by
Richard Clifford
Patrick Garner, our Press Officer
received an invitation some weeks ago from Kawasaki for himself and
five other KGT Club members to come to the NEC Bike Show to meet some
of their marketing guys on-stand. Suzi Mewes (from their media service,
with whom Patrick had been in contact) explained it was partly to see
what we do as a club, how both parties could perhaps cooperate more
– and to give us a presentation on the new 1400 GTR super-tourer!
Well, what could we say? It was brilliant that Kawasaki made this move, when as many of you will recall, we’ve really not been on their radar for a long time. It’s a tribute to Patrick’s persistence in keeping up a flow of material to various organisations and publications to show that in our own small way, we’re still alive and kicking.
After some careful thought and discussion it was decided we would take a small delegation of club officials, and they turned out to be Patrick, Ady Seeney, Paul Woodward, Vic Holt, Derek Kelly and myself.
We arranged to meet up at the Kawasaki stand just before 2pm on the Thursday (November 2). As usual, it was quite a big stand and there on a rotating stand of its own was a real live 1400GTR. Sadly you couldn’t get on it, but it was clear that the media coverage by MCN etc had been pretty close, and it looked pretty impressive in a gun-metal-grey paint job. Then you started checking out the detail spec, like upside down forks, some serious looking front brakes, the new Tetra-Lever shaft drive (very neat), the ZZR-derived engine (MCN thought about 160 bhp for it, can’t be far off) – anyway, have a look at the pictures and see what you think. A REALLY compe-
tent-looking mile-muncher, very much a sporting tourer I think you’ll agree.
Well, what could we say? It was brilliant that Kawasaki made this move, when as many of you will recall, we’ve really not been on their radar for a long time. It’s a tribute to Patrick’s persistence in keeping up a flow of material to various organisations and publications to show that in our own small way, we’re still alive and kicking.
After some careful thought and discussion it was decided we would take a small delegation of club officials, and they turned out to be Patrick, Ady Seeney, Paul Woodward, Vic Holt, Derek Kelly and myself.
We arranged to meet up at the Kawasaki stand just before 2pm on the Thursday (November 2). As usual, it was quite a big stand and there on a rotating stand of its own was a real live 1400GTR. Sadly you couldn’t get on it, but it was clear that the media coverage by MCN etc had been pretty close, and it looked pretty impressive in a gun-metal-grey paint job. Then you started checking out the detail spec, like upside down forks, some serious looking front brakes, the new Tetra-Lever shaft drive (very neat), the ZZR-derived engine (MCN thought about 160 bhp for it, can’t be far off) – anyway, have a look at the pictures and see what you think. A REALLY compe-
tent-looking mile-muncher, very much a sporting tourer I think you’ll agree.
Soon Suzi appeared and
whisked us off into the heart of the stand, where behind closed doors
they had a small private hospitality area and meeting room. Over a
coffee she explained that she and her boss Martin
Lambert were part of a small UK marketing team looking after numerous Kawasaki products – not just bikes, but jetskis, quads etc. Although resources are a bit tight and the Kawasaki Riders (members might recall this was practically a Kawasaki-sponsored owners register) ceased last year, they are still marketing in different ways.
First of all they are trying to establish contact for the future with a few Kawasaki Clubs. Apart from ourselves, Suzi mentioned the VN Owners club for the customs, the Ninja riders and ZZR owners.
We explained a bit about what we do – the touring, the camping, the magazine, technical advice, the website, the social side.
Second, a new magazine is being produced called Green Eye which will be distributed to buyers of new bikes on a quarterly basis.
The aims appear to be to establish links for two-way communication, with quirky stories of biking and club life most welcome (possibly for future editions of Green Eye I wonder?) and in time they could be asking for views on things from the clubs. It’s early days and time was a bit short, so we didn’t go into what at this stage. What is clear is that by having links with us, they could reach to their potential customer base and find what makes us tick, get our feedback on machines etc. Time will tell how this develops, but it’s certainly very encouraging that
the effort is being made!
Suzi also asked what sort of help we thought we needed from them. Our members explained we’d been pretty much on our own for a long time, even with the BMF rally involvement and the lapse of things like dealer spares discounts as the bikes got older and fewer. We made some suggestions:
Unfortunately we CAN’T get hold of a bike to raffle off for club funds (that’ll be a disappointment to Rob Dawson our fundraiser – sorry mate!), but Suzi did think she could raise some ’giveaways’ for the purpose. We also asked about things to help with our club displays, like posters, photos and banners and these do seem to be things we can possibly obtain with her help. Naturally, if we have the materials, we can do an even better job of showing ourselves off perhaps on the website, or our club stand, which won’t do our image (or Kawasaki’s) any harm at all. Hopefully this opportunity can be followed up – the winter time is a good time to be working on stuff like this!
