Fellow GTSer's:
Our beloved GTS was mentioned in the June issue of Sport Rider
magazine. (If this has already been mentioned on the list, I apologize
as my home pc has been down for the past month, so I'm catching up.) The
Article was about the rumors of the ZX-12 being neutered (because with
the big horsepower numbers it should have done more). They mentioned
that 8 years ago, Kawasaki engineers did wind tunnel designing and after
extensive modifications and testing, the result was a bike that was
"almost a carbon copy of the Hayabusa." The author of the article went
on to opine that the resulting bike was probably the best aerodynamic
design Kawasaki had ever built. However, the company's marketing guys
thought that it was so ugly that it would never sell. The article
concludes, "They had watched the failure of Yamaha's GTS, and felt a
better idea/design still needs the 'public's acceptance.'" (Sport Rider,
June 2001, page 28.)
I see this as an admission by Kawasaki's engineers that the GTS
was an improved design, but one that was so radical that it was not
accepted by the buying public (at least at the heavy price tag). I, for
one, love the fact that the GTS didn't sell ... they will always be
deliciously rare and unique.
Mike Cordon
'94 GTS
