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| ATV Connection - Kawasaki Prairie review 1997 |
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Vibration gremlins are kept in check, on the quiet running four-stroke, with a new crankshaft-driven counterbalancer and rubber motor mounts. Another key element in the design of the Prairie is easy access to service items. The days of contorting your body into strange positions to view the oil level sight-window, located behind the rear tire on a Bayou, are gone! Instead, the Prairie boasts a dipstick and an automotive-style spin-on oil filter. Even the front grill plastic has a small cutout permitting easy access to the radiator fill spout.
If you ride in dusty conditions you’ll appreciate this next innovative feature. The inlet to the air intake snorkel feeding the Prairie's carb is located in front of the gas tank instead of behind it! Relocating the snorkel forward from the traditional location behind the tank, where it was subject to a constant flow of dust kicked up by the front tires, should substantially extend the life of the air filter between service intervals. We think this innovative concept earns Kawasaki several kudos in our book! Less service time translates into more time blasting through quad-swallowing quagmires, plowing the driveway, or blazing new trails!
Concerned about water entering the snorkel in it's new forward-mounted location, we tested the Prairie in deep stream crossings. Water flowing over the tops of the fenders didn't slow this thoroughbred down. Not only did no water enter the engine through the snorkel, the new transmission also survived the test with no belt slippage. The Prairie appears to be well sealed against the elements.
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