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Originally Posted by adouglas
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.
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Making a production line for electronics is very expensive. Some of the robotics used are millions of dollars, and photolithography needs to take place in a very, very controlled and clean environment. However, if Kawasaki is already making their own electronics they would already have a production line built, but my guess is that they dont make their own. If they didnt make their own they could either contract a company to make an ASIC or buy something similar to an FPGA and program it themselves.
But all of the above really shouldnt matter because if it is less expensive to produce electronics than machinery, then wouldn't it make sense for Kawasaki to put the ECU from the euro bikes in the US models? They
must be saving some money by keeping ours carbed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by adouglas
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.
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True, it does seem like having the two separate production flows would be more expensive. I guess this just shows that an ECU (along with all other components for an FI bike) must be expensive. I wouldnt have thought it would be cheaper to do it the way kawasaki is.
Quote:
Originally Posted by adouglas
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.
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Thats basically what I was getting at... I was assuming that a FI system, being 100 years newer than carburetors, would be more expensive and therefore not as economically sensible.