I do not think that is correct- the system Kawasaki uses is Mitsubishi's MISTY system, which was developed for and predominantly used on cars. In fact, I believe Kawasaki is getting nothing but the, oh, let's call it 'run off' of the auto industry and is simply using what is available and inexpensive because there have been (and will be) millions of cars to pay for the R&D of the system in the first place.
And more power to whomever can get the Ford (or whichever mfg's parts) to work but really, what terrible fees are we avoiding? $35 for an RFID fob and what, $45 to code the bike to recognize it? And how many of these will the average, or even extremely careless C-14 owner need- 2? Three? Three seems like a lot of fobs to me, especially when added to at least one, and far, far more often two that come with the bike in the first place.
We've been through this 208,508,962,007 time by my count and it comes out the same way: KiPass is robust, reliable and generally works extremely well. Yes, the activation switch does occasionally stick but there are easy, cheap (IMO) and easy fixes guaranteed to work around that one. After that, it is basically owner carelessness and / or ignorance that causes the small amount of grief associated with this system, is it not?
At the end of the year, after we pay for the portion of the bike we used (devaluation), fuel, tires, general maintenance, insurance and city water to wash the bike, I think the cost of KiPass has long since disappeared into the ether. We would be far better off worrying about tire life IMO- at least we might get a little return on that attention (longer tire life through proper inflation, carrying what is needed to repair a puncture- something actually likely to happen, etc.).
There we go- my Fall sermon on KiPass. Remember, you read it here first folks!
Brian
That isn't surprising. The system that Kawasaki uses is fairly obscure and probably not used in any cars and I bet those systems are designed mostly for car keys. One would think the technology would be similar enough, but who knows. If you do find someplace that can do it, I bet a lot of us would be interested... can't hurt to have yet another spare and without paying a dealer extortion fee.
