Kawasaki Vulcan Classic -

In-Depth Walkaround Review

Hey everybody, it's Peter. This is the Kawasaki Vulcan. This is a 903 cc version of a cruiser made by Kawasaki, and there is a lot of variations in Kawasaki cruisers. I think you're going to like this one if you like a traditional cruiser, but even within this lineup there are a variety of options. So this is how this works. I have complete access to the Kawasaki line, thanks to Jim Gilbert's PowerSports here in Fredericton, New Brunswick. And if I don't answer the question that you have about this bike in this video, you can just ask me in the comments and we can create a conversation there because I have full access to bring this vehicle and other vehicles in the lineup back out here on video to make sure I answer all of your questions. So feel free to subscribe to this channel to get all the questions that you have answered, and I'll do my absolute best because I don't know everything and I may have to look some stuff up and do it in the future.

But also if you want to see this in person, Jim Gilbert's PowerSports is the absolute leader in Kawasaki in Canada. And I mean that. They are a volume leader. They've only had the lineup for just a few years and they sell more Kawasaki than anybody in the country. So let's get into what this is. Now, I've done a Vulcan S video before and I really want to just touch on some of the differences between that bike and this bike. Before we go too, too far, the Vulcan S is a 650 cc parallel twin cylinder cruiser that is really based on the Ninja 650. So it is very much a sport cruiser. It has high horsepower, little bit less torque.

From here you can watch Peters Video or Read What he says the choice is your enjoy... this is a great review ether way...

This is the opposite. High torque, little bit less horsepower. This is very much a traditional cruiser and it is kind of signified by calling it the Vulcan Classic. There are variations of this cruiser, which you can get in different types of styles and we'll show you a few of them just here on the website right now. But we're going to focus just on this classic right now and talk about what makes it special, what makes it great. So let's dig into that review right now. So the most obvious difference that you're going to see is the classic look, the traditional cruiser look. And that's not just the white wall tires, which are standard on this classic, it's also the low slung look. So if you jump over here, this is a low slung bike with a wide seat. It's got a proper V twin engine. So again, the parallel twin has two cylinders beside each other in the Vulcan S.

This one is the V twin. This is what you would expect in most cruisers. And you really have that same sort of cruiser feel. You have that V twin rumble to it. We'll play the exhaust note for you a little bit later in this video. You've got the large tank here with simplified [inaudible 00:02:25], which we'll also show you a little bit later. But the seating position is very cruiser like as well. Just very comfortable, laid back, arms out in front of you, big wide swept handlebar here, which just gives you the view from the driver's seat, sort of that classic cruiser look. The other thing about this bike though is it is a tremendous value. You're not simplifying on quality, but you are saving on price on a cruiser like this. And you have a paint scheme here that is really high quality. If you've never seen Kawasaki paint up close, you really got to come see this in person because the paint quality is excellent.

And then you have, again, with that V twin, tied it out to a belt drive. A lot of you have commented on the Vulcan 650 that you don't like that it's chain drive. You think it should be shaft driven or belt driven. Well again, that one is derived from that Ninja 650 and that engine is shared through a lot of platforms to do a lot of different things, where this one is again designed to be more of a simple back to basics type of cruiser. And the belt drive is something that sort of brings a lot of people back to that style. So let's take a closer look at some of the controls and gauges here so you can see what I'm talking about with this simple but effective use of technology. Sometimes I feel like this was the hardest bike Kawasaki has had to make and not because of the technology or anything, but because of the restraint they had to show to appeal to the traditional cruiser crowd.

So in here as we turn the key on, which is down, of course here, I'll turn that on if I can reach it. There we go. You'll see the dash come to life. There's no fancy TFT display here like you're going to see in several of the Kawasaki bikes. And even here I've got the signal light going right now. You can see the signal is just a single light. Kawasaki almost always does the double lights for the signals. Neutral light right here. Traditional fonts on the gauges here, and even as you cycle through this is a digital dash. It only shows you the odometer, the trip odometer and the clock and that's it. There's not a trip A or trip B, it's just that. It's the information you need and nothing you don't. And I think that's just kind of a cool way of going about. Your gas, of course is over here on the right side.

