Kawasaki Motorcycle Road Tests
& Reviews
Kawasaki Motorcycle Guide
The Kawasaki Motorcycle & Engine Division has been manufacturing motorcycles since 1954. The trademarked names of some of Kawasaki's powersports machines–from Kawasaki Ninja sportbikes to Kawasaki Vulcan cruisers to Kawasaki Jet Ski personal watercraft–have become household names.
Five Fast Fellows: 2013 Sport-Touring Shootout
Greg Drevenstedt
May 6, 2013
Sport touring, a hybrid category that blends the performance of sportbikes with the comfort of touring bikes, takes many forms. Some add a taller windscreen, bar risers and soft luggage to their GSX-R, while others bevel the pegs and scrape the belly pan on their Gold Wing. Between these two extremes... Read more »
2013 Kawasaki Concours 14 Review
Greg Drevenstedt
May 6, 2013
When the Kawasaki Concours 14 sped onto the sport-touring scene for 2008, it easily arm-wrestled the competition into submission. With its liquid-cooled, 1,352cc in-line four derived from the time-warping Ninja ZX-14 sportbike, the mighty Concours puts 144.2 horsepower to the rear wheel—4.4 more than... Read more »
2012 Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Voyager ABS Road Test
Greg Drevenstedt
April 2, 2013
My fiancée loves spontaneous adventure, but she’s had it with me proposing last-minute weekend getaways and showing up on a test bike she’s never ridden on before. I figured the 2012 Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Voyager ABS, with its ample wind protection, cushy seating and generous luggage capacity, would... Read more »
Rider Comparo: 2013 Honda CRF250L vs. 2013 Kawasaki KLX250S vs. 2013 Yamaha WR250R
Arden Kysely
January 31, 2013
The last time Rider corralled a herd of 250 dual-sports (April 2008), we chose the thriftiest models available in the face of rising gas prices. This time we went for best-in-class, grabbing Yamaha’s WR250R, Honda’s new CRF250L and Kawasaki’s KLX250S—the only return contender. The KLX received... Read more »
2012 Kawasaki Ninja 1000—Rider Test
Greg Drevenstedt
January 2, 2013
Gold is highly valued for its luster, purity and rarity, characteristics that also apply to motorcycles, to varying degrees. Our Kawasaki Ninja 1000 test bike in Candy Lime Green/Ebony certainly has luster, and from a technological point of view, it has purity. No throttle-by-wire, no riding modes, no... Read more »
Rider Comparo: Honda NC700X vs. Kawasaki Versys vs. Suzuki V-Strom 650 ABS
Bill Stermer
November 6, 2012
Mid-size bikes make a lot of sense. Not only because they tend to be less expensive and lighter, but also because they have become so competent. Considering competence, this trio of liquid-cooled, 650cc-class twins each has a 6-speed transmission, chain final drive and some gravel-road pretensions (though... Read more »
2013 Kawasaki Ninja 300 ABS – First Ride
Greg Drevenstedt
October 26, 2012
Like its ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it KLR650 dual-sport, Kawasaki produced the Ninja 250 for more than two decades before giving it a major overhaul for 2008. Styling went from utilitarian to sporty and updates to the engine boosted midrange. The wee Ninja’s monopoly of the quarter-liter sportbike... Read more »
Kawasaki’s Ninja Times Square Takeover Goes Big
Heather Reinhart
September 13, 2012
Kawasaki likes to do things big. This time, they went all out. Enormous video billboards in the middle of New York City’s Times Square helped count down the final minutes until Kawasaki unveiled its latest Ninja sportbikes this afternoon. The Pearl Stardust White 2013 Ninja 300 was driven on stage... Read more »
Kawasaki Unveils More 2013 Ninja Sportbikes
Greg Drevenstedt
September 13, 2012
September 13, New York City – Kawasaki has taken over Times Square today, using one of the most high-profile locations in the world to unveil the latest batch of Ninja sportbikes. In July, Kawasaki released information about the 2013 Ninja ZX-10R and Ninja 650/ABS. Today’s unveiling fills out the... Read more »
Early-Release 2013 Kawasakis – First Look
Greg Drevenstedt
July 26, 2012
Confident that neither the Mayan calendar nor the contentious presidential election will bring the world to a grinding halt later this year, Kawasaki is celebrating the new year ahead of schedule with six early-release 2013 models. Kawasaki’s Ninja ZX-10R was completely overhauled for 2011 with new... Read more »
