Kawasaki On the Warpath

KAWASAKI ON THE WARPATH

In cruising's War of the Retros, Kawasaki just unholstered a very big gun. Scheduled for sale later this year is a restyled Vulcan 1500 V-Twin that looks for all the world like a 1953 Indian Chief. A surprise roll-out at the recent Kawasaki new-model show, the bike drew rave reviews (“The dealers went bonkers,” one attendee relates) and will make it into the lineup as a limited-edition 1999 model. Code-named the “Vintage” while a new name is being researched, the prototype shown here was inspired by a showbike built by Cobra Engineering, which is working with Kawasaki to come up with a complete line of old-time accessories. No word yet on price or projected number of units.