Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Classic ABS

Back in the ’90s, the Japanese had a good look at the sector dominated by the American mega brand and took an engineered approach to getting a piece of that bad-boy pie. They turned out cruisers that went, stopped and handled better than anything Milwaukee could produce. Bikes like Honda’s F6C made it cool for real riders to be seen on a cruiser. It was fast, decent handling and fun. But the sales were modest for the Jap ‘copies’ of the Harley original.

And so the lesson was learnt – people that buy cruisers aren’t the same people that buy ‘other’ motorcycles. Need proof? When was the last time the owner of American iron ever called it anything less than a Harley? It’s more about association the brand rather than with the actual machine.

With that in mind, Kawasaki seems to have gone backwards to get ahead in the sales charts. The Vulcan 1700 Classic is a huge piece of two-wheeled real estate. At 350kg, it sinks into the road rather than hugs it, has the ground clearance of an upturned bucket and stops with the urgency of a coin on ice. If you didn’t know better, you’d think it was a Harley… And that goes to show that the Japanese understand their sales enemies better than ever before.

Forget the advances in materials and technology, riding the big Vulcan harks back to a time when life was simpler. Despite a true capacity of 1700cc, the V-twin engine makes modest power but healthy torque. Coupled with a six-speed (five-speed plus overdrive) gearbox, at legal cruising speeds the engine is unstressed, relaxed and drinks like a nun at mass.

The only stress felt by the rider is stirring the gearbox to get there. Clunky doesn’t cover the change from first to second gears. Battle seems more apt. However, salvation is just a lateral thought away. With that fit torque present, I found starting in second was the way to go. This gives you more time to get into your stride, before clutchless changes up to the overdrive sixth. This was the way to put the pleasure in the ride.

And, like many cruisers, it’s best to pick your journey well. I’m not saying the Vulcan is big and wide, but cars try to lane-split you. And we haven’t even got to corners yet. Corners and cruisers generally get along like North and South Korea, and the Vulcan is no different. I can’t ride it out of my complex without scrapping the running board slider on the first left-hander and its bum on the first speed hump. Even the local hoons in slammed WRX’s think I’m taking the piss…

But all motorcycles have their place and the Vulcan’s is on an open road at 130km/h. At that speed, the huge, chrome (naturally) headlight bezel literally forces the wind over the rider, who has little more to do than point it in the right direction and settle in for the duration.

I found having a substantial backpack strapped to the pillion seat made for a welcomed (and needed) backrest. It’s in this situation that the Vulcan makes sense. With the engine throbbing away below, wind tugging at your jeans and the sun burning off the chrome cockpit, there are much worse ways to travel.

The dual air/spring shocks and belt drive band together to give a smooth ride, and that’s something your pillion will need – I’d nearly lost photographer Jake off the back of the flat seat (who needs grab handles?) before we’d got out of the car park.

Perhaps the real surprise of my stint with the $19,999 Vulcan was the general public’s love for it. For every sports bike rider offering their condolences when they knew I was testing the cruiser, non-motorcyclist seemed to go out of their way to say how good the bike looks. Mind you, to a man, woman and child they’d open the conversation with, “Is it a Harley?”

So the Vulcan 1700 Classic doesn’t push the genre on at all. The normal motorcycle design language of faster and lighter were clearly dirty words at the design meeting and test rides. It’s become more Harley than ever. And that just might be the saving of it.