Remember when we showed you the Kawasaki Eliminator 400 a few weeks back? It turns out that we are not getting that bike in North America—instead, the US is getting the Eliminator 450, and presumably we will also get that bike in Canada.
The Eliminator 450 is basically the same as the 400, it seems, but with just a bit more engine capacity.
The news comes courtesy of Dennis Chung at Motorcycle.com, who found reference to the bike in California Air Resource Board documents, approving the bike for sale in California in 2024. It seems very unlikely that Kawasaki is bringing this bike to California and not also the rest of North America, including Canada.
What can we expect?
So what will the new machine be? Unlike the old four-cylinder Eliminators, which were basically superbike engines stuffed into a cruiser chassis, this machine will be a fairly tame beast (but also thankfully much more powerful than the old Eliminator 125 learner bike!).
The CARB paperwork doesn’t gives us the horsepower or torque, but we expect a parallel twin engine that’s very similar to the Z400/Ninja 400 powerplant. That engine makes 44 hp at 10,000 rpm, and 28 lb-ft of torque at 8,000 rpm; we’d bet on a “tuned for torque” update to the engine, maybe some jiggery-pokery with the gearing and a new ECU to go along with a big-bore job. Basically, expect the same sort of treatment that Honda gave the 500 engine when it switched it from the CBR500 to the Rebel 500.
Aside from that, American customers seem poised to get both a standard and SE version, with swankier trim (headlight fairing, fork gaiters, GPS screen, USB-C charging socket, front-and-rear-facing video screens). They’ll also have a choice of ABS or no. Canadians probably will have no choice there; there’s a good chance ABS will be standard here.
I like it ! This is how you build the following. Should be a cool lightweight funcicle )