And that makes total sense because it's on the side stand, which means this is going to be the higher part of the tank when you're filling it up, unlike a lot of the sport bikes, which is dead center. So again, a real departure for what Kawasaki does in sort of the technology area here. Another departure here for Kawasaki is just this general grip area. You have a thicker, bigger, meatier grip, big large clutch labor, and it doesn't have a slipper or assist clutch. So it's still got a nice heavy meaty clutch. Now, not too heavy, but it just feels like what it is. The other thing is the switch gear here. You've got your headlight switch there, your signal switch here, and your horn down here. But all those are different than the sport bike, the adventure style bikes. There's a lot of different style bikes in Kawasaki lineup, but you have a bit more meaty feel, a little bit larger feel to those controls and larger look to them, which again fits in with the design.

It's not just a parts bike where they throw on the stuff they throw on every other bike onto here. This is designed specifically for their cruisers. You'll see the same thing on the right side here. You've got your throttle cable right there, and it is a throttle cable. It's not a drive-by wire system. Start button there, kill switch there, that's it. But again, it's some big meaty type switches. And these, although they look a little bit like rubber to some or a little bit like leather to some, they are a rubber grip. So it's a nice thick rubber grip there. And again, the brake lever. Now the brake lever is adjustable. We'll show you that just really quickly right now. If you have a shorter reach or smaller hands, you can adjust this brake lever by just turning this area right here. That can bring it closer or farther out for larger or smaller hands.

Interestingly, they do this on the brake lever but not on the clutch lever. So you do have just the one side there which has the adjustment, but it does make it easy to reach for those good front brakes. In fact, let's just talk about those front brakes really quickly. There's a lot of cruisers out there that don't have great breaks. And what's interesting about Kawasaki is they really are known for high performance vehicles, really strong brakes. And you've got a real mix here between the cruiser styling and the effective brakes. So of course they are single disc here. It is a ventilated disc here. That's what those are drilled there. But unlike a lot of Kawasaki's, they don't have the pedal style gear shift here or a pedal style disc break here. And they also have a little more solid metal in here, which is typical of the cruiser look.

And again, it would be a departure for Kawasaki to do something like this. So they've really stepped apart from what Kawasaki does in a lot of their other lines of vehicles to make a cruiser that is true to form. You do have the stoked wheels here as well. You've got the white wall tires on this classic model. But like we said, you can get a whole different front end front tire look here on other models within the lineup. You also have the really strong caliper grab there. So you've got really good brakes on a bike that the class is not known for great breaks. Staying with the front end and really just styling because cruisers are mostly about styling. You've got some really good oversized forks here. And what I like about it is they didn't make everything chrome on the bike. A lot of bikes you want chrome everywhere, but I don't think everybody wants chrome everywhere.

So you've got some really nice black accents everywhere with a bright chrome exhaust right there. You've got the typical cruiser fender here. Again, that really nice metallic paint here. This one's a 2022 model, so it has that metallic green here. I don't remember the name of what it was called, but it does have a Kawasaki name to it. And of course there's different colors on different trims and different years. But again, that nice sort of black oversized frame here. And then let's talk about the overall seating position on this bike and talk about sort of some nice features as you're on it. A cruiser has to be about all day comfort, but it also has to have a feel to it that is genuine cruiser. It can't feel like a little scooter or it can't feel like, for instance, a Gold Wing. It has to have a bit of a rumble to it, has to have a style and a feel all.

So first of all, sitting across this bike, it's a wide bike, very low seat height with a very wide seat. It's comfortable. It is a firm seat, which is what you want for long term comfort, but it's very, very comfortable. And then on this classic, you do have the foot pads here. Now a nice thing is your big rubber mounted brake pedal is up top there. On the left side you have a toe and heel shifter so that you can shift with both your heel or your toe. For all day comfort, being able to kind of move around on the bike this is what you want. And when you have these large teardrop style tanks, I really prefer foot pegs. Now of course you have the option in different trims of this to get foot pegs instead of foot boards, excuse me. But I think foot boards kind of work on this style bike.

