Kawasaki W800

[Old Steve]

I had the luck to have the new Kawasaki W800 overnight, had a ride around town up some favourite roads for an hour or so on Tuesday night, then took it for an early morning ride up the Kaimais and back ( by early, I mean going through Tauriko at 6.30 am as soon as the sun was up) on Wednesday morning.

Was mainly amased by the differences between my cruiser and this "retro-classic". Noticeably having straight bars, the lack of rear vision because the mirrors are much further in, having the foot pegs, the gear shift lever and rear brake levers further back, and having such a high seat (I was able to touch the ground only on tip toe).

However, wonderfully smooth, not pull your body back acceleration but sufficient to hurry you into speed ticket problems before you know it, and it didn't seem to have to lean over as much as my learner cruiser to go around the same corners at slightly higher speeds. Such a positive gear change, and able to pull away in fifth gear from down near 1500 rpm.

And the looks! Dark British green metallic paint which fades into the silver tank-side highlight. Classic looks, a number of viewers asked if it wasn't in fact a Triumph.

[Edbear]

I like them!

[Old Steve]

Yeah, I could live with it if someone said, "Here, park this in your garage, it's yours."

Even though I found the seat high. I'd put on after market mirrors to give a better rear view, and to hell with the overall width of the bike. And I'd look at the exhaust pipes, it is so quiet you can hear the camshaft bevel gear drive up to quite a number of rpms.

[AllanB]

Make a nice project bike.

Costs too much though, for the silly price Kawasaki NZ want ($17k) you can get a Bonnie & upgrade the suspenders and still have cash to burn.

[Edbear]

I wonder if it's significantly better than the 650, though? It appears to be basically a bored out 650 with little changed apart from cosmetics and I do love the 650.

[Bonez]

I went for a ride on one a couple of weeks ago. Loved it. Performance is similar to the 650 I understand. Enough to lose your license. Similar in fact to two bikes I currently own, the CX and CB550F. Felt lighter than and more nimble than either of them, nothing to bash your shins like my R80 either, a perfect fit for my spindly 6' frame. Mind you you'd expect that from a "new" bike. Kawasaki have had enough time to refine on the original W650 design, which was fairly spot on to begin with. I'll be interesting to see how well they age.

Looks good in black:

[HenryDorsetCase]

Make a nice project bike.

Costs too much though, for the silly price Kawasaki NZ want ($17k) you can get a Bonnie & upgrade the suspenders and still have cash to burn.

Thats just killed it for me too. $17k

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