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2002 Kawasaki Retro W650
Yes, "Retro" is part of its official title, as if maybe we wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Smartass comments aside, I
actually really liked the W650. I've heard a lot of comments to the extent of it being "a Bonneville knock-off", but
I thought it was cute, and at only $6599, it's over $1000 cheaper than the British version. In a way, the W650 reminded
me of the Nighthawk -- obviously because of the standard posture, but also because I felt like this could be a punk little
"ride hard" bike in its own right. Just like my Nighthawk (but 16 years newer), it's a parallel twin, only the W650 has
four valves per cylinder (instead of the NH's three). I think this bike would be fun as heck to ride, and cheap!
Did I mention that MSRP is only $6600? Used ones on cycletrader
are going for as little as $4000.
My thoughts from the saddle: The stock seat felt very hard, but other than that, it was very comfortable. The
ergonomics were almost perfect -- I was balancing on the balls of my feet, but it didn't feel topheavy or unmanageable. In
fact, the bike felt so much lighter than its claimed 434 lbs (dry), that I'll have to sit on one in a dealership in order
to believe that that's really how it feels. If all the parts were there, and the bike really does feel that light, heck,
spend the couple of hundred on a Corbin seat and windscreen, and this could be a wicked fun little bike.
Motorcycle.com's review of the 2000 W650
[If Kawasaki didn't suck and put all their specs online in Flash, I wouldn't be giving you two-year-old reviews. Their bad.]
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