Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

[afficionado]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

Congrats on your awesome ride!

Had done a test ride of the z650 and absolutely loved it. The bike feels so nimble in traffic, you forget you are riding a 650.

Almost booked the bike, but then backed out due to the low 130 mm clearance.My usage is office rides and long trips, and Indian roads throw up sudden surprises(potholes, speed breakers etc) which I feared the z wont be able to handle. Also Bangalore roads are full of craters and mountaineous speed breakers.As of now I might go ahead with the versys 300 but its quite overpriced and low on grunt.

Please throw some light on how you have been tackling the ground clearance issues and your feedback on the bike based on my requirements. Would really help me make a decision .

Ride safe!

[WindPacer]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

[MENTION=95211]Ak1765[/MENTION] Congrats on your new acquisition. She indeed is a head turner; take good care of her


ATGATT !!!

Cheers,
WindPacer

[Ak1765]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

Congrats on your awesome ride!

Had done a test ride of the z650 and absolutely loved it. The bike feels so nimble in traffic, you forget you are riding a 650.

Almost booked the bike, but then backed out due to the low 130 mm clearance.My usage is office rides and long trips, and Indian roads throw up sudden surprises(potholes, speed breakers etc) which I feared the z wont be able to handle. Also Bangalore roads are full of craters and mountaineous speed breakers.As of now I might go ahead with the versys 300 but its quite overpriced and low on grunt.

Please throw some light on how you have been tackling the ground clearance issues and your feedback on the bike based on my requirements. Would really help me make a decision .

Ride safe!

Hey man !! The ground clearance is a problem so as I said in my case I clearly mapped out my road to work to ensure that I could get to office without massive speed breakers and potholes so would recommend you do the same. Also another point to note that all motorcycles at that price point and above (barring the versys or tiger) have similar ground clearance ... So mapping out where you will ride is essential... For touring I don't see the GC a problem unless you wish to ride to Ladakh ...

The other advantage of the z650 is the short wheelbase which helps ensure you don't scrape your exhaust ...

I have been riding it in the city with no problems with ground clearance as I did my research before hand. If your office commutes are void of massive bumps then go for it !

[Sam John]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi Friends,

Congratulations for your new Z650

I am new to this thread and this is my first post. I bought a Kawasaki Z650 end of October last year and have covered around 1800 kms so far, The bike's performance is really good and like you mentioned the low ground clearance is a problem sometimes. It does not look like a 650. Advantage sometimes, Disadvantage sometimes. Handling and braking is great. Will share more details later

[Ak1765]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

A few updates :

Pillion comfort : I knew this bike is not made with pillion comfort in mind..but I still thought that i should give it a shot. Two things were immediately apparent as soon as my wife sat behind me.. first is that GC is compromised and then even regular speedbreakers are an issue.

Secondly the seat and the angle of it is quite uncomfortable and my wife complained of soreness and discomfort within 30 mins of riding .. so this bike is seriously not recommended for people who intend to ride two up..

First short trip out of the city !

I went for a short impromptu ride to Lonavala last weekend and it was absolutely amazing ! It sucked that I had to control my wrist to keep it under 4000 rpm .. the bike is extremely torquey and loves to pounce .. I had to keep my trigger happy wrist in check all the time ! Also none of the speedbreakers posed a problem for me so yay !

The one thing that definitely caught me by surprise was how comfortable the journey was. I have always been used to the thunderbird and genuinely believed that it was one of the more comfortable bikes you could ride. In fact even on my trips to lonavala which is around 100 Kms from Mumbai I usually took one break but on my Z there was no need no stop at all ... It felt more comfortable than my Thunderbird 😁..

I was also quite impressed with the mileage. The bike returned a mileage of 25kmpl. I am yet to get my bike serviced so I see this number going up post my first service.

My first service is due end of this month so will update once that is done

[krishna77]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

Belated congrats!
Ride safe!

[kanth]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

A few updates :

Pillion comfort : I knew this bike is not made with pillion comfort in mind..but I still thought that i should give it a shot. Two things were immediately apparent as soon as my wife sat behind me.. first is that GC is compromised and then even regular speedbreakers are an issue.

Secondly the seat and the angle of it is quite uncomfortable and my wife complained of soreness and discomfort within 30 mins of riding .. so this bike is seriously not recommended for people who intend to ride two up..

First short trip out of the city !

I went for a short impromptu ride to Lonavala last weekend and it was absolutely amazing ! It sucked that I had to control my wrist to keep it under 4000 rpm .. the bike is extremely torquey and loves to pounce .. I had to keep my trigger happy wrist in check all the time ! Also none of the speedbreakers posed a problem for me so yay !

