As we already said after the Intermot sneak peek, the Kawasaki Z650 has replaced the ER-6N naked bike.
The smaller counterpart to the Z900 naked, the Z650 departs from Kawi tradition by using a parallel twin engine, not an inline-four; the Z650s of the company’s 1970s glory days were all I4s, and reckoned to be very competent middleweights.
Still, the 650 twins have been well-liked since introduction, and actually faired well in certain roadracing classes at the IOMTT. The latest version found here will put out 68 hp, and have a 185 kg curb weight (187 kg with ABS) — that’s down from the ER-6N’s 206 kg weight, so Kawasaki hasn’t just whipped up some new bodywork and called it done.
An assist/slipper clutch is standard, just like it is with the Z900.
From the photo, you can see the Z650 has lost its distinctive laydown rear shock that defined the previous-gen Kawi 650s; the shock is now conventionally mounted towards the centre of the bike’s rear.
GALLERY
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But I like ER-6n more than this one.
And ER-6n still sell well
Dammit, I think I NEED one….
Be a nice ride, but I still can’t wrap my head around the Transformer styling. It doesn’t seem as extreme as the bigger models, though.