of the engine we have delivered even more Z power feeling and enhanced the character of the machine.

In terms of the chassis we concentrated on the rider ergonomics and suspension settings. While the Z800 and Z800 e version may look extreme, we wanted a natural riding position so that every ride would prove enjoyable.

As an example, by ensuring that the area immediately behind the fuel tank was narrow, the rider’s knees are brought closer together which gives excellent response, feedback and manoeuvrability.”

The aggression is obvious

For Mr Fukumoto (who has worked in the field of motorcycle design for 25 years) and the Kawasaki in house design department, the narrow mid-section of the machine was also important as they wanted the centre of the bike – particularly the fuel tank area – to accentuate the trademark Z forward inclined stance.  Ultimately this would provide the perfect backdrop for the essential “face “ of the machine, its headlamp and instrument cowling. Having resolved this, Fukumoto asserts that the rest of the design began to suggest itself.

“In total up to 300 design sketches were made with many amendments and rejections…. I kept asking myself “is this good enough?” – we did not simply rely on our own opinions, we also asked other staff members to contribute.

Our target customer is European and in their 30’s and has a keen eye for motorcycle design – our research showed that they would use a Z800 or Z800 e version for everyday riding and for touring at weekends.

For use as a commuting machine we took usability into account. We tried to keep the design elements simple as this is a naked bike. All parts, surfaces and materials need to harmonise – as an example the sub-frame on the side of engine needs to integrate with the engine even if it is made from a different material.”

Naturally with a considerable Z heritage – and a highly successful machine in the form of the Z750  - the perception of the new machine would be crucial to its success as  Fukumoto explains.

“Of course we study trends but, equally, we don’t want the machine to have only short term appeal – the design must be an evolution of Z not a revolution.

Following the Z750 this bike has very big shoes to fill, the design had to have substance and integrity so we were not obsessed necessarily with what looked simply “cool” or “trendy”.

Things are taking shape

With the design direction signed off and scale models sculpted, the early physical manifestation of the latest machines in the Z line were built and testing began, as Hideheko Yamamoto  explains.

“A clear goal was to deliver even better handling and stability than the Z750. The suspension components, their action when riding and general settings were all improved, so too rider comfort. In fact, even first test model showed good engine and chassis performance which was encouraging.

As these goals were quickly attained we spent a greater part of the time focusing on comfort and ride feeling. The whole team are happy with what we have achieved.”

Clay model sees sunlight

As spokesmen for an enthusiastic and dedicated team of designers and engineers, it is clear that Fukumoto and Yamamoto have a shared passion for creating new and innovative motorcycles.

Equally, their desire to reflect the Kawasaki’s heritage and Z family spirit has obviously influenced the design direction of the Z800. Undoubtedly Kawasaki fans will be just as eager to see the fruits of their labours in terms of the next generation of machines currently under development.

The distinctive "face" of the Z800

Click here for the Z800 Microsite