2012 Kawasaki Ninja 650
2012 Kawasaki Ninja 650
CW FIRST RIDE
The middleweight-Twin Ninja drops the R. Now "rollicking" and "real good deal" are simply implied.
MARC COOK
HERE’S THE PROBLEM WITH ENTRY-LEVEL SPORT MOTORCYCLES: While the best ones have the right combination of performance and capability to go with their low acquisition cost and benign manners, they’re just not cool. How many beginning riders do you know who have tapped their college tuition for a 600cc supersport while still wearing bruises from the MSF course? Because of cool.
Change doesn’t happen overnight. But Honda’s CBR250R has been very successful despite its puny displacement, and Kawasaki’s own Ninja 250 has been a perennial best-seller. Now Kawasaki would like to make headway with the new Ninja 650. The Ninja 650R, which debuted as a 2006 model, tried to be the ideal mix of new rider welcome wagon and expert’s choice. It was, and success came along for the ride.
In reworking the Ninja 650—dropping the R suffix but not really shifting its focus—Kawasaki emphasized chassis improvements, so the 649cc parallelTwin, fuel-injected and counterbalanced, returns with minor tweaks. According to Kawasaki, new pistons result in a lowered compression latio (from 11.3:1 to 10.8:1) and work with other modifications—a new airbox and airfilter element, a connector tube in the exhaust head pipes and a larger-volume under-engine muffler—to improve lowend and midrange torque. Specifically, torque increases 5 percent below 7000 rpm while fuel economy is said to improve by 10 percent.
On the road, the scrappy Twin shows amazing verve. The last one we had kicked out 64.8 horsepower at 8680 rpm and 43.9 foot-pounds of peak torque at 7325 rpm. Twisting the throttle on the new bike suggests Kawasaki may have moved the furniture but hasn’t changed zip codes. You can putter around in the lower third of the rev range without fear of stalling or getting run down by an Escalade—smooth, no surprises, sedate.
Adult fun arrives as the new analog tach crosses the big 6. gaining steady momentum until the revs hit 10,000, where power flags the last 1000 rpm to the redline. Inside the happy range, the Ninja’s heart beats like a real sportbike’s: The intake growls over the top of a faint, flat exhaust note and the acceleration is firm enough to be interesting. Throttle response is superb, picking up and dropping off torque faithfully to your commands. Thanks to the counterbalancer, the Ninja’s engine remains remarkably smooth while you’re playing windshield-wiper with the tach needle. At no time does the thought “cheap, beginner bike” ever cross your mind.
This engine’s beefy goodness now lives under the gravy of an entirely new chassis. Twin steel tubes per side provide primary structure, with plenty of strategically placed plastic covers concealing various brackets and, not to be unkind, welds that are far less than artwork. In general layout, the 2012 frame is similar to the outgoing model’s, with a tiny bit more trail (4.3 inches vs. 4.2), the same wheelbase (55.5 in.) and a marginally taller seat (31.7 in. vs. 31.1). Kawasaki explains that the new back half of the frame results in a 50mm-narrower bike at the footpegs, and that juggling the components under the seat—the shock moves outboard and the battery takes a different set—allows the seat to be narrower yet also have deeper padding than before. It's now a two-piece design topping a tailsection that is slimmer and shorter.
A new three-way-adjustable windshield offers a useful amount of turbulence-free wind protection—marginally more so with the shield at the top of its 60mm travel—which lets you better enjoy the new handlebar. It’s 20mm wider than before with more sweep back. Between the two is a new instrument cluster with the tach, large digital speedometer, bar-graph fuel gauge and features fairly unexpected at this price point: a fuel computer with instant and average consumption plus a range calculator. The steel fuel tank gains 0.1 gallon of capacity to 4.2 gal.
Manufacturers often cut costs most aggressively on brakes and suspension; the Ninja was not spared. It rides on a single shock working without a linkage or adjustment beyond spring preload. Up front, the 41mm damping-rod fork has zippo for knobs to turn. Two-piston, sliding-pin calipers clamp onto 300mm petal-type discs.
Nothing fancy, sure, but it all works really well. Both ends will feel slightly soft for riders closer to 200 pounds than 150, and the suspension only betrays its budget origins over seriously weatherravaged roads. On smoother stuff, the Ninja is marvelous, with light, accurate, totally neutral steering, plenty of feedback from the Dunlop Roadsmart Ils and a willingness to change lines quickly—but not too quickly for the novices. Front brakes with a too-gentle ramp-up will be the expert’s main complaint.
Despite the new content, the Ninja 650’s price is up just $300 from last year. In today’s economy, a competent, versatile sporty bike for $7499 is a welcome sight. So, newly minted moto pilot, tear your gaze away from the ZX6R and buy the Ninja 650 instead. Your MSF instructor will, assuming he knows how to, smile broadly. O
