[andyvh1959]

Kind of tough to say "requires the entire engine to be cracked open (bad design)" as a bad design. Its pretty common that most Japanese motorcycle engines have to be opened in order to fix most transmission and output drive issues. Kawasaki is not the only manufacturer to design an engine with the transmission integrated into the crankcase.

No motorcycle manufacturer of any brand from any country offers a remanufactured engien program. That even applies for BMW and Harley which have been building many similar engines for decades. There simply is not enough sales in the market to support that, Simply not enough bikes on the road (compared to cars) to financially support that. And, since MOST bike failrues are largely the result of poor care, poor maintenance, and misuse on the part of the owner/user, what sense would there be to offer remanufactured engines? And the market is FULL of salvage bikes with low miles that take care of the salvage/repair side of the market. When a used bike, especially a Japanese bike, can be bought used for nearly 1/4 of its original selling price, again there is no market to support the rational of manufacturer replacement engines.

Repair shops can take months to repair a motorcycle because the motorcycles change every few years (not like cars), and change significantly to keep them fresh in the markets eyes, keep them desireable. As a result, many parts of a motorcycle may only have a production run of a few years, maybe five at most, in MUCH lower production numbers than cars. So the parts are uniqie and changing every few years. If you were a dealer it would make NO sense to maintain repair stock on products that change so often, simply is not a good business model. So when your ten year old whatever (on ANY brand not just Kawasaki) needs a low production replacement part that likely has to bo MADE TO ORDER you wonder why it takes weeks to replace it? You expect parts for your 2003 Kawasaki to be as readily avialable as your 2003 Chevy? Simply is NOT happening, wlecome to the reality of owning a motorcyle more than ten years old. About the only exceptions to that model is BMW and Harley, which have producing very similar models for decades, with lots of parts common to many models. There is your argument for selecting a brand with longevity and a large dealer network to support them. Its just the reality of the motorcycle market and certainly not unqiue to Kawasaki as a brand.

I have been active in motorcycling for over 52 years, many brands, many models, and its largely the same for all brands and models. There is little financial sensibility in motorcyling, especially in the western worlds where motorcycles are a recreational device, not a required daily transportation device like much of the rest of the world. Want a great example of a bike that meets your criteria, look at a Honda 50 Step Trough, been in production repeatadly since the early 60s. Its a mainstay of transportation all over the world, other than the USA. The Honda 50 is the Volkswagen Beetle of the motorcycle world. That bike makes sense to have parts readily available for decades, as it is a very similar bike for nearly 50 years, and parts are regularly in high demand.