The one thing that definitely caught me by surprise was how comfortable the journey was. I have always been used to the thunderbird and genuinely believed that it was one of the more comfortable bikes you could ride. In fact even on my trips to lonavala which is around 100 Kms from Mumbai I usually took one break but on my Z there was no need no stop at all ... It felt more comfortable than my Thunderbird ������..

I was also quite impressed with the mileage. The bike returned a mileage of 25kmpl. I am yet to get my bike serviced so I see this number going up post my first service.

My first service is due end of this month so will update once that is done

Congratulations on your new bike and on the topic of pillion comfort, have to say this is where the Er6n trumps on the Z650 as the pillion seat is as comfortable as the rider's and my pillion has felt comfortable on all the rides we have done, but when it comes to uneven road humps, the exhaust scraping is a huge issue, so this time I have actually upped the rear suspension to 1 level harder than the stock setting as it won't be too bouncy on single rides and won't scrape all road humps when riding with a pillion.....

[Sam John]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi Friends,

Can we change this thread name to Kawasaki Z650 ownership thread so we could get more owners joining and sharing their experiences.



This picture was taken during a 400 kms ride accompanied by my son. The ride through ECR was fantastic.

Sam

[gautam99]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

Congratulations and wishing you thousands of happy miles.

Z650 indeed is a pocket rocket like the Duke 390 and offers a similar supreme VFM and price to horsepower advantage. It's really hard not to recommend this to someone looking for a naked street machine.

The Kawasaki 650cc motorcycles are also the most safe, usable and efficient platform for our Indian roads.

Also, I love the stealthy appeal of the Z650 when I saw one in the parking lot of a mall, no one stared at while it slips under the radar like a FZ or Gixxer. This is a rare feature in a 650cc machine which is useful at times on our roads.

I'm not sure why the recent fascination with many manufacturers to come up with the India unfriendly "130mm" ground clearance. The new Street Twin-Triple, Ninja 650-1000, z650-900, etc have this clearance issue. It's a bit annoying to slow down almost to a halt before going over speed humps. One my friend's own the Street Twin and this issue is manageable with a rider, but with pillion its an absolute no. It not only scrapes but hits bumps with a strong thud.

So if pillion comfort is important and clearance issues are to be avoided, the Versys 650 is still the King in this aspect.

But for solo riders, the Z650 being almost Rs.2 lakhs less than Versys, makes you forget all worries when you open the throttle!

PS- If you don't mind, I'd like to know your height and weight, and how you feel the stock seat suits you.

Cheers!

Have you looked at properly setting the preload when two up on the rear suspension? Or is it still a problem even after adjusting the preload?

[Preson]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi, I am not sure if this is the right place to post my query but here goes

I have booked a z650 few days back in Bengaluru and i came to know that the motorcycle is still the 17' model with 18' manufacturing date and not the 18' model as shown in IKM website. I would like to know if there are any owners of z650 here who can clarify on this or maybe even shed some light as to whether it is advisable to go ahead with the booking ? Please help.

[Chandan92]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi, I am not sure if this is the right place to post my query but here goes

I have booked a z650 few days back in Bengaluru and i came to know that the motorcycle is still the 17' model lp.

I took delivery on 11th May, my bike was 2018 January manufactured. So nothing is changed for Z650, although N650 has new 2018 KRT edition and blue colour.

[Preson]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

I took delivery on 11th May, my bike was 2018 January manufactured. So nothing is changed for Z650, although N650 has new 2018 KRT edition and blue colour.

Thanks Chandan92.

Is there anything specific i should look for during the PDI ? Any details about your delivery experience will be useful. Thanks again.

[ashwinbala123]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi Friends,

Can we change this thread name to Kawasaki Z650 ownership thread so we could get more owners joining and sharing their experiences.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]238757[/ATTACH]

This picture was taken during a 400 kms ride accompanied by my son. The ride through ECR was fantastic.

Sam

Hi sam John,
I am interested in this bike. Kawasaki Chennai does not have a test ride bike available. Is it possible for me to borrow your bike for a few minutes so that I can get a feel of it?

Ashwin Bala

[Deathwing]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi sam John,
I am interested in this bike. Kawasaki Chennai does not have a test ride bike available. Is it possible for me to borrow your bike for a few minutes so that I can get a feel of it?

Ashwin Bala

JMB kawasaki said they will give me Z900 test ride but I never went around to it, you should try there for TD.

[ashwinbala123]

re: Z650 Ownership Experience Thread

JMB kawasaki said they will give me Z900 test ride but I never went around to it, you should try there for TD.

Ok. I am interested in the 650 , not the 900. They don't have the 650 for test ride.

Do you know anyone who can help me out on this? The thing is - if I am going to pay 5.9 lakhs for a bike, then I will need to test ride the actual bike before putting the money down.

Any help in this regard will be appreciated.