Many Kawasaki Ultra die hard enthusiasts will swear that Kspeed makes the best intake grate for this platform. We have tested this grate ourselves here at The Watercraft Journal many times and we are not sure that they are wrong. So when we got word that our friends down under were creating a new grate, we immediately reached out.
In 2018, Kspeed perfected their custom made intake grate and then sorted out to a local Brisbane manufacturer. The process took 12 months longer than it should have and the holes were not right, so they sent them back.
By December of 2019 they had them right and ready for sale. Thus, the Kspeed Stage 1 kit was born, and it boasted the only intake grate on the market for the 300/310 platform that actually increased speed instead of slowing the rider down.
Just before the 2023 North American summer order surge they ran out of sellable intake grates. At that point, via email only Kspeed would take cosmetically imperfect grates, hand finish them, test them in their own Ultra 310 and then sell at a reduced price. This process took nearly an hour for each order.
When we asked the guys at Kspeed what this new process consisted of, they gave us the complete break down. “We sorted out the manufacturer of our Kspeed STX intake grates to give these new ones a go, the prototype was 3D scanned, perfected in CAD and 1 CNC cast was made. Three months later we have this new perfectly formed intake grate,” said Marty of Kspeed.
He continued, “No more casting dramas, perfect quality control straight out of the box and we still double check each one with a test fit before packaging.” Interestingly, the old ones were sand cast. The new ones come out of a CNC mold.
On the previous batch, they ended up with over 130 grates that were cast and didn’t meet QC and required significant labor to make sellable. They pride themselves on quality and customer service and thankfully they do, or most of you would have ended up with subpar products.
So yes, there is a brand new intake grate for the 300/310 platform from Kspeed. And in their own words, “The new intake grates are slightly higher on price due to the additional manufacturing cost, but look sensational. They do the exact same job producing identical speed and hookup. So, if you have an old one there is no need to upgrade, unless of course you want to.”
