KAWASAKI must have seen the vacuum... (err, opportunity)

this week Kawasaki announced the 2018 KLX250S dual-sport bike.

kls250s 2018

What vacuum are you referring to?

wwguy wrote:

What vacuum are you referring to?

I'm assuming the "vacuum" is in reference to the possible discontinuation of the WRR. I find it odd that Kawasaki brought back the KLX250S all the sudden and gave it FI like it had globally prior to being discontinued. I used to have the KLX250S but got rid of it due to the carb that the USA was stuck with. Now we finally see that Yamaha is advertising the 2018 WRR so part of me wonders if they were waiting on Kawasaki to see if they should offer it or not. The dealer where I purchased my 2017 WRR also was told they were discontinued for 2018 so he had a few in stock that he was able to get and I believe they are all gone now at his store.

I don't know what the real story is, maybe it's nothing. I'm glad Kawasaki upgraded their bike and I wish Yamaha would but I don't think the sales #'s justify it. Maybe they just didn't want to lose market share to each other.

I didnt know that Yamaha HAS now introduced the wr for 2018. Just did a nationwide search for new wr250r on cycle trader and found oodles of 2017 models still listed, but seems to be less than I saw in July. Definitely less 2016s, 15's, 14's, 13's. I can tell you for sure that there were 25+ used ones for sale on craigslist within 200 miles of me in July, today there are 7. I probably would not have bought mine if July, if not for the rumors/fake news? of its demise. So whether an intentional and calculated sales tactic or not, (can't have something makes people want it more) a LOT of wr250r's have been sold in the last 60+ days.