kawasaki factory r and d engineer and rider

[M.Pargiello]

Well, looks like kawasaki did know what they were talking about. #1 is for honda I kid, I love hearing old stories from our President about the old bikes (I work for Kawasaki MidWest group) and even have a vintage KX I am restoring

[barnett468]

I would love to hear about it. I always wondered how the engineers decided how much horsepower, suspension travel, weight, etc. for a machine like that. The Tecate put out so much power stock. I would guess that they were designed to give people room to easily get more power out of them. Racers will sacrifice reliability for horsepower, and expect to rebuild engines. I always thought that the Honda and Kawasaki targeted each other. (Just a kids guess at the time, but they stood out for me.) Thanks.

hello t65h

"thanks for the question. i have to give you the abbreviated question. it worked like this. kawi did more development in the us than anyone else for some reason. basically the engineers design the bike on paper. this was before and during the advent of autocad. the math is the same but auto cad does a lot of it for you. all vehicles were designed and built in then sent here for testing to find the bugs and fix them. belive me thete are many and some very serious like frames cracking in half etc. test riding at the speeds i was going is very dangerous. i'll tell you the police bike story and hiw the original tecate came about later if you want. anyway what worked perfectly on paper never ever worked perfectly in reality. the higher performance the bike was the more work the prototype needed. take 84 tecate as an example. kawai would tell me what target market it was aimed at ie recreational or pure race etc. i would test all vehicles to max capacity to determine potential problems arising under worse case scenario. then i would test them for target purpose. all vehicles were also tested in water and high heat. the motors rarely needed much improvement other than carburetion etc. the suspension always needed work and the chassis too. i would fix them with what i had or could fabricate in house any special parts were made virtually overnight in japan and next day aired to me. very very cool. once i got it to a level i determined to be acceptable for production i would write my report and send it off. the next thing i saw was the pre production model for final testing. all vehicles went through a horrendous final endurance test".

hope this sort of answers your question. thanks

not for publication

[barnett468]

Well, looks like kawasaki did know what they were talking about. #1 is for honda I kid, I love hearing old stories from our President about the old bikes (I work for Kawasaki MidWest group) and even have a vintage KX I am restoring

"ow, "et tu mpargiello?"

"i like all brands and have owned all brands. some years and models are great some suck. my sole purpose and burning determination was to take the sometimes very rough prototypes kawi gave me keep improving them untill our bike would beat the honda no matter how many 6 and 7 10 hour a days it took. results jimmy white national champ on a first year bike, virtually unheard of. the design engineer did a fantastic job i can tell that story later if you want".

thanks

not for publication

[Jwmajic]

count me in!

Do you need a hand I'll help out for a few frames and parts.

[barnett468]

Do you need a hand I'll help out for a few frames and parts.

hello jwmajic

unfortunately that list went around the block. actually i would frequently hire my friends to test when i needed xtra sacrificial bodies and force them to do the grueling million hour endurance tests with me.

thanks

[Jwmajic]

I was replying to the guy who was talking about going scuba diving for some Honda's. I forgot to use the reply with quote button sorry about the confusion. Your making me wish I was your friend back in the day I'd love to ride all day on a bike you wanted broken.

[barnett468]

I was replying to the guy who was talking about going scuba diving for some Honda's. I forgot to use the reply with quote button sorry about the confusion. Your making me wish I was your friend back in the day I'd love to ride all day on a bike you wanted broken.

no problem yeah you can bet it was fun. kinda nuts huh? here's the deal if i broke it i got to go back to air conditioned shop.

[barnett468]

no problem yeah you can bet it was fun. kinda nuts huh? here's the deal if i broke it i got to go back to air conditioned shop.

ps you needed good health insurance imagine the suspension or footpegs breaking at 60 mph off a big jump!

[M.Pargiello]

"ow, "et tu mpargiello?"

"i like all brands and have owned all brands. some years and models are great some suck. my sole purpose and burning determination was to take the sometimes very rough prototypes kawi gave me keep improving them untill our bike would beat the honda no matter how many 6 and 7 10 hour a days it took. results jimmy white national champ on a first year bike, virtually unheard of. the design engineer did a fantastic job i can tell that story later if you want".

thanks

not for publication

i thought it was funny, nothing serious by it. I like all machines as well, and like you said, some are better than others. I will ride anything haha. Always good to have the people that paved the way for this sport come here and share!

[Jwmajic]

no problem yeah you can bet it was fun. kinda nuts huh? here's the deal if i broke it i got to go back to air conditioned shop.

That job has to rank up there with porn star.

[barnett468]

That job has to rank up there with porn star.

don't know about that but i sure wish i did.

short funny story. i worked at norm reeves motorcycles, there was an "escort" house just down the street and they always had cameras and scantily clad girls running back and forth across the street. you can bet i had to test ride by there every day

[barnett468]

i thought it was funny, nothing serious by it. I like all machines as well, and like you said, some are better than others. I will ride anything haha. Always good to have the people that paved the way for this sport come here and share!

no problem i didn't take it that way at all. i enjoy the abuse! lol. i was actually going to work for honda before i left kawi because i would have made twice as much! then i would be a honda fan but i did somnething else instead.

thanks

[barnett468]

mpargiello

would have been fun to hire marty hart or dean sundahl or the other crew for the endurance tests.

[just ben]

who was the genius in that designed the tecate ignition system?

[barnett468]

who was the genius in that designed the tecate ignition system?

hello just ben thanks for the question.

"i am not quite sure exactly what you are talking about so please, please ket me know the EXACT problem you have had and i can probably answer you in specific detail. i would love to hear about it. all ignitions were designed by japan with cost considerations in mind. i was not allowed to do much to them. i did do what i could with the stocker. the original test one had NO REV LIMITER while that would obviously be anyone riders preference including mine [man that sucker would sing] japan decided that the potential warranties they would incuur by allowing it to rev to the universe and beyond were not worth the additiinal power and rpm that was gained without it. keep this in mind. jimmy white, donnie luce and chris white all ran stock ignitions and won many races and a few national championships with them. so in regards to all aspects of the ignition whether i liked it or not it was good enough. if you are referring to the incessant detonation a stock bike has i will gladly answer that if you need".

ps i like your little yellow beer guys.

thanks again.

not for publication