kawasaki factory r and d engineer and rider

[barnett468]

hi i am new to the site just thought i'd check it out. i'm an ex factory project engineer and pro motocross, 3 wheel and 4 wheel rider for kawasaki.
i did deveopment on all kawi products from 1983-1988. i don't really have a question just yet but if for some reason any you might have one for me please feel to ask anything at all and i will be happy to answer it to the best of my ability.


1-27-2013 added for thosae that had other questions

i have info on riders from brad lackey to jimmy white, jet skis and the boat project, police bikes, road race, rob muzzy, team green, dirt bikes, the mule, stealth projects etc. i will try to condense all answers. if you want a really short answer please let me know. there is a back story to every answer.

i have had a little time to check out the site and enjoy it a lot. lots of good info, lots of topics, very well laid out. best i have found!

thanks to all those that have had interest and questions in the many interesting things that went on behind closed doors at r and d. and thanks for the warm welcome to all those that have offered it.

[CodyRosa]

Wow Awesome! Welcome to 3WW. What trikes do you currently own? Or have owned in the past??

[Toaster556]

Awesome! Anything you can tell us about what Kawasaki had planned before the CPSA killed things?
Welcome!

[barnett468]

Wow Awesome! Welcome to 3WW. What trikes do you currently own? Or have owned in the past??

"none, quit riding a while back. i used the 84 ore production test bike for all my racing..uh i mean all my testing purposes untill we did the 86 model. also raced my friends suzuki quad. we didn't have one at the time".

thanks for asking

not for reprint

[barnett468]

Awesome! Anything you can tell us about what Kawasaki had planned before the CPSA killed things?
Welcome!

"this question always makes me so _____ happy! you'll be sorry you asked but i said i'd answer your questions.

i'm assuming you mean when the government stupidly outlawed 3 wheelers in 87 due to a bull___t highly biased 60 minutes television show that CLEARLY showed some stupid moron dad with a beer in his hand putting his poor 6 year old kid, who had never ridden before, on a trike and sending him off unsupervised and we watch the kid ride out blindly from behind stupid morons dad's van into a high speed traffic zone only to get totaled by another bike then 60 minutes stupidly, stupidly, stupidly, proudly demonstrably pontificated with authority that "see 3 wheelers are dangerous so they should be outlawed" instead of stating that stupid moron dad's and stupid people like him are clearly the cause of most 3 wheel accidents. Is that what you mean by cpsa? if 3 wheelers are so ______ dangerous then why don't they fall over when you let go of them like oh...uh... let's say MAYBE A ______ MOTORCYCLE? Guess they better outlaw junior's pedal trike to cause god knows when he rides off into the street while his parents are suckin back suds on the sofa [nothin wrong with that actually] and junior gets turned into hamburger helper by a 1967 buick station wagon fully loaded with all the neighbor kids while headin for the beach it will definitely be the 3 wheelers fault because if he didn't have one he couldn't have ridden it off into the street. so by this logic if junior simply runs out into the street and gets hit, then it's the tennis shoe mfg's fault. no shoes, can't run off into the street. see?

we had no plans other than to continue with the 86 model for 87 and hopefully they would give me the time to fix the steering head shake.

here's what happened at kawi. the feds came looking for the person responsible for developing the 3 wheeler and in the us that was me uh.. oh, so kawi told me to make myself scarce and they sacraficed the project engineer for the jet ski dept. this is so i would not be put into a compromising position under oath plus kawi new me very very well and wisely kept me far away from those _____ _______s. in short i would have not made the type of witness on the stand kawi was looking for. the guy from jet ski knew absolutely nothing about the three wheelers and he wasn't the brightest bulb in the lamp anyway. so all he could sort of honestly answer [ok he lied] under oath was that he knew nothing about them or any potential safety issues with them.

i heard honda planned to dump their unsold ones into the ocean to create an artificial reef, get a write off and probably a subsidy from the government. kawi on the other hand asked me to turn the 86 tecate into a 4 wheeler using as many 3 wheeler parts as possible. that's another story i'll gladly tell if someone wants to know!

thanks for asking are you sorry now?

not for reprint




---s6outlay outlawed 3 whkthem in

[loshe191]

Welcome. I like your response you are stating facts.

[barnett468]

Welcome. I like your response you are stating facts.

hello loshe191

"i truly appreciate your welcome and your support. my honesty has upset some others before, i'm really actually a very nice and [hopefully] funny guy. but if you ask me a question i'm gonna answer it. i ain't got time to beat around no bush [cause i'm too busy beatin the neighbors dog that just wheed on my mustang wheels]. just kidden, i actually sic my cat on em!

PS - peta members please don't send me any hate mail, geez".

not for reprint

[loshe191]

Do you have any pictures of the trike racing of the 80's.

[barnett468]

Do you have any pictures of the trike racing of the 80's.

"unfortunately no, i didn't think of taking any because i thought there would always be a tomorrow. if you go to youtube and search for jimmy white or marty hart loretta lynn. you can see a most xlnt 30 minute battle. the 86/87 models i developed got the top three holeshots with jimmy donnie and don't know who else. it was a sea of green".

thanks for asking

not for reprint

[barnett468]

loshe191

forgot to mention STOMPED the red things whatever they're called. lol

PS - again no hate mail please!

[MIK6]

Welcome to the site!!
Its cool to have the racers and developers from the 3wheeler days show up to the site and contribute!

MIK6/ Mike

[KI4UJO]

[QUOTE=barnett468;1190658
i heard honda planned to dump their unsold ones into the ocean to create an artificial reef, get a write off and probably a subsidy from the government. kawi on the other hand asked me to turn the 86 tecate into a 4 wheeler using as many 3 wheeler parts as possible. that's another story i'll gladly tell if someone wants to know! [/QUOTE]
Anyone want to do a scuba trip? I've always wanted an 87R.

[Swinger]

Awesome that you came to this site. Do you plan on throwing a leg over a machina again? I bet if you stay here long enough you will find it doesnt take much to get bitten or rebitten by the bug, ha ha! Welcome aboard and hope ya stick around.

[jeswinehart]

Hi Mike, welcome aboard.
Do you happen to recall how often the KIPS spur gear was changed during races ? Like was it after every run or after the whole meet was over,,, any input about those plastic gears used on the 87/88 Tecate quads ?

Thanks, john

[barnett468]

Welcome to the site!!
Its cool to have the racers and developers from the 3wheeler days show up to the site and contribute!

MIK6/ Mike

thanks for the post