Hub got one part of KHI's psyche dead on.... "We are king of street bikes".
That began when the H1 was released. We had leaking, slow, heavy Harleys and a smattering of Guzzi and Ducati bikes amongst the wealthy. So basically there was this big hole on the street scene, and nobody was filling it.
What was missing was a bike that was relatively cheap, quite fast, very light, and low maintenance.
Behold the mighty H1 Mach III triple 2-stroke street terror. What I remember was putting the 2-stroke oil in the right side oil tank (it was an auto-injector) and how it bogged like crazy down low on the rpm range, but once you got it above 5k it was a lot of fun to ride. Above 9k it was frightening. Above 10k it was, for its weight, pulling your arms out of the sockets as good as the ZX14 today.
The frame was part of the suspension, it flexed like crazy. We started tearing them down and putting gussets in, and that included new, larger, bearings and flanges for the swing arms, and stronger swing arms too. Mine started to actually be predictable at speed in the twisties. But it still slid around like all get out.
This created KHI's psyche and self-image as a motorcycle manufacturer. Everyone was gagga over the H1. It was on all the magazine covers. "Behold the mighty H1" they said. I still have a copy, sealed in plastic, with the first ever review of the H1 in America, and the H1 on the cover.
KHI puffed up its collective chest and pounded on it like King Kong.
Fast forward to 2011. KHI is in process of being disabused of the King Kong way of thinking, but they don't know who they are right now.
Drag racers prefer Suzuki. Road racers prefer Honda and Yamaha and Ducati. Harley is actually taking back share in the cruiser and touring markets, as their 2010, 2011, and 2012 entries in those markets have 6 speed cruise transmissions (smoother than KHI bikes by far), floating disk brakes, flawless engines with tractor-like torque, and all the things cruisers and tourers like.
The Kawasaki Vulcan is not selling like hotcakes.
Right now, KHI has the C14, which is only a niche, but it does it well and the owners are fiercely loyal. They have the ZX14, which is old tech by now, but still undisputedly the King Kong bike on the street (speaking about stock bikes). And KHI has the mighty 2011 ZX10R, with the 2012 highly likely to be a refinement of the 2011, a fixing of minor problems and MORE power -- including the ability to get the power to the asphalt smoothly. Probably working on making it easier to ride, though compared to the 2005 ZX10R, the new one is quite easy to ride fast.
And throw the economy in Japan and USA on top of all of this technology evolution, and KHI just doesn't have the corporate WILL to freeze the C14 and Vulcan programs, and from some stuff outside motorcycle division, so they can spend the 100s of millions of dollars necessary to develop a competitive MotoGP bike. And then they still have to convince a good rider its worth leaving a team already doing pretty good.
I won't say KHI won't re-enter MotoGP one day, expecially as MotoGP begins doing things like banning caron fiber brakes and restricting the number of motors and horsepower of motors you can have, and maybe even a claiming rule (unless they already did it) which will keep factories from producing one-off starwars technolology engines just to take pole position.
Anyway we will know what KHI is about next WSB season. 2011 was their initial season with the new tech 10, and 2012 should be a year to podium a few times, and prove its a great roadrace bike.
For me, I'm sorry they couldn't make the big bang engine at low enough costs to be able to put it in a homologated retail bike. That I would have had to buy even if I'm no longer able to take advantage of the bike's capabilities. Just to feel the engine at speed.
Living the Gypsy Life
