True Modern Retro

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I guess you could say I am a “Kawasaki Man.” Out of the hundreds of bikes I’ve owned over the last 55 years, a bunch of them have been Kawasakis. I just like Kawasakis and always have. I owned two 2001 model Kawasaki W650s, both of which I kept for several years. I didn’t know much about them when I discovered a low mileage, custom-painted W650 for sale in a nearby town advertised on Craigslist. I got that first W650 in late summer of 2005, and then I picked up a second one just a few months later in St. Louis. I think I paid $3200 for the first one and only $2800 for the second one (it was such a deal I just had to buy it) and neither of them had more than 3000 miles on the clock nor a single scratch.

Official 2001 Kawasaki W650 press spec pic.

My first W650 was black with tan stripes on the tank and a painted front fender- a unique color scheme not seen on any other W. It’s the one I rode the most. I eventually put a small cafe fairing on it. The second one I got was completely stock, and it was blue and silver with stainless fenders. I let my oldest daughter ride that one and used it to convince her, a freshman on a full scholarship at The University of South Carolina in 2005, to come back to Fayetteville and enroll at The University of Arkansas. She came back home for Thanksgiving break, and we took the pair of W’s on a ride down The Pig Trail (a beautiful stretch of two-lane known to all Arkansas motorcycle riders) on a perfect weather day. That was it! Both bikes had black seats with white piping, a detail I have always appreciated on the “right” motorcycle to possess it.

My daughter and I out riding the W650s. We both loved these bikes.

In any case, each of the W650s I owned performed identically and flawlessly. I consider them nearly perfect “Brit” bikes, even though they aren’t British. At least they look like British bikes- vertical twins ala BSA, but with bevel drive valve trains like a Ducati. I vastly preferred the flow of the exhaust headers to the mufflers on the W650 compared to the Triumph Bonnevilles of that era. The Kawasakis were smooth flowing directly to their mufflers. The Triumph had an annoying bend right before their headers to mate their pipes to their mufflers that were mounted higher on the bike. Not “period correct” in terms of design, and not good for performance in my opinion.

I love the white seat piping on these machines. I also added the café bullet fairing.

The W650s are also small bikes and light weight for what they are. At 5’11” and 200 lbs, I always felt a little cramped on mine, particularly in terms of leg room between the seat and the pegs, and especially compared to the Triumph 850 Scrambler I had at the same time that was a lot better ergonomically.

The Ws were very “unBritishlike” however, in terms of their trustworthy reliability and leakproofness. They had a nice mellow sound, and the engine had a broad powerband throughout the full rev range. It never felt like I was straining the motor, and had all the power anyone really needs (relax folks, I didn’t say “wants”). I also liked the brakes and suspension, and again, compared to my Triumph Scrambler, the Kawasaki was vastly superior. Both the front and rear ends were nicely sprung and well-damped, whereas my Triumph bottomed out a lot and felt more like an old Honda with pogo stick suspension.

A better view of the headlight cowling I installed, the front fork gaiters, and the stripe down the tank and front fender. It was a beautiful bike.

My only complaint with the W650s was their ergonomics, at least for my size. Otherwise, they did everything a proper road-going motorcycle should do. Back in the 70s when I started riding on the street (I started in the dirt on small bikes at age 12 like most of us old farts), we would have thought a 650 was a “big” bike. Of course with today’s endless quest for power, weight, and technical complexity, many newer riders would consider it a “starter bike” or “girl’s bike.” But that is a subject for another day!

Mark Zweig