Suzi Mewes from Kawasaki with the club delegation
After about half an hour we were introduced to Martin
Lambert, the marketing manager, who took us through to a small room to
make the presentation of the new 1400GTR (and their strategy regarding
it) on his laptop computer. Unfortunately he had to make it clear at
the beginning that what he said stayed in the room – so I
can’t report any of it! However it is clear the UK is getting the
bike, and the reports by MCN (especially October 25) and other
magazines around the time of the show are close enough on the detail of
what it’ll be like and
when – around spring next year.
Martin asked us what we thought of the bike, and the general consensus was we really liked it and it was a new flagship model long overdue! A brisk question and answer session on the specification followed; not all of our questions could be fully answered as the bike is still being refined.
We said our club is keen to welcome new owners of such bikes as we are the natural home for touring Kawasakis. At the same time we recognise we may be challenged in new directions by such riders, and we’re
ready for that.
Further to a question from Paul Woodward, it appears that the US Concours model which some of you may have seen on the Internet is not the bike we will get here.
At the end of the presentation, which lasted about half an hour, Martin confirmed the welcome news that the December issue of our club magazine would be printed for us courtesy of Kawasaki, to celebrate the 1400GTR
launch.
We naturally expressed due thanks for this and for Kawasaki’s hospitality in inviting us to see them and the new bike. Everyone seemed sure it had been a very good start to improved relations for the future, and looked forward to staying in touch.
Thanks again to Patrick for coordinating our attendance, and to Kawasaki for an enjoyable day.
Lambert were part of a small UK marketing team looking after numerous Kawasaki products – not just bikes, but jetskis, quads etc. Although resources are a bit tight and the Kawasaki Riders (members might recall this was practically a Kawasaki-sponsored owners register) ceased last year, they are still marketing in different ways.
First of all they are trying to establish contact for the future with a few Kawasaki Clubs. Apart from ourselves, Suzi mentioned the VN Owners club for the customs, the Ninja riders and ZZR owners.
We explained a bit about what we do – the touring, the camping, the magazine, technical advice, the website, the social side.
Second, a new magazine is being produced called Green Eye which will be distributed to buyers of new bikes on a quarterly basis.
The aims appear to be to establish links for two-way communication, with quirky stories of biking and club life most welcome (possibly for future editions of Green Eye I wonder?) and in time they could be asking for views on things from the clubs. It’s early days and time was a bit short, so we didn’t go into what at this stage. What is clear is that by having links with us, they could reach to their potential customer base and find what makes us tick, get our feedback on machines etc. Time will tell how this develops, but it’s certainly very encouraging that
the effort is being made!
Suzi also asked what sort of help we thought we needed from them. Our members explained we’d been pretty much on our own for a long time, even with the BMF rally involvement and the lapse of things like dealer spares discounts as the bikes got older and fewer. We made some suggestions:
Unfortunately we CAN’T get hold of a bike to raffle off for club funds (that’ll be a disappointment to Rob Dawson our fundraiser – sorry mate!), but Suzi did think she could raise some ’giveaways’ for the purpose. We also asked about things to help with our club displays, like posters, photos and banners and these do seem to be things we can possibly obtain with her help. Naturally, if we have the materials, we can do an even better job of showing ourselves off perhaps on the website, or our club stand, which won’t do our image (or Kawasaki’s) any harm at all. Hopefully this opportunity can be followed up – the winter time is a good time to be working on stuff like this!
Suzi Mewes from Kawasaki with the club delegation
when – around spring next year.
Martin asked us what we thought of the bike, and the general consensus was we really liked it and it was a new flagship model long overdue! A brisk question and answer session on the specification followed; not all of our questions could be fully answered as the bike is still being refined.
We said our club is keen to welcome new owners of such bikes as we are the natural home for touring Kawasakis. At the same time we recognise we may be challenged in new directions by such riders, and we’re
ready for that.
Further to a question from Paul Woodward, it appears that the US Concours model which some of you may have seen on the Internet is not the bike we will get here.
At the end of the presentation, which lasted about half an hour, Martin confirmed the welcome news that the December issue of our club magazine would be printed for us courtesy of Kawasaki, to celebrate the 1400GTR
launch.
We naturally expressed due thanks for this and for Kawasaki’s hospitality in inviting us to see them and the new bike. Everyone seemed sure it had been a very good start to improved relations for the future, and looked forward to staying in touch.
Thanks again to Patrick for coordinating our attendance, and to Kawasaki for an enjoyable day.