Kawasaki Research Meeting tonight?

[MrGrumpy]

Talking of mid capacity bikes and as we are scooterists so do not have preconceived and biased views, what do we all think of this: http://www.wkbikes.com/650cc_motorbikes_wk-650tr.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
They are currently on offer at £4899 + OTR
It looks like a real bargain to me.

Yes - I did toy with one of those. And it comes with sensible sized and properly designed panniers! I'd love to see some sort of long term test to see how reliable it was and whether it could put with a normal British winter. But at the end of the day, I don't really want a conventional manual transmission, chain drive bike.

[DougL]

Unfortnately, I didn't realise the purpose of the meeting was to concentrate on something new from the big K. No time to talk about anything else and I've signed a confidentiality agreement, so I can't say anything here. It was high level, as there were a fair few Japanese bigwigs there...

[michaelphillips]

Unfortnately, I didn't realise the purpose of the meeting was to concentrate on something new from the big K. No time to talk about anything else and I've signed a confidentiality agreement, so I can't say anything here. It was high level, as there were a fair few Japanese bigwigs there...

something new i know a new scooter

[Capt. R Swipe]

Who the hell are WK? Sounds like cheap Chinese cr*p, masquerading as something looking good. I'll stick with what we have and know, including the SYMs and KYMCOs of this world.

[wozza]

Who the hell are WK? Sounds like cheap Chinese cr*p, masquerading as something looking good. I'll stick with what we have and know, including the SYMs and KYMCOs of this world.

Wk stands for White Knuckle (Cf moto in disguise)They also import a major brand of quad bike. They will have a proper warranty, so no worries about purchasing one.
The 650 also races at the IOM TT.

[gn2]

Who the hell are WK?

IoM paddock 1959: who the hell are Honda?

[Capt. R Swipe]

Oh, come gn2, we all know Honda. You ain't answered my straightforward question now, have you?

I don't give a stuff if WK Printers or Bikes have raced at the IOM, mid 20th century. My point is who are they regards the utilitarian and leisure bike/scooter market and you know what I meant!

Oh, 'I must pop down to my local WK motorcycle dealers' this weekend.

[michaelphillips]

there are a lot of asian/far east manufacturers etc where you just google to find info they have been going for donkeys years, the indian market has seen honda show interest since 1983 when they joined with hero.. yet Hero could not export from india as part of the deal...Yet there split in 2010 from Hero and Hero becoming Heromotocorp
hero bought the 25% shares back of honda... now they have 46% of indian market which is huge and production of hybrids scooters and concepts electric.. take a look below the world of scoots is bigger than you think
http://www.heromotocorp.com/en-in/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.motorcycle-usa.com/750/18017 ... ncept.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.bikewale.com/hero-bikes/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

you can now get the 50cc and 125cc vespa type scoot for £1095 brand new in the UK, and 250cc scoots £1795 brand new made in Poland called the ROMET in the UK ... so be better than the chinese as they are a big company in europe links below if you want a scoot to commute but dont cost the earth.. just take the stickers off
http://www.romet.pl/en/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROMET-MAXI-25 ... 19eb983fe0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ROMET-RETRO-7 ... 19eb984003" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[gn2]

Oh, come gn2, we all know Honda.

We do now but strange as it may seem, in 1959 no-one had heard of them, they were less known than WK Bikes are now.
I can remember idiots slagging off "Jap crap", it seems like it was only yesterday....
Where's the British motorcycle industry now? Thailand.

You ain't answered my straightforward question now, have you?

WK Bikes is a UK brand name of CF Moto, a Chinese company who build 600,000 vehicles a year.

I don't give a stuff if WK Printers or Bikes have raced at the IOM. My point is who are they regards the utilitarian and leisure bike/scooter market and you know what I meant!

Oh, 'I must pop down to my local WK motorcycle dealers' this weekend.

You shouldn't have too much difficuty finding a dealer, where I live there are more WK Dealers than Piaggio, Ducati, Harley Davidson and BMW combined.

[Bluebottle]

IoM paddock 1959: who the hell are Honda?

Very True
Everybody mocked Japan for making cheap, poor copies and sat around thinking up new jokes about them
Meanwhile the Japanese quietly improved and decimated everybody else's auto industry

Time to take the chinese seriously