[JamieC]

Along with the Talon I've been keeping tabs on the new Kawasaki Teryx KRX that was just unveiled. I wanted to see what everyone hear thought about it and how it compares to the Talon.

Here's a bunch of information I was able to find on the KRX from another forum. https://www.krxforum.com/threads/2020-kawasaki-krx-specs.14/

Price:

• Starting price: $20,499

Accessories:

• Nearly 50 accessories available, which include:
• Full and half windshields
• Multiple roof options
• Vehicle protection components including front and rear bumper, additional skid plates, a-arm and trailing arm guards.
• Owners can also add LED light bars, a dome light, rearview and side mirrors, an audio system and winch.
• Pre-selected accessories packages are also available.

Brakes:

• Four 10-inch stainless steel rotors with a thickness of 5.8 mm.
• Front discs: twin-piston calipers with 32 mm pistons.
• Rear discs: single-piston calipers with 38 mm pistons.

Cargo Space:

• The rear cargo area can hold up to 350 pounds and is recessed with four cargo hooks built in.
• Cargo can be secured using the four cargo hooks built into the carrier bottom.
• 32” spare tire.

Chassis:

• The KRX has a new highly rigid frame that incorporates the ROPS as a stressed member.
• The energy-absorbing ROPS design helps disperse stress, contributing to durability. The ROPS pillars feature a patent pending arched construction to help disperse stress.
• Engineers placed the B-pillars along the same line as the rear shocks, allowing them to effectively counter the forces exerted by the shocks on the frame.
• 99-inch wheelbase and 59-inch wide track.
• 90 degree approach and departure angles.
• It has a large wheel caster of 10 degrees.
• The rear-engine design results in a 46/54 weight distribution.
• It has over 14 inches of ground clearance.
• The undercarriage is covered with a combination of plastic and steel skid plates with more than 80% of the protection composed of steel pieces. Additional steel plates behind the front fenders offer further protection to the vehicle from rocks and other flying debris.

Colors:

• Lime Green / Metallic Onyx Black
• Metallic Moondust White / Metallic Onyx Black

Digital Instrument Cluster:
- The multi-function display includes the following features:

• Bar-style tachometer (2 display options)
• Digital speedometer
• Bar-style fuel gauge
• Gear indicator (L, H, N, R)
• Power Mode
• Driving mode (2WD/4WD/4WD+Diff Lock) indicator
• Economical Riding Indicator
• Clock
• Odometer
• Dual trip meters
• Hour meter
• Water temperature
• Digital battery gauge
• Bar-style CTV temperature
• Seatbelt warning lamp
• Oil warning lamp
• Engine check lamp
• Water temperature warning lamp
• Neutral indicator lamp
• Reverse indicator lamp
• Parking indicator lamp
• EPS warning lamp
• CVT belt warning lamp

Engine:

• It comes with a new naturally aspirated 999cc parallel twin engine with selectable power modes (Full Power and Low Power).
• It produces 112.6 horsepower and has a bore and stroke that is set at 92.0 mm x 75.1 mm.
• It comes with two snorkel air intakes behind the driver and passenger doors.
• Pre-filters at the intake entrances help ensure minimal dust ingestion and are complimented with a Donaldson air filter located downstream in the engine intake.
• 20-liter intake chamber helps ensure undisturbed airflow into each of the two intake funnels.
• An electronic throttle valve system enables the ECU to control the volume of both the fuel (via fuel injectors) and the air (via throttle valves) delivered to the engine.
• Dual 50 mm throttle bodies help flow a large volume of air.
• Similar to Kawasaki’s Ninja® ZX™-10R supersport flagship motorcycle, the intake port exits are machined in two stages (first along with the valve seats, then again at an inclined angle).

Interior:

• High-backed, form-fitting bucket seats and three-point seatbelts support the driver and passenger.
• Lever-adjustable driver seat.
• Six-point seatbelts are available as Kawasaki Genuine Accessories.
• Standard half doors. The doors are higher at the shoulder, to offer protection from mud as well as increase ride comfort with armrests built into the doors for both the driver and passenger.
• Water-resistant storage container located above the center console.
• 5 cupholders.
• DC socket integrated into the dashboard provides a power supply (up to 120 W) for accessory items or personal devices.

Suspension:

• Double-wishbone set up with 19 inches of travel in the front, with a 4-link rear trailing arm controls 21 inches of travel.
• FOX 2.5 Podium LSC shocks are found at all four corners and offer adjustable preload and 24-way compression damping.
• Socks are dual-rate coil-over springs, front and rear piggyback reservoirs, and stainless sleeves (rear shocks only).

Tires:

• The KRX comes with 31-inch Maxxis Carnivore tires wrapped around 15-inch aluminum beadlock wheels.
• Large M10 bolts are reinforced with inserts in the female thread for extra holding power.

Transmission:

• The engine is paired with a continuously variable transmission (CVT) and centrifugal clutch.
• The centrifugal clutch is located between the crankshaft and CVT drive pulley. This position allows it to eliminate the shock of the CVT belt engaging, which facilitates smooth departures from a stop.
• Four-wheel drive and the front differential lock are selectable on the fly.

 

[RocknTalon]

That remains to be seen, but the Pioneer 1000 hasn't proven to be any more reliable than the T2 and T4 Teryx.
And it has a real locker in the front instead of a light duty suv type psuedo locker.
The psuedo is better for ordinary trail riding but the real one is better for heavy duty stuff.

 

[1HasBeen]

Bigger fuel tank is a plus, and the eaiser to read instrument cluster, also. It will be interesting to see how the wet-clutch holds up, especially with the K&T turbo kit.

