Manufacturer Profile - Kawasaki
Getting Down and Dirty for More than a Century
Most of our manufacturers’ profiles follow a familiar path: a company starts out a couple decades ago as one or two enthusiasts coming up with an innovative solution to a 4x4 problem. They try out their gadget on an off-road trek, or maybe a race venue — the dustier the better. Scene two: we see these guys in a garage cranking out the “Big Idea” for their buddies. Fast forward and the garage has exploded into 100,000-or-so square feet of industrial space employing a couple hundred with sales worldwide. Then there’s Kawasaki.
Shozo Kawasaki opened a shipyard in 1878 — 130 years ago — alongside the Samidagawa River in Tokyo. Riding the wave of industrialization over the next 100 years, give or take a few, the company expanded, building plants that generated nearly every form of energy, producing everything that moved on water, air and land — including the company’s first motorcycle in 1961 manufactured by the Kawasaki Aircraft Co., Ltd. In the mid-1960s the wave lapped onto the American shores when an expedition was sent to tap into the motorcycle market. Not exactly a garage but almost as funky, the first facility was an old meat warehouse in Chicago. In 1966, the operation was named American Kawasaki Motorcycle Corp.
Two years later, the Windy City’s warehouse was abandoned and the company, already a notable contender in the high-performance bike market with rotary-valve twins named Samurai and Avenger, headed to sunny Irvine, California. While foreign vehicles manufactured on American soil are common today, Kawasaki pioneered the concept in 1974 with factories in Lincoln, Nebraska and Maryville, Missouri. For the legions of ATV enthusiasts, this lengthy lineage is sec-ondary. What they’ll tell you is that the best way to enjoy the backcountry is in close proximity. And that’s what Kawasaki’s line of off-road toys offers: listening to the wind instead of the annoying chirps of a cell phone. While Jeeps, Broncos, and similar SUVs are great 4x4 rigs, there’s still that separation between you and the world you’re traveling through. You could set out on foot or horseback, but feet have their limitations and horses are, well... they’re horses.
ATVs put you in contact with the scenery without giving your feet blisters or tossing you to the ground and crapping on you. What could be better? So where do you go from here in a discussion of a company that created the Jet Ski and the Mule — different terrain, but both synonymous with their specific motorized genre. You pretty much have to fast forward, once again, and take a look at Kawasaki’s recent innovations. Thankfully, those milestones are provided by Justin Dawes, Kawasaki’s media relations coordinator, each fall. Yes, the ATV industry that started haltingly with massive balloon tires and required an entire vocabulary of body language to steer now has multiple offspring — all with conventional tires, some with rackand- pinion steering. Kawasaki’s race-ready sport ATV, the KXF450R, features the first aluminum perimeter frame by a major manufacturer, plus a reverse gear for seamless maneuverability.
The all-aluminum frame provides dual benefits-lighter weight and greater strength. The 449cc liquid cooled, DOHC, four-stroke single cylinder engine with massive low- and medium-range torque is based on the World Champion KX 450 motocross powerplant. The digital fuel injection provides consistent performance, even if you’re headed from Death Valley type depths to Mt. Whitney-ish heights. A front suspension system incorporating long lower A-arms mounted to a single box-section lower frame tube gives the rider excellent steering response. The KFX line includes 50, 90 and 700 configurations for big thrills — thanks to the low center of gravity and a true balance between flexibility and rigidity — for a wide range of riders.
That’s the Sport ATV, distinct from the Sport Utility ATV that combines performance with functional design features, like racks and winch mounts. According to Dawes, the Sport Utility models are intended to fill both work and play roles; the Sport line is pure play. From a buyer’s perspective, the addition of “utility” could provide just enough justification for the purchase. So what if you live in the burbs with no stumps to pull or stray cattle to round up? If you live in what marketers call “the fly-over” part of the country — everything between the two coasts — you know Sport Utility ATVs have proliferated like bunnies, cruising dirt roads and trails in pursuit of game, fishing spots and other useful sporting, or farming and ranching endeavors. Kawasaki’s Sport Utility ATVs range from the practical, tough little Bayou 250 to the Brute Force 750 V-twin with a fully independent rear suspension and electronic fuel injection and everything in between.
For the sportsman, this category of ATV has nearly replaced the packhorse, with all the advantages of stamina and athleticism and none of the disadvantages — no ATV rider has been kicked by his vehicle. Speaking of pack animals, the aptly named Mule defines Kawasaki’s Utility ATVs, with emphasis on the Utility. The Mule 3010 Trans4x4 was the first of its breed to carry four passengers and 400 pounds of cargo (800 with the cargo bed extended forward and two passengers). Like its equine namesake, the load carrying capacity doesn’t cut down on its agility on the trail or over rock debris and downed pines blocking the trail. Powered by a 617cc liquidcooled V-twin, this Mule’s specs read like a small, well-built car: DeDion/leaf spring rear suspension, MacPherson strut front suspension, rack and pinion steering, hydraulic, self-adjusting drum brakes, sealed for protection from water and mud and a continuously variable transmission (CVT) with high, low and reverse gears.
The concept of the CVT has been around for a while, even longer than Kawasaki. Leonardo DaVinci sketched out the first one in 1490. The tranny changes the gear ratio, basically, with no gears — seamlessly matching the ratio with the power input. In the simplest terms, the design includes a pair of variable-diameter pulleys — one attached to the engine, the other to the drive wheels — with a belt or chain between them. As the engine speed increases, the moveable halves of each pulley come closer together forcing the belt to ride higher on the pulley “cone” and changing the diameter of the pulleys. With a smaller input pulley and larger output pulley, the engine is pouring torque into the drive wheels to launch the Mule and its load or head up steep grades. On the flats in high gear, the Mule whips along with an optimum balance between engine and ground speed. Okay, since the Mule is billed as a “utility” ATV and has a tow rating of 1,200 pounds, it is useful.
But when it’s through working, you can throw a cooler, the kids, and the dog in it and introduce them to the world beyond the back 40. The most recent subset of ATVs is the RUV (Recreation Utility Vehicle), which mates the UTV Mule with the sportier ATV. The first in its class to be powered by a V-twin, the Teryx 750 4x4 features a thin-walled, high-tensile tubular steel frame. Mounted mid-chassis is 749cc power plant and CVT, and the underpinnings consist of an adjustable suspension (dual A-arm in front and independent rearend, both with gascharged shocks) riding on 26-inch Maxxis tires. The result is a high-performance RUV that feels smooth and controllable even at top speeds. Not only that, it has bucket seats, too!
If you’ve gotten to that part of the trail and realize your 4x4 just won’t go where you want to go, but you’re not quite ready to straddle an ATV; or your trips require more cargo capacity — the Teryx will go where you want to go and haul your cargo — and you’ve still got your fanny in a snug spot. This is a win/win. An element of its versatility and offroad readiness is the Teryx’s variable front differential control. We all know the pros and cons of a fully locked front diff. Full power to both wheels yank you out of the worst of the worst. The downside is badly skewed steering. The Teryx’s hand lever control allows the driver to apply just enough torque distribution to get through the rough stuff while still maintaining steering control. American Kawasaki Motor Corp. may be a lot more exotic in origin than other off-road aftermarket product companies. But it’s proven over the last 130 years, it can get down and dirty with the best of them.