Kawasaki W650 Road Test And Review

Looks Right

A centerpiece of the styling concept is the 4.0-gallon fuel tank. Though at first it seems to be a dead ringer for an old Triumph item, the shape is actually different. The rubber knee pads are much thicker, and modern manufacturing techniques have enabled Kawasaki to dispense with the ugly seam that ran along the top of Triumph tanks. The tank has a locking gas cap too, and the elaborate badge carries the name of its actual maker.

The one-piece dual seat employs white piping, a styling element popular in the 1960s. Though its shape and flat top permit you to slide back or forward to find a position that suits your frame, sitting in the middle will probably put you on the hardest part of the saddle. This was the biggest comfort concern for most of our testers and would prevent us from choosing the W650 for an extended ride. Also, shorter-legged folks may be concerned because the saddle rests 31.5 inches above the road, though the relatively light weight nature of this bike makes the height a non-issue for riders with inseams of 30 inches or more. The riding position is definitely conventional standard-style, placing your feet beneath you and your torso upright or leaned slightly into the wind.

The basic chassis follows the pattern of the bikes the W650 emulates. The frame is a familiar double-cradle pattern with a beefy square backbone concealed under the tank. Suspension compliance is good, with 5.1 inches of suspension travel from the rubber-gaiter-covered front fork and an inch less available from the dual rear shocks. The front end is one of the most convincing elements of the styling package, though the chrome headlight is actually plastic.

The Triumphs of the era that the W650 recalls had drum brakes on both ends, but this Kawasaki uses a single 300mm disc up front for more power and fade-resistance. The rear brake has the slightly mushy feel of a single-cam drum brake because that's what it is. Bridgestone has even created tires for the W650 that look similar to the tires of the 1960s, with a rib-style pattern up front. However, unlike those old tires, these didn't make the bike shimmy frantically in rain grooves cut into the road.

Feels Right

Despite the extra weight of the W compared to a T120, handling overall was similar to what we recall from Brit bikes of the 1960s. It steers lightly, tracks steadily through corners, smooth or bumpy, and doesn't stand up under braking. Cornering clearance seems considerable if you are used to cruisers, but it is also similar to those vertical twins of memory. However, this bike offers better traction and even slightly improved suspension control. Like those old vertical twins, the W650 is extremely handy at low speeds too.

The overall lines of the W650 certainly catch the style of a mid-1960s Triumph Bonneville. The exhaust system follows the lines of Kawasaki's Commander mufflers more closely than the teardrop-shaped Bonneville pipes (and Cobra has upswept scrambler-style pipes if you want to imitate the style of the TR6C Trophy). However, some of the details diverge sharply. The black plastic chain guard is not as pleasing as the polished metal piece on the older Triumphs. We also wish that the rear brake had been polished rather than painted black, though we suspect that such changes would have raised the price well beyond the current $6499.

The taillight is reminiscent of the shape of the Triumph item but bigger and more visible. Turn signals were not fitted to most bikes in the 1960s, but are required now. The W650's items are small and understated (and might help clean up some cruisers). The dual instrument faces are similar to gauges of the 1960s and are even set at a similar angle--just a few degrees off horizontal. The LCD odometer/tripmeter/clock is a jarring, if useful, break from tradition.

Time Trolling

But the details don't intrude much into the overall W650 experience. One Friday evening this summer, I climbed on the W650 and rode up to Sunset Boulevard, which I traced from the ocean to Sunset Strip and back, passing icons of the 1960s such as Deadman's Curve (now reconfigured) and the Whiskey A Go-Go. The ride didn't exactly recapture my youth, but it recalled some of its memorable moments. And the bike I was riding was actually much better than those 650 twins of a third of a century ago. There wasn't significant vibration when I grabbed a handful and let the tach needle brush the redline to get around that Porsche in a tricky curve, and I didn't feel a single twitch rushing through the curve where an old friend, Jim Kingsley, put his twin on somebody's front lawn one night. Nor did I worry that vibration and Lucasitis might leave me suddenly stopped in the dark when the electrics went south. I don't particularly need to recreate that part of the 1960s Britbike experience.

Kawasaki's W650 gives us the best of then and now--nostalgia without the hassles of actually having to put up with an old bike and its foibles. If the British bikes of the 1960s and 1970s had been this good, there might still be an England.

Art Friedman receives email at Art.Friedman@sorc.com, even if it comes from England.