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Kenny
MCUSA - Editorial Director



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Total Posts : 460
  		   Posted 7/25/2007 11:11 AM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
We recently took a week long Tour of Japan with Kawasaki as part of a special media event put on by Big Green. The tour included a look at the motorcycle manufacturing plant, the ship building facility and the rolling stock manufacturing plant as well. Did you know Kawasaki built Bullet Trains or Cargo Ships? For the next week we will post reports stuffed with hard to get photos of the inner working of Kawasaki Heavy Industries. It was a great time so hopefully you will have fun reading along with us. Oh yeah, each report will have a Blog update on Page 2 that will include a candid look at the events surrounding the tour.

I like to think of Jesus like, with giant eagles wings, and singin' lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band and I'm in the front row and I'm hammered drunk!

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gagster
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  		   Posted 7/25/2007 2:43 PM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.

I always wanted to go to Japan.  I hear everything is very expensive there.  Kawasaki sure has produced some fantastic crotch rockets from the original H3 triple to the ninjas to the ZX-14.  The purple and lime green color schemes are gorgeous and they know how to build a bike that sounds awesome too.  Usually a little rough around the edges, they put in a lot of what some call "character".  Still wish I'd NEVER sold my 2000 ZX9R.

This is an interesting article.  Lucky bums.... getting sakied and dined by the likes of the Big K.  What you need to do when you get back stateside is give them a really nasty review of their next flagship model.

 

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Scurlock
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  		   Posted 7/26/2007 5:44 AM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Cool article Ken, can't wait to read the rest of it. I never was interested in going to japan until a few months ago when I saw a japanese cycle trader style magazine. It was a fat book and it comes out every single week. Best of all it was chock full of 2-stroke streetbikes. Schoolgirls, sushi and 2-strokes??? Sounds like paradise to me.
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realfastbill
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  		   Posted 7/26/2007 7:43 AM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Thanks, I'm looking forward to the rest of the blog. I'm a huge life long Kawi fan.
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Kenny
MCUSA - Editorial Director



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  		   Posted 7/26/2007 11:08 AM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Glad to hear you kids are enjoying the story. Wait till you see the pictures of the food we ate on days 2-3. It was interesting... to say the least...

Realfast: You would have been in heaven at the Good Times World. So many classic bikes there: Russel's ZX7 from WSB and Suzuka 8 hour championships....Yvone Duhamel's bikes...the list goes on.

I like to think of Jesus like, with giant eagles wings, and singin' lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band and I'm in the front row and I'm hammered drunk!

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bmadson
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  		   Posted 7/27/2007 12:50 PM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Part 2 of our Kawasaki Japanese adventure is ready for your perusal.
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gagster
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  		   Posted 7/27/2007 3:12 PM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Land of the Rising Sun...fast bikes and faster women.  Seriously, I knew Kawasaki was into heavy industries big time and has airplane building experience, but I didn't know they built bridges, too.  I figured their production lines were very automated, just as you did Ken, but I guess they have a fanatically loyal, and talented work force instead.  I've noticed those sweet human made welds on the aluminum frames.  Very nice.  There are a lot of things to admire about the Japanese people.  I'm sure glad Kawasaki has always put an emphasis on performance.  One of my friends always called my ZX9R the "Kamikaze bike". 
 
This is a great website.  It's free and yet it gives me all the info I need to stay on top of my favorite hobby.  Thanks to you guys, I love to walk into a dealership and know more about the bikes than most of the salesmen.  I don't flaunt it to them, but keep my mouth shut and chuckle to myself.      
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jimmihaffa
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  		   Posted 7/29/2007 4:19 PM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Prior to reading this second installment, I had wanted to comment on the very thing noted in this article.  I once saw a video of production at Kawasaki and was also amazed at how much work is done by human hands.  I too envisioned fancy robotics doing all the welds and manufacture, and was surprised to see how a craftsman was basically welding a subframe together manually.  After the welds were applied you'd see the frame go into a cooling tank, after which it was examined and hammered some.  Hard to believe that this method of manufacture can lead to bikes being built at a price point and with modern day standards of reliability, but hey, all the more power to them...Kawasaki makes great bikes.
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bmadson
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  		   Posted 8/7/2007 3:59 PM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Ken delivers part 3 of his Japanese adventures, check out Touring Japan with Kawasaki - Part 3
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Kenny
MCUSA - Editorial Director



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  		   Posted 8/8/2007 8:52 AM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Domoarigato Mr. El Barto... I am an idiot, I know. But part three of this epic saga is in the books now so let me know if you have any questions or comments. The big boats are crazy and insane - especially when you're on or under them (It that way with a lot of things ey?). Anyway, we saw the biggest 2-stroke motors around and the ships they power. We saw fast trains and crazy machine shops building jet engines and more. AFter that we had dinner witth the VP of Kawasaki in the penthouse where we ate some...um...stuff....then we hit the streets for a taste of another side of Japan.

I like to think of Jesus like, with giant eagles wings, and singin' lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band and I'm in the front row and I'm hammered drunk!

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Scurlock
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  		   Posted 8/10/2007 5:34 AM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
"Pureed tongue and raw sea urchin" Mmmm...
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Kenny
MCUSA - Editorial Director



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Date Joined Apr 2003
Total Posts : 460
  		   Posted 8/14/2007 3:47 PM (GMT -8)    Quote This PostAlert An Admin About This Post.
Raw horse meat. Dead shark. Umbrella girls, drunk sumo wrestlers dancing together and jamaican hookers attack us from all fronts in this episode...check it out: Kawasaki Tour: The Final Chapter

I like to think of Jesus like, with giant eagles wings, and singin' lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band and I'm in the front row and I'm hammered drunk!

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