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Originally Posted by NJD022588
Well, you said it right there; the electronics. Electronics are expensive! The ECU and sensors are not plastic, but are covered it plastic. There is a lot of work that goes into designing computers and computer systems.
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You said it right there, it's the design that's the expensive part. AFAIK it's less expensive to mass-produce electronics than it is to build complex machinery.
The thing about electronics is that, unlike many mechanical devices, there can be great commonality. In principle you can take one ECU and simply reprogram it for a different purpose. That's much, much less expensive than engineering a new one from scratch.
Also, Kawasaki has already GOT one for the non-US 250s.
Which brings the question back around... why have two separate production flows? Why have two separate parts supply chains? All that adds to production costs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NJD022588
Also, this is comparing something from the 1880's to something almost all cars didnt have until 100 years later.
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I don't follow your reasoning here. If the technology is available and it makes economic sense, then it should certainly go on the new machine right away.
It all comes down to money. As long as the bike with carbs is more profitable for them in the US market, the 250 will have carbs.
The fact that there's zero competition for the bike here means that they're unlikely to change anything, because change costs. If we had an arms race like the perpetual 600-class wars, we'd see lots of changes every year, just as happens with the bigger bikes.