 

[RocknTalon]

It is definitely not like a Polaris or Textron or John Deere with the Hilliard unit which is a real mechanical locker.
The Honda is just an electronically controlled brake system which will be subject to electrical and mechanical brake gremlins as it gets older. With a mechanical you can replace parts. With the electronic you just hope you can find someone that can figure it out.

 

[RocknTalon]

LOL. Not.
The introduction of the Pioneer 1000 with all its problems ruined their "best" reputation.
And the transmissions in their cars suck too.
The Teryx T2 and T4 are definitely more reliable than Pioneers.
There have already been two Talons with broken spindles.
More will show up.

 

[Honda4life]

Honda is the best of all of the brands as far as reliability. They not only build motorcycles, ATV’s, and UTV’s, but cars too, unlike the other brands. I highly doubt the talon will have issues as they get older. Honda’s R&D is so superior to the others, they are in their own league!

I totally agree with you Ticster! Over the years I've had many Honda machines and have never been disappointed. I originally bought my 2007 Honda Rincon brand new and it still runs strong and fast! Never had any issues! I can't wait to get my 2020 1000X!

 

[scottymac]

JamieC... Not sure if you are still following this but I got to do a couple day ride with a brand new KRX along with our Talon. Here is a summary of a few things we noticed :


1) Interior: Talon is very refined, the KRX seems to have big differences in the gaps along plastic seams, some seat stitches were different between seats (poor quality) and it's designed more like a pizza box. The seats are not as comfortable and 4 point seat belts do not install and fit this seat very well. The new owners of this machine plan to replace the seats now, which is such a shame. 
Steering positions are nice on the KRX!
2) Rock Crawling, the KRX is very capable, if slow (not steep) stuff. We found that because it's heavy, the KRX is the first to start sliding down, or requires more speed in a steep climb. Speed is hard to get out of the low range in the KRX. In wet slick-rock that is very steep with sand the Talon did better with more speed. I'm guessing the billion dollar car company's knowledge of the i4wd, is why the Talons did better the steep and slicker it got. In big boulder'ing type riding the KRX craws slower and has some big advantages.
 Clearance was great on this machine, but the weight causes this machine to bounce a lot on drop offs.
3) Sand. In deep rutted or tracked sand trails, he KRX is terrible, the extra weight, kills this machine. It steered like like a tank. It's a heavy pig and I'm skeptical even with a turbo the handling can not be resolved in sand. 
KRX got a big F in tracked up sand.
4) Slow to Fast. This is by far the worst situation of the Kawasaki. With 31 to 32" tires the Talon still rock crawls amazing, but in low range you can almost hit 68mph. The KRX is a disaster if you transition between fast and slow stuff ( slick-rock drops to fast sandy washes, back to slick rock) all day. The amount you have to stop and shift all the time is insane. The KRX screams, and I mean screams at 28mph in low range. When we do Moab for a week, we never have to take the Talon out of Low Range. With the KRX, when you do get to high range, it's still too slow. On fast roads we felt the motor was screaming at 50mph and 55mph it felt like it was going to blow up. The end result is after 45 mile ride on this, you feel like you have done 100 miles, and you get left in the dust because this constant stopping and starting between hi and low range slows you down more than anything. I felt bad for the couple that bought this machine because it was clear they were exhausted from the stop and start and did not do the next days ride. They said in the future they just want to do easy stuff only, or rock crawling only but not such a big mix of stuff and keep the rides shorter. I think they will like the KRX better in Moab technical only terrain than as an all around machine.
5) Wheels. The beadlocks leak on the KRX, and the ring looks too small to seal well, but the Talon wheels are light but junk compared to good beadlocks for desert type terrain so I guess this is a wash. Both need to be replaced in my mind.
6) Ease of installing extras... This is a toss up, The Talon is a bit over-engineered with heavy metal brackets but has good room for stuff yet a lot of that bulky Honda stuff could be removed. The KXR lacks good industrial design in the body, but this lends to easier and more room to push cables, and mount extras.
7) Room. The KRX is more roomy but even taller people seem to enjoy the Talon more, because it generally is more fun to get on the gas than a rubber band machine. From our observation, gears and fun win over room in the seat.
8) Belt. This is such a downfall even if the belts last as long as Kawasaki says. The shifting in the Talon is all the fun, and why companies are still putting 1980's Belt driven rubber bands designed for snow mobiles, on off road machines, is a mystery to me. Belts suck no matter how you look at it.
9) Overall. The KRX feels solid but when you push it, it feels way too heavy, but that being said, if you are NOT an aggressive driver, just want to putt around on the weekends but maybe challenge yourself with a little rock crawling, oh, and are willing to deal with lame rubber band drive, the rest of the machine is pretty nice. It did have a fair amount of stuff made in China, over the Yamaha and Honda's which are American and Japanese made. I was surprised by this being a solid Japanese company.

 

[Nogrey]

LOL. Not.
The introduction of the Pioneer 1000 with all its problems ruined their "best" reputation.
And the transmissions in their cars suck too.
The Teryx T2 and T4 are definitely more reliable than Pioneers.
There have already been two Talons with broken spindles.
More will show up.

I appreciate opposing views. I don't have any skin in the game at this point and am trying to make an informed decision before I buy. I've owned many Honda products over the years and for the most part they have been really reliable. I've seen the broken spindles you refer to and at least on one of them there was no real apparent reason for it. like, a manufacturing defect. I sure wold hate to be out in the boonies and have that happen. Still, Honda has a reputation for correcting their issues. It's going to be a tough decision because the brands you mentioned, as well as others all have some pretty amazing products. It is nice to see the many Talon owners on this forum. I just need to keep doing my homework.