Kawasaki Eliminator SE 2024 Review

There’s no better testament to the joy and rewards motorcycles can give you than to look at the silly amount of hoops us Aussies have to jump through to get our bums on one. Sure, in America they hand out Hayabusas to learner riders at the doors of the DMV offices, but here in the Upside-down Land of Rules it’s one hurdle after another.

Complete this Homerian task and you too can ride a big boy’s-and-or-girl’s bike. But between you and that two-wheeled silver dream machine is the inevitable and often demeaning LAMS, erm, scheme.

Back when I learned to ride the options were so lame as to be almost surreal. My first non-farm bike or Postie was a CB250 Honda, and not the cool ’70s model. This was the uncool one from the early 90s that Uber Delivery dudes now ride. As reliable as it was unattractive, I once ran it for three months with no oil showing on the dipstick without any adverse effects, but that’s another story for another time.

Thankfully, the Gods of Motorcycling have more recently deemed us mere mortals worthy of a whole bunch of better LAMS options including - can you believe it - bikes which actually don’t invite laugh-out-loud scorn from a cafe car park packed with fully licensed Sunday riders. And wonder of wonders, you also just might want to actually keep the little buggers in the garage once you too have earned the right to ride a bigger bike.

So, the question du jour is, does Kawasaki’s 2024 Eliminator SE make this lofty grade? Or is it still a necessary evil that you’ll be wanting to eject from your possession the nanosecond you are legally able to? The good news is that we have done the hard yards with the ’Liminator so you don’t have to. And what did we find? Read on, dear learner, read on.

The Eliminator will leave a $9,509 plus on-roads ($11,231 ride away) sized hole in your bank account. It’ll be up to you as to whether you’ll want to drop that much on a LAMS bike or not, but remember that the second hand market for learner bikes is always pretty strong and a low mileage, one owner bike like this will usually get you a decent price. With that said, it’s not uncommon to be able to sell a second-hand learner bike for the same price you paid for it if you take care of it, so there’s that to consider.

The main competition here is probably the Honda Rebel 500 and Royal Enfield Meteor 350. Advertised prices here in Sydney tell me that the Honda is around the same price as the Eliminator and the Enfield is a grand or two less. Ultimately, you should probably consider all three, but rest assured that (spoiler alert) there’s not a bad bike amongst them, and Royal Enfield have been kicking some serious derriere of late with their newfound mission to beat Japan and Europe at their own game.

Rendering the popular 400cc donk found in their Ninja and Z400 bikes yesterday’s news, this new 451cc DOHC, liquid-cooled, 4-stroke parallel twin pumps out a decent 44hp. Happily, this is more than enough for most learners and while it’s not going to let you set new land speed records, it’ll allow you to keep up with your fully-licensed mates for the most part. This figure is helped in no small part by the bike’s rather beefy 11.3:1 compression ratio, a fancy slipper clutch and not five but six oily cogs in the ’box.

Straight from the factory, the SE is shod with IRC’s Grand High Speed GS-23R rubber. No, I’ve never heard of them either, but they are a Japanese company that’s almost 100 years old. That’s got to count for something. In practice, I found them very much up to scratch in both comfort and handling performance.

The front forks are 41mm right-side-up items and are not adjustable; their rear brethren are two in number and are adjustable for preload only. In most cases, this will be fine straight out of the crate for a lot of riders. Likewise, the ABS brakes, which are perfectly happy and capable in their roles. The frame is a trellis design which has forced the Kawasaki designers to chop the tank to accommodate the width immediately behind the Kwaka’s cowled headlight. In most cases I’m not a fan of this look, mainly because it almost always means that the tank’s lines are sacrificed and replaced with plastic panels and anonymous black metal pipes. Your mileage may vary.

Naturally, ABS is included in the SE package but Kawasaki are still keen to let you know about it in their brochures. More interestingly, you also get smartphone connectivity with the brand’s “Rideology” app. This allows owners to get vehicle info, a riding log, phone messages and even customise some of the bike’s settings. The dash that all this is connected to is a basic but decent affair with two simple buttons to cycle through on-screen info.

Stump up the extra cash for the SE edition and you’ll also get a bar-mounted USB-C charger for your phone. Clearly a bolt-on extra, it sits above the front brake reservoir in plain sight and is protected from the elements by a sealable rubber case. I’m not a big proponent of using my phone while riding; the last thing I want is for my saddle time to be taken up with text message intrusions and spam phone calls. If I were to give in to temptation, I would be thankful that the socket has been placed on the bars and not under or around the seat as some manufacturers do.

In three words, easy bloody peasy. Weighing in at 177 kgs wringing wet and with the added benefit of a properly low seat, the bike is just about as user friendly as a full-sized bike gets without customisation. The low-speed steering is light as you like, too, while still feeling solid and confident once you get a wriggle-on.

Putting the wasp-coloured wheels through its paces on my default loop from Sydney’s inner west to the cafe at Bald Hill south of the ‘Nasho and back again, the bike really impressed in the balance it was able to strike between ease of use while also not frustrating old buffoons like me when I pushed on and got a little scrape-y with the pegs. The engine has been thoroughly worked out and is quite the charmer. No, it’s not spewing out continental charisma or singing like a hypnotic siren, but it does manage to impress with its confident Japanese understated-ness.

