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Finally, after months of browsing through various options, bought the Hulk Kawasaki Z650 !
Choices
After owning Yamaha R3 for around two years and covering 40,000+ kms, itch for another bike was started which I could keep along with R3. But I was on tight budget, can’t stretch it above 7 Lacs. So options were very few. Options were Z650, HD Street Rod 750 & Benelli 600i. Test rode HD Street Rod, bike was good but engine was heating up very much and increase in price also made it unreachable for me. Benelli 600i is the most familiar 600cc for me, since friend owned 600i, but uncertainty over its future, I had to drop the plan of owning 600i. Kawasaki Z650 was perfect for me, lightweight, torquey and with good brakes. Only I had a doubt regarding its service cost, because for last two years Yamaha R3 maintenance was economical. But then I had no options and service interval was also decent I.e. 6000km/6Months, so went ahead and booked Z650 at Kawasaki Nagpur, waiting period given was 15 days. OTR (Raipur Chhattisgarh) price coming up was 5,50,000/-
Buying Experience
Buying experience was decent with Kawasaki Nagpur, I knew sales person Mr. Jasveer Singh for last two years when he was working with Triumph & Harley-Davidson. Bike arrived at dealership in 10 days I.e. before schedule, Jasveer informed me and I transferred balance amount and delivery was scheduled on 6th May 2018 (Sunday) but on Saturday Jasveer told me that CRTM of bike(Opted for Chhattisgarh registration) isn’t done because of some issues at Nagpur RTO. Jasveer told me that CRTM will be done by Tuesday. So took leave on Friday (11th May 2018). Asked my riding group to accompany me for taking delivery, but being a weekday only Gurteg was able to Join me, we both left at 7:00AM from Raipur on my Yamaha R3. Reached Kawasaki Nagpur by 11:00AM, saw the bike, it was ready, PDI was done. Some documentation work was done. Kawasaki Nagpur team arranged a nice cake cutting ceremony, cake was cut and then we departed for a long ride (300kms) to Raipur. Reached raipur at 7:00PM, all formal rituals were performed by Parents at home and welcomed new machine at Home.
Initial Impressions
Till now have done around 800kms on Z650, have following impressions:
Now, sharing some pics, will share more details after first service.
Choices
After owning Yamaha R3 for around two years and covering 40,000+ kms, itch for another bike was started which I could keep along with R3. But I was on tight budget, can’t stretch it above 7 Lacs. So options were very few. Options were Z650, HD Street Rod 750 & Benelli 600i. Test rode HD Street Rod, bike was good but engine was heating up very much and increase in price also made it unreachable for me. Benelli 600i is the most familiar 600cc for me, since friend owned 600i, but uncertainty over its future, I had to drop the plan of owning 600i. Kawasaki Z650 was perfect for me, lightweight, torquey and with good brakes. Only I had a doubt regarding its service cost, because for last two years Yamaha R3 maintenance was economical. But then I had no options and service interval was also decent I.e. 6000km/6Months, so went ahead and booked Z650 at Kawasaki Nagpur, waiting period given was 15 days. OTR (Raipur Chhattisgarh) price coming up was 5,50,000/-
Buying Experience
Buying experience was decent with Kawasaki Nagpur, I knew sales person Mr. Jasveer Singh for last two years when he was working with Triumph & Harley-Davidson. Bike arrived at dealership in 10 days I.e. before schedule, Jasveer informed me and I transferred balance amount and delivery was scheduled on 6th May 2018 (Sunday) but on Saturday Jasveer told me that CRTM of bike(Opted for Chhattisgarh registration) isn’t done because of some issues at Nagpur RTO. Jasveer told me that CRTM will be done by Tuesday. So took leave on Friday (11th May 2018). Asked my riding group to accompany me for taking delivery, but being a weekday only Gurteg was able to Join me, we both left at 7:00AM from Raipur on my Yamaha R3. Reached Kawasaki Nagpur by 11:00AM, saw the bike, it was ready, PDI was done. Some documentation work was done. Kawasaki Nagpur team arranged a nice cake cutting ceremony, cake was cut and then we departed for a long ride (300kms) to Raipur. Reached raipur at 7:00PM, all formal rituals were performed by Parents at home and welcomed new machine at Home.
Initial Impressions
Till now have done around 800kms on Z650, have following impressions:
- Bike doesn’t look like a 650cc machine which is both boon and bane.
- Bike is light and flickable in traffic.
- Seating posture is almost straight, wind blast comes after 130kmph.
- Bike has ample amount of torque and engine runs stress free.
- Seating is good, pillion comfort is not great.
- Headlights are decent but not as good as Yamaha R3
- Brakes are awesome, ABS interference is least.
- Bike looks good especially the taillight.
- Tyres provide decent grip.
- Instrument console is good, provides every necessary info.
- Quality of switchgear is good.
- Bike doesn’t heat up even after riding in heavy traffic.
- Exhaust note is decent, although don’t expect it to eargasmic.
- Acceleration is decent, haven’t redlined it yet so will comment on this aspect after first service.
- Fuel efficiency I am getting is in between 23-24kmpl but would like to see if it changes after first service.
- Ground clearance is very low for our Indian roads, I knew this issue will come up, have already scraped thrice but now have learnt how to cross the speed bumps.
Now, sharing some pics, will share more details after first service.
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