Also the sweeping handlebar here, it gives you that wide stance. And of course you can modify all kinds of things, but to me your arms are out in front of you, they're nice and wide. So you've got good control over a bike that is a little heavier than some. But because all the weights down low, it's very, very controllable. So you've got that proper feel. And then you've got the rumble. Let's just start it up. Now I'm wearing a microphone so there is no microphone on the exhaust here. But one of the things I like when you start this bike up is you have that rumble. So I have to speak up when riding on this bike. Now you could probably hear me the same because the microphone's on me, not on the bike, but it's got a good sound to it. It's got a good rumble to it, but it doesn't vibrate you to death.

The seat is actually very, very smooth and I really appreciate that in a cruiser. So you've got the sound and the feel of that proper vibration, but not something that's just rattling you for no reason. So now while I'm wearing the mic, let's just step around to the exhaust side here and I'll get a little closer. You can kind of hear that rumble, the dual exhaust here. And in fact, let's just pull the mic off for a second as I rev it a little bit.

So you have that cruiser feel in both comfort and in exhaust sound. And you've got that nice look. It's kind of what you're looking for. Now, what's nice about this 900 versus the Vulcan S, which is a 650, is you have a little more space here for your passenger. You've got the round foot pegs that fold down there and you've got a large built-in seat here. Now of course you can add accessories or switch trim levels to get a backrest, to get a back rack, to put all kinds of things on here. But if you're taking a second person around, this is a bike of the appropriate size to easily take a passenger. And they're also going to be comfortable here on this larger padded seat. One of the things I like about this Vulcan Classic is Kawasaki doesn't give into the need to go modern with some of the things like lights.

These lights have worked for years, they work great. You could feel a little bit of warmth to that light there. And that's because it's not an LED light. So it just comes on like the regular incandescent. And I think you can see it better with the signal light here. They sort of warm up and turn on, warm up and turn on. The LED lights are instant on, instant off. But again, being the Vulcan Classic, you really get the classic feel. You buy the reliability and warranty of a new bike, but you still get the look and feel of a bike that's really timeless. So who is this bike for? Well, in the Kawasaki lineup you have some variation. Like I mentioned, that Vulcan 650 is really the sport bike of cruisers. It's a little bit lighter weight, it has a smaller engine, but it has a higher horsepower number and lower torque number.

So it has some characteristics that really come closer to a sport bike, much like that Ninja 650 but the cruiser style. This one in this classic trim, the Vulcan 900 in that classic trim is really the traditional cruiser and it's kind of that middle weight for a cruiser. There's a 1700 cc cruiser from Kawasaki. There's this 900 or 903 cc and there's a 650 or 649. So this is that middle weight and it's kind of the cruiser for everyone. It's enough power to do what you want to do. It's certainly got the style. You can add the accessories and it kind of gets you where you want to go. The other thing that I like is when you start this engine, you've got the rhythm without the vibration. You've got that feel of a bigger bike, a big V to an engine, but it doesn't feel like everything's falling apart.

You've got really good quality here and the quality is shown in the attention to detail everywhere, whether it's the paint, whether it's just the feel of everything, whether it's the look of everything, everything here is really well put together. And then there's tremendous value. You get a brand new bike for cheaper than you can buy a used bike in other cruiser brands, but you've got things under warranty, under quality, and you've still got that classic style that really is that timeless style that fits everywhere. So are there questions I didn't answer? Let's be honest. Do I look like a cruiser guy? I'm not a cruiser guy. This is not a bike I'm going to buy, but I know that if you're watching this video, you are thinking about it. So what kind of things do you want to know about this bike that I need to find out and help you find out?

Let me know because again, I'm here at Jim Gilbert's Wheels and Deals, which is absolutely a destination store here in Fredericton, New Brunswick. They give me full access to the lineup. I can look at this bike and all the other trims of this bike and we'll get them on video for you. So if you have questions, let me know in the comments, subscribe to our channel and we'll make sure that we give you the answers we can. And again, come see this thing in person at Jim Gilbert's Wheels and Deals here in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Thanks for watching.

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