Development of Touring Motorcycle with a 1,352 cm ³ Engine 2009-32-0109

The sport-tourer (i.e. touring motorcycle) powered by the 1,352 cm³ engine shown in Fig. 1 was launched by Kawasaki in July 2007. This worldwide model was introduced primarily in Europe and North America. This paper describes the development of the new tourer model whose concept was to create a sport-oriented touring motorcycle. Descriptions include a variable-valve timing mechanism adopted for improving engine performance, a parallel-link type swing-arm adopted for improving vehicle dynamics, as well as a tire pressure monitoring system adopted for the first time on a motorcycle.