New ZX10R Recall ?

[phil954]

Oh Dear Anyone in the Usa know this? Kawasaki USA recalls all 2011 ZX-10Rs - Motorcycle news : General news - Visordown

[Wild Pete]

Yeah, this has been brought up many times this past week.

I'm still waiting for that "Fail" picture to pop up somewhere.

[sparky]

The rumours are flying about.

Its a design flaw thats what makes it a real problem. Piston wear !!!!!!!!!!!!

The piston speed is too high 26m/s .......... great race bike lousy road bike.

Kawasaki are sunk !!!!!

[URBAN LEGEND]

This hasn't been posted anywhere yet.

[sparky]

I have heard rumours like everyone else, but ..............................


The science behind engine design speaks for it self. The zx10 piston speed is way too high for a road based reliable engine. Its tuned to the max stock, which would give it a limited life span.

simple.......its wearing at the same rate as race engine 26m/s piston speed is higher than an F1 car.

The only thing they can do is change the cams and knock the revs back 10% and keep the peak hp to 3 or 4 above the 2010 model at around 12000rpm.

[markjenn]

Since this ZX10R's piston speed is relatively high, this is the obvious thing to point the finger at....perhaps too obvious.

In fact, the 10R's piston speed, while high, is only incrementally higher than any number of other similar bikes (and cars for that matter, witness the Honda S2000). So if piston speed is near the limit, you'd expect two things: 1) That Kawasaki would have looked at it very closely during the development of the bike and conducted exhaustive tests; and 2) that the problem would be one that would manifest itself in somewhat shorter engine service life over the next few years, not something that would be causing this panic reaction right now. Furthermore, I recall reading that Kawasaki specifically reduced the redline of the US bikes to pass emissions certification. This means that the US bikes probably are running a little conservatively with respect to piston speed. So, I don't think the obvious answer makes very much sense.

My bet would be on some metallurgy or production tolerance issue with a sub-contracted supplier - Kawasaki spec'ed one thing, but somehow the parts came in below spec or of slightly the wrong material, or something like this. And it was missed during the initial production run and one of the very early bikes have failed unexpectedly and in a way that Kawasaki thinks might affect the entire first batch. This is a much more likely scenario.

I also wonder if it might have to do with certification paperwork. In an attempt to get this bike out the door, Kawasaki might have fast tracked the process and now some governmental pencil-pusher has found something they screwed up on. The laws in this regard carry some pretty onerous penalties, so Kawasaki may just be playing this very close to the vest - it's quite possible that the bikes will go back to the warehouse, sit for a few weeks while details are worked out, then shipped right back out again unchanged or with some tiny ECU tweak.

- Mark

[Shant]

^^^ to all above,

Does anyone beleive KHI would offer a 4 year factory warranty on a flawed by design bike?

If the engine will "explode" "grenade" or however its put, once you go past 13 on the dial why wouldnt they just give you 2 years?


4 year warranty can be had for another 800 dollars from KHI OZ.

I agree with Makrjenn on his point that a contractors product has been iffy and its been dealt with (rather proactively) by KHI.

Well done to nip it in the bud before you have a bunch of keyboard warriors pull you up for cams that melt or gearbox's that go bang.

[Ancill]

Markjenn has a point, however, if the component of failure has been identified, i wouldn't expect a recall on the bike with a full refund or in other words, return the bike to the manufacturer and not replace the component/engine as other manufacturers have i.e. Aprilia

[01 BMW]

Originally Posted by Ancill

Markjenn has a point, however, if the component of failure has been identified, i wouldn't expect a recall on the bike with a full refund or in other words, return the bike to the manufacturer and not replace the component/engine as other manufacturers have i.e. Aprilia

Yep .. I agree .... its not like a hose clamp that may come loose.

[gixerconvert]

To the best of my knowledge the '10 has only been released in the US,so it could quite easily be a non-compliance of federal regs making it illegal to sell at this time.

But,of course,it could also be something much more serious.LOL