LOL Hub...it's all in the family!

Whip, YOu should see my nephew drop his eye and start in. He almost reminds me of this bassboat guy. LOL

Dudes, you truly have me ROFLing over here. Neighbors are going to call the police on me tonight. Nice one 'whip.

Maybe one bike may have galled a piston; I haven't a clue. That means, very few other bikes will have that defect.

...and that's why if I had one in my possession, that is exactly where it would stay until we all knew the whole story. No way would I be trusting them to fix anything until it was known what the so called problem was. Either that or give my $$$ back so i can go buy a bimmer.

* Last updated by: Rook on 12/15/2010 @ 10:07 PM *

Rook, think about it. They would be the only ones to trust. They not only made the bike, they are holding so much HP back is to give you one of these.

Because they can.

You can catch a lot of HP without the euro-ping.

They not only made the bike, they are holding so much HP back is to give you one of these.

Trust- schmust. I would need to know what they were going to give me before I gave them what I got in the first place. No harm in waiting. You hand the bike over to Kaw, you won't be riding it much for a while either.

Say the problem was oil windage from cornering too hard on the track???---- Maybe you say to yourself, "OK- I'goiungto take my chances because I don't thinkI'm going to corner like I'm on a track. Maybe only 1 in 100 bikes will blow from oil starvation anyway. Owning a sportbike is all about risk. You eliminate all the risk you lose all the excitement. Reduce the risk you know you don't care to take AMAP.

Don't tell me you'd be handing over your new ZX-10 so quick, Hubmeister. You'd wait them out a while.

* Last updated by: Rook on 12/16/2010 @ 2:25 AM *

From what I've heard its a part problem not a design problem. Should be a fairly straightforward, if expensive and labor intensive fix. At least their fixing it up front and right away. I like that approach alot Too bad they couldn't fix the huge power loss the US bikes get while they're at it tho Kind of odd that they're the only company that took such a huge power loss to meet US restrictions I'm thinking better designing could have fixed that.

I put 2 grand on a bike as I beat and meet the TPS and now the factory wants it back? I receive a new bike once again. I was on a free loaner with all my cash back. What a deal! Like I said, the R&D does not have Huston worried. It's the outsourcing that is holding up production.

Thanks Hubster, I actually understood that and didn't go crosseyed in the process. One of the guys already posted a dyno report on his '11 and it is laying down 162 HP, one more than a typical third gen. With the tech hold, late release and soft power on the U.S. models(compared to BMW) I think this suckers already dead in the water . Unless there's a great bike lurking in there somewhere it looks like KMC really screwed the pooch on this one. Hubmeister, is this the first time a bike has been recalled and they actually pick the bike up rather than have a dealer fix it?

They could repair those at the distributors. Fly out a few crews to uncrate and repair. I don't see why not? Other times it's more you design a motorcycle engine before you build a car engine. That's the beauty of the bike engine. They can build tiny engines to see if they can apply later to cars, etc.

If they are pulling bikes off the floor and shipping them back, it can be as simple as a shredding party and start all over, rather than inventory all that crap as take off parts? You can't sell them as new. So, say the fleet of bikes could:

1. Be repaired in house.
2. Be repaired at the dealer.
3. Crushed and call it a day.

Rather than have that liability flying around, I'd destroy said production run.

Today on my way back from CT Scan, dropped in to my kwaka dealer, as far as the top guy said it's only an issue with the USA zx10r, sounds strange to me! but he said they aint recalling the ones here, dont shoot me, it's what he told me this morning. (4 hours ago)

* Last updated by: bean07 on 12/16/2010 @ 8:48 PM *

I saw somewhere that all the bikes in the UK are being included in the recall too. Don't know if that's actually true or not though.

Rather than have that liability flying around, I'd destroy said production run.

If the issue is barrel plating/piston/ring wear related then that's a big job to change out the topends. If done at the distributor level it would be a big mess, procure facilities here in the states, train and fly in key personnel, set up tooling and work stations, ship in repair parts, truck in the bikes, uncrate, disassemble, tag and destroy old parts, rebuild topends, quality control, paperwork ,recertify and dyno run, recrate and reship. A real logistics nightmare for a manufacturer and then you have to wonder if the customers will accept a repaired bike.

Not to mention you will not get the quality of a first build product straight from the manufacturer....period. I wouldn't want one of those bikes without a heavy, heavy discount.

