Kawasaki's answer to the Grom?
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OK so 16 lbs lighter. Is that ready to ride, like the Grom is rated at? Also, being only 111cc, I doubt it can keep up. Honestly, who I'm looking to to come up with a kick-ass Grom rival is Yamaha. Yami has a habit of having an "FU" attitude, if you will, and it seems as though within the next 1-2 years, they will have some water-cooled 125cc beast with some other nifty stuff and probably lighter weight. I'm a life-long Honda fan, but I have to say that the other three of the "Big Four" keep Honda sharp, and in this case, I'm looking to Yamaha. I can't wait to see!!!!
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Hum,
There's plenty of KSR here in Thailand, very honestly these bike are total crap, it's powerless and it's getting old very fast, a 4yo KSR looks like a 15 year old bike, the plastics are getting very ugly very fast and at the end it looks like a poor chinese bike.
There's plenty of KSR here in Thailand, very honestly these bike are total crap, it's powerless and it's getting old very fast, a 4yo KSR looks like a 15 year old bike, the plastics are getting very ugly very fast and at the end it looks like a poor chinese bike.
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Saw a new one in the flesh in a Thailand store a couple of months ago and its a nice looking bike and well finished.
It was the first time I had seen this style of bike and it wasn't until I started looking for it back in the UK that I discovered the Honda.
Early KSR's are available here and I believe Kawasaki came up with the style before Honda, happy to be corrected.
Will get an MSX one day, maybe next summer and be able to join in a bit more on here.
It was the first time I had seen this style of bike and it wasn't until I started looking for it back in the UK that I discovered the Honda.
Early KSR's are available here and I believe Kawasaki came up with the style before Honda, happy to be corrected.
Will get an MSX one day, maybe next summer and be able to join in a bit more on here.
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Seeing all these bikes emerging looking like the grom just makes me think where they got the R&D from. They all look so similar and the grom mades its debut first.
Me too, Yamaha does seem to outdo Kawasaki pretty well.
This KSR looks like a mini-me copy of the KLX250SF I have. And I only bought the KLX over the comparable Yamaha because of the price difference. Leftover (and closing dealership) price versus no budge price on the Yamaha made the decision for me. The KLX is ok but sometimes I do wish I spent the extra money on the Yamaha.
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50 Posts
There's millions of these bikes here in Bkk, it was available years and years before the grom and every "youngs" bought it right away.
As i said, the bike is getting ugly when it gets old, the plastic / painting is cheap and it loss its colors, even the plastic goes from dark to grey within a couple of years.
The bike is under-powered, no top speed, semi automatic clutch and kick start which looks capricious (I've seen more than 1 guy giving tens of kicks before that the bike starts).
And i'm not a Honda salesman or an anti-Kawasaki !
As i said, the bike is getting ugly when it gets old, the plastic / painting is cheap and it loss its colors, even the plastic goes from dark to grey within a couple of years.
The bike is under-powered, no top speed, semi automatic clutch and kick start which looks capricious (I've seen more than 1 guy giving tens of kicks before that the bike starts).
And i'm not a Honda salesman or an anti-Kawasaki !
The KSR has been around for a long time. It's the street version of a KLX 110. So the Grom didn't take the lead here. There are a TON of hop up parts for the Kawasaki. I have a 143cc Kitaco head/jug on a KLX and it screams, but it isn't electric start.
danO - I have a Yamaha WR250R+X and I'm really impressed by the quality. It's an incredible bike, especially when considering pricing/reliability on the used market.
danO - I have a Yamaha WR250R+X and I'm really impressed by the quality. It's an incredible bike, especially when considering pricing/reliability on the used market.
grom 150r
If we want a real monster, Honda just needs to take the CRF150R (liquid cooled) MX'er and cam it for better low end, gear it properly, suspend it for road use, and put it on 14 inch wheels. THEN you would have a REALLY quick small and light road bike. I'm still trying to get one street legal in my state, so I can do the project myself. As far as I know, no one else makes a liquid cool high output single that competes with the CRF150R.
So yeah the KSR is based on the KLX110, just as the Grom is based on the CRF110, which was built to some degree to compete with the KLX here in the US for kids to ride dirt bike trails on.
If we want a real monster, Honda just needs to take the CRF150R (liquid cooled) MX'er and cam it for better low end, gear it properly, suspend it for road use, and put it on 14 inch wheels. THEN you would have a REALLY quick small and light road bike. I'm still trying to get one street legal in my state, so I can do the project myself. As far as I know, no one else makes a liquid cool high output single that competes with the CRF150R.
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336 Posts
Those engines are all upright formats. The engine that Honda made this platform for is a manual clutch variation of the old-school lay-down ATC motors. That is also why we are stuck with 4 gears versus 5 of some other setups. The CRF110F has a semi-auto 3 speed. The Grom's low price is thanks to the fact that this platform has paid itself off long ago, and it doesn't cost much to produce.
I agree, with a CRF150R motor, this thing would rip. I only wonder how much the overall size of the bike would have to increase, given the completely different design of the powerplant. I'd hate to see the Grom get bigger; I really like it's smaller size.
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Looks good.
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