Kawasaki Dealer's Show Report - Oct. 4-7, 2010

[trip]

First, let me apologize about this report being so late. I honestly planned on getting this done last weekend, but things have been hectic at home and work, so it didn't get done till now.

I had a fabulous time in Las Vegas... and did it without any gambling (if you can believe).

I flew to LV by way of American Airlines on Monday, Oct. 4th. Kawasaki was gracious enough to plan a flight from Tyler to Dallas, then from Dallas to LV to keep me from having to drive to Dallas. Very nice of them. I left Tyler around 1:40pm and arrived in LV about 6:30pm. Checked into the Hilton hotel and got some dinner.

My accommodations at the Hilton were great. Kawasaki supplied breakfast and lunch everyday at the show. I stuffed myself so much, I couldn't really eat anything for dinner each night.

Tuesday, October 5th, was the big day and at 10:00am, Kawasaki unveiled their new 2011 product lineup to the dealers and the world. I was impressed with their multi-media show.

I took pics of parts of the show, but took video of the actual unveiling of the new Vaquero.

After the unveiling, we all walked over to the LV convention center to get a first hand look at all of the products. Be sure and check out the pics I have below of the Vaquero at the show.

On Wednesday, the show was much of the same, but I was able to meet and talk with a few people in the Marketing department of Kawasaki and plan some things for our National Rally for next year. More on that later.

Tuesday night, Brian Gibson with the ROK took all of the Affiliate Leaders out to dinner at the Bilagio. Had a good time and got to meet all of the Affiliate leaders for such groups as the Voyager, Concours and got to meet the reps from the VROC and Delphi.

Thursday..... well, it was time to fly home. Left LV at about 9:00am and got back into Tyler, Texas about 5:30pm.

In conclusion, I want to thank Kawasaki for inviting me to the show and for accomodating me the way they did. They are excellent hosts.

- Trip

Video of Vaquero Introduction at Dealer's Show:
(Be sure to watch it to the end where they mention KawaNOW)

[flash=350,287:tht6papx]http://www.youtube.com/v/htTZwQ7ylOo&hl=en&fs=1[/flash:tht6papx]
</td><td valign="top">
<iframe src="http://images.proboards.com/300x250.html" width="300" height="250" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
</td></tr></table>

Pics from the Dealer's Show:















Vaquero media package pics:

[medicaldawg]

dude that flat white is awsome

[nightmare]

Awesome pics Trip! I sure like the Vaquero. Not really to sure about the wild colors on some of the other bikes though

[jesse]

Wow, I didn't know Victor had ordered a Voyager? In custom colors too!

Ha Ha Ha!

[schoeney]

Interesting. Did MawKaw indicate if the "old" bags will be on next years Voyager and Nomad?

[jandreu]

Trip, thanks...what the hell is with those colors? Almost looks like they were highlighting the "NEW" parts. I like the flat white also. The "V" looks much better in Red. The all black detail is getting a little tired looking.

[audiogooroo]

Cool! Thanks for the report and pics Trip.
I have stayed at the LV Hilton many times while exhibiting at the convention center. I have always had a great experience there.

[paul]

Love that flat white with the accents. If they'd done it in green, they'd of had me. Will the old bags be available on the 2012 and/or later voyager? Thanks Trip.

[petenomad]

Trip, sounds like you were booked solid out there, would have been hard to find time to gamble. Glad you had a good time - too bad the big news leaked out before the "announcement" but that seems to be the way things go now days.

[trip]

To answer some questions.....

The flat white or gray and orange and yellow are part of the new SVO program at Kawasaki. SVO stands for Special Vehicle Operations. It's much like the SVO program Harley has. You can order special paint jobs and accessories through it.

And, Kawasaki never indicated to me if they were ever going back to the old style hard bags on the Nomad or Voyager. If they ever do.... it may take a while.

[Top Cat]

Well I hate to nit pic Trip but the bags seem to be one of the main concerns of the members here. It seems it would have entered your mind to ask as long as you had the attention of the marketing department. ;)

[billmac]

It is great to see Kawasaki interacting with us. Thanks to Trip for representing us and sharing the info.

I like the look of the new bike, in black, of course. Although the seat looks harder than my stock Nomad. :)

[cajun2wheels]

Great report.Makes me want to go spend some money.

[VulcanE]

Originally Posted by cajun2wheels

Great report.Makes me want to go spend some money.

DITTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Idaho]

Hey Trip,

I have been waiting for you to post this. Sure was hoping for more info on the 2011 Nomads. Are they planning to undo any of the things they did, like saddlebags and shorter frame? I like the larger engine, six speed tranny and cruise but the ergonomics just won't work for my size. Very dissappointing.

Again, thanks for posting.

Bud