I found the riding position to be as comfy as it was well-suited to my fairly average-sized carcass. Which is great and all, but it also got me thinking how someone a little taller would get on with the bike. I stopped wondering about half a second after I read the Kawasaki blurb on the bike’s “ergo-fit” design that allows a decent amount of adjustability for the ’bars, seat and pegs. Sure, it’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but it’s good to know that the bike has plenty of fitment options like three (count ’em) different seat height options to choose from.

The bike is super obedient and was as willing as a freshly trained puppy to do what it was told. It cared not if I was reversing into a parking spot at Dan Murphy’s or travelling at three figure freeway speeds, this isn’t a challenging ride in any way, shape or form. If Kawasaki’s engineers were looking to tick the “relaxed cruising for beginners” box, they’ve done so to the point where the pencil has gone right through the paper.

The rather excellent close-ratio box made itself known to me pretty much immediately. It was likely the fact that I was cruising around suburban streets with 50 and 60kmh speed limits in the 5th gear that did it. It’s not a Harley and you don’t have an ocean of torque on tap to play with, so the decision to include this makes a lot of sense. But in practical terms, it means that you better like changing gears. I also noted that freeway riding – or even cruising around suburban arterials at 80kmh – saw the bike sitting at 6000rpm and above. Yes, you could cover long distances at freeway speeds on the Eliminator, but the bike will never let you forget just how hard it’s working to carry your butt on down the road.

The “user experience” (as the kids say these days) was pretty much faultless. With a nice pep to the throttle response and well executed controls, the slick gear changes, quality feel of everything and the way it “just works” is a welcome discovery. Get all wristy with the throttle, and you’ll hear a promising but well-mannered rasp from the bike’s anonymous, matte black end can. And while an upgrade here isn’t listed on the official Kawasaki parts list, the random bloke at the Bald Hill Cafe who spotted that it was the new 450 engine immediately instructed me to swap out the can for something beefier. ‘Trust me,” he said. “I did it with the old 400 and it was night and day.”

Riding north back through the Nasho gave me the always pleasant opportunity to flip flop the bike through some of Sydney’s best paved roads. While the pegs touched down just about where I expected them to, I’m well aware that these kinds of hijinx aren’t what LAMS bikes are or should be about. Backing off a little by donning my imaginary L or P plates, the bike was all over it, sometimes to a surprising degree. Gone are the days when learner bikes would spit the dummy at the first sign of a decent lean angle and a bit of throttle. Especially here.

Trawling through my notes, I see that I liked the fairing and I’m pretty sure you will, too. The fuel gauge managed a “change of mind” from showing 50% during the Nasho corners to almost full once the G-forces had subsided. No biggie, but it could distract newer riders unnecessarily if they think they are actually about to run out of fuel. Finally, the mirrors were very excellent.

Apart from the aforementioned seat height options, Kawasaki also tells us that proud new owners can purchase a rear grab bar, heated grips, a rear carrier, a tank pad, radiator screen, frame sliders, and a helmet lock. I’m usually very cautious of most factory accessories as a vast majority of them are designed to suck more money out of your wallet in the showroom, but once you’ve ridden in winter with heated grips, you’ll never want to go back. Even in Sydney.

Looping right back to where I started this whole thing off, I think it’s fair to say that yes, the Kawasaki does strike a damn good balance of ease of use and big bike vibes. You’d be very hard-pressed to find a better bike to learn on, and riding it feels a whole lot more like a pleasure than a chore you can’t wait to be free of.

Splash your cash on the SE edition and I’m also confident in saying that you’ll not only enjoy the addition lily guilds that the Big K have included on the bike, but you’ll also be pleasantly surprised at the resale prices should you ever decide to upgrade thanks to the fact that the bike will surely appeal to a lot more riders than just those sporting L and P plates.

ENGINE
Type: DOHC, liquid-cooled, 4-stroke parallel twin
Capacity: 451cc
Bore x stroke: 70.0 x 58.6 mm
Compression ratio: 11.3:1
Starter: Electric
Fuel system: Direct Fuel Injection

PERFORMANCE
Claimed maximum power: 44.7 hp @ 9,000rpm
Claimed maximum torque: 46.2 Nm @ 3,000rpm

TRANSMISSION
Type: 6-speed
Final drive: Chain
Clutch: Slip and Assist

CHASSIS AND RUNNING GEAR
Frame type: Trellis
Front suspension: 41mm telescopic fork; 120mm travel
Rear suspension: Twin shocks, adjustable preload, 90mm travel
Front brakes: Single 310mm disc, ABS
Rear brakes: Single 240mm disc, ABS
Tyres (F): 130/70-18M/C 63H
Tyres (R): 150/80-16M/C 71H

DIMENSIONS AND CAPACITIES
Overall length: 2,250mm
Overall width: 785mm
Overall height: 1,140mm
Ground clearance: 150mm
Seat height: 735mm
Wheelbase: 1,520mm
Fuel capacity: 13 litres
Claimed kerb weight: 177kg

OTHER STUFF
Price: RRP - $9,509 plus on roads ($11,231 ride away)
Colours: Candy Steel Furnace Orange/Ebony, Metallic Matte Carbon Gray / Flat Ebony
Warranty: 12 months
Service Intervals:
1 month/600km
12 months/7,600km
24 months/15,200km
36 months/22,800km
48 months/30,400km