Icon might not be the first brand you think of when you talk about road racing apparel, but the Oregonian company is certainly trying to evolve from its Stunt Life roots, into other aspects of two-wheeled culture.
Pushing into the more lifestyle, adventure, and sport segments of the industry, we have already seen Icon’s penchant for concept bikes, which I can atest haven’t really resonated with our sport-bike focused readers. I think today will be a little different though.
Teaming up with Kawasaki, Icon has built what it calls the Kawasaki ZX3-RR concept. Based off the Kawasaki Ninja 300, the Kawasaki ZX3-RR sees new bodywork and a slew of performance parts added to make a spec-series cup bike for young riders. It looks the business.
The idea is for the ZX3-RR to resonate with the cell-phone generation — it even features a Samsung tablet for a dashboard — in an effort to cultivate new American road racers (Icon sent us this exclusive after reading our story about Dorna and Wayne Rainey teaming up to find the next American GP champion).
We have to say, the effect is spot-on. Flashy but practical, sporty but affordable, Icon has really latched onto something here with the Kawasaki ZX3-RR concept. We particularly like the shotgun GP-style Arrow exhaust, and the overall lines of the fairings, which scream GP racer.
The Kawasaki Ninja 300 is already a hit with new riders, and we’ve seen more than a few recently at the track — 250cc-class four-stroke bikes are in a true resurgence.
The ZX3-RR concept might be geared towards getting younger riders on the track, but I think some grown adults wouldn’t mind swinging a leg over this bike as well (or am I just speaking for myself here??). Maybe if there is enough interest, something will come of it. In the meantime, a video and super-high resolution photos are below.
Source: Icon
Comments