It’s OFFICIAL! Kawasaki: “A FOUR-WHEELED motorcycle is coming”. Yep.

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We’re loving this story from our Italian cousins over at Motociclismo.it saying that, during a pretty standard interview with a couple of high-ranking Kawasaki bods about the Z400, this massive pearler of a statement was made.

The Motociclismo.it guru Beppe Cucco was talking to Sergio Vicarelli (Sales and Marketing Director) and Giavanni Poli (Technical Director) from Kawasaki Italy about the Z400 when the bombshell was dropped by the Kawasaki fellas.

Cucco asked his final two questions about the future direction of Kawasaki motorcycles to Vicarelli who was extremely candid about two stories that MoreBikes brought you first, right here.

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The first was this story about a removable battery compartment on a small capacity Kawasaki that we showed you the patents for, first, back in 2017. Here’s one of the key patent designs from the article (below) and if you want to read the updated story complete, click HERE.

So this, that we told you about years ago, this thing – this is happening. The entire battery pack swings out of the bike and is replaced with a fully charged battery when needed. It’ll take less time that it takes to fill an equivalent petrol tank. Snazzy.

Here’s what Vicarelli said about the battery Ninja: “It is useless to deny it, all the (bike) producers, including us, are working on that sector. The current problem is being able to maintain an identity and certain technological level.

“By 2030 there will be a huge qualitative leap with the entry of graphene into batteries and this will allow for smaller, faster batteries to be recharged and with greater autonomy.

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“Once all these aspects have been resolved then the electric motorcycles will become interesting.”

But the interesting stuff didn’t finish there – Vicarelli also gave a short, but hugely important answer to Cucco’s question which was: “Regarding three-wheel vehicles?”

Vicarelli answered: “We have a four-wheeler project. It will arrive on the market in a relatively short future.”

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What do you reckon? Is it a Kawasaki quad bike? Hardly worth mentioning if it is, right? So if it’s not a quad bike (it isn’t) then what-oh-what could it be?

How about this (below) motorcycle from our patent story which we brought you first on July 23, 2018? – You can read that original article HERE. It looks like this (which was a bit of a leap from the patent drawings to the now six-year-old Concept J four-wheeler) could be the very bike that Vicarelli is talking about.

Here’s one of the patent drawings that show the four-wheeler (probably) – it might look not too different from the Concept J motorcycle (below).

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This is the Concept J. Radical, weird, futuristic – maybe too much for the four-wheeler that’s coming from Kawasaki, but there’s a fair bet that some of this tech will be used in the upcoming motorcycle that Vicarelli has confirmed.

You can read the interview from Cucco on the motociclismo website in its complete form HERE.


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