Put 'em in the crusher, production lines are designed to build things, not take them back apart. KMC is going to destroy these bikes, the problem, whatever it is, is too great to deal with any other way.

BTW, this bike is already dead in the water. It would take an absolute world beater for this thing to make a comeback now and from early tests, at least here in the U.S., the bike is kind of ho-hum OK but not really lighting anyones fire. A Beemer beater it's not, at least in U.S. specs!

I really hope I called this one wrong, I bleed Kawasaki Green, everyone knows that but KMC screwed the pooch big time on this one.

The only hope now is for the Euro model which is still in the assembly/delivery pipeline. If those can be delivered free of defects and in a reasonable time frame and if....the big if...they perform with the BMW then this bike could come back strong here in the U.S. late this year or next year.

Kruz

Bean, dealers are notoriously about as reliable as homemade timebombs when it comes to information like this. I called several Kwacker dealers here in Dallas and got several differnet stories. The dealer I bought three of my bikes from was, in my opinion, totally honest and said that KMC wasn't telling anyone, anything yet. Whatever you hear is pure speculation and it's run the gamut from handling instability issues to lubrication problems and accelerated wear in the top end.

If you fit the pieces of the puzzle together based upon the credibility and placement of the folks doing the reporting though, it's appearing to be a cylinder/piston/ring wear issue. It is not a safety recall, it is a technical hold to resolve an ongoing issue that doesn't meet KMC's quality standards.

Trust me, the Japanese are very embarassed by all this, I wouldn't doubt it if a few hari-kari swords were brought out.

One of the guys already posted a dyno report on his '11 and it is laying down 162 HP

Done at a Harley shop, by a guy worried it would put down bigger #'s than his Busa, and only took it to 11500rpm's.

Not reliable #'s IMO.

Put 'em in the crusher, production lines are designed to build things, not take them back apart. KMC is going to destroy these bikes, the problem, whatever it is, is too great to deal with any other way.

Soon a pic like this will surface... only with 2011 10r's.

What's that...the back lot of a Harley dealer?Wouldn't surprise me they did it on purpose just to whack old Eric.Friggin losers.

That's a great final resting place for Buells IMHO. They should've put 'em in a crusher though, that way there's no chance of them getting back out on the street!

Seriously though, couldn't they just auction that junk off?

* Last updated by: Kruz on 12/17/2010 @ 1:02 PM *

Actually, I'm pretty sure that's a dumpster behind Eric's shop. I believe those bike were "test" bikes.

That's a great final resting place for Buells IMHO.

LOL. Actually, I've been lookin' for a good used Buell... keep ya posted.

Back on subject... anyone wanna go pirate some 2011 10r's enroute to Japan??? We could fit 3 or 4 of 'em on my boat.

* Last updated by: DogoZX on 12/17/2010 @ 1:02 PM *

Dogo, I think 11,500 is peak power on the U.S version, in order to pass our noise emissions they're severly restricted. This bike has loser written all over it and it could have been a huge success, Asphalt and Rubber magazine just announced the new '11 ZX-10R was the biggest seller in Great Britain in November even though they haven't even be released yet.

http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/

* Last updated by: Kruz on 12/17/2010 @ 1:10 PM *

Looks like Garth's hits just above 14k rpms (atleast indicated on factory tach). 174hp. Not bad. Not sure what he's done to his though. Removed secondaries??? From what I've gathered, that's what chokes out the U.S. version at 11500.

That link you posted has a vid of Garth topping out his 2011... that guy is gettin' famous.

* Last updated by: DogoZX on 12/17/2010 @ 1:31 PM *

Don't let kawi touch your 10 , Garth.

Removed secondaries??? From what I've gathered, that's what chokes out the U.S. version at 11500.

Trust me, the Japanese are very embarassed by all this, I wouldn't doubt it if a few hari-kari swords were brought out.

That's what's happenning to some poor SOB engineer at Kaw.

"I didn't think so."

* Last updated by: Rook on 12/17/2010 @ 3:58 PM *

It'll be interesting to see how this shakes out. Kawi might have just drove a whole bunch of hyped up (which they hyped themselves) ready to buy riders directly into BMW showrooms

That thought has crossed my mind too Bad in Black, could be the greatest thng to ever happen to BMW.

Apparently KHI just released a statement that the recall is due to "surging intake valve springs".

Anybody have any idea what that means?

What that means, ch00, is a more professional wording for the concept of valve float. And because it is only under racing conditions, they immediately addressed the post production snaffoo and all is well.