Kawasaki Vulcan Vaquero
Kawasaki Vulcan Vaquero
CW FIRST RIDE
Bagger? Cruiser? This one's a Bruiser
ALLAN GIRDLER
EVER HAD THE CHANCE TO OPERATE A REALLY BIG PICKUP TRUCK, say, a dually with four-wheel-drive and turbocharged diesel? Sure it's a handful in the parking lot, takes two to get your MX bike up into the bed, and the sticker price tops your mom and dad's first house...
But, as they say, that “ain’t no hill for a stepper.” So, no matter how long or steep the grade, even with the bed loaded to the gunnels, you lean on the power and the power is there—no sweat, no strain, makes all the bulk and work pay off.
That’s what we have here with the Vaquero, top of Kawasaki’s 1700 Vulcan family for 2011.
Clearly, Kawasaki considers the bagger and cruiser markets to be important niches, as the Vaquero is carefully tailored. The goal is to offer the classic profile, long and low and curved.
Okay, it’s the style that spells Motorcycle for at least two generations of Americans, and the Vaquero is a point-by-point match for Harley’s FLT. No offense intended, because if we didn’t get to copy what works, only Peugeot would have four-valves-per-cylinder heads, and only Cadillac would offer the electric self starter.
Because the hard bags, full fairing, floorboards and such add bulk to an already big package, the 1700 Vulcan became the foundation for the Vaquero and the Vulcan 2000 line was put on hold.
The 1700 engine is a 52-degree Vslightly undersquare at 102mm bore,
104mm stroke. It is liquid-cooled, overhead-cam with four-valve heads, single-pin crankshaft (for the classic staggered potato-potato exhaust beat), and rated at 108 foot-pounds of torque, no power rating given. EFI and digital ignition, of course. There are six speeds in the gearbox, with the top two overdrive so the sprockets for the belt final drive can be the most efficient size.
There are some clever touches here: One, the dual throttle bodies are controlled by the ECU, ride-by-wire as we say, but the actual throttle grip pulls a cable, so the rider gets the feel normal to the now-banished carburetor; two, the radiator is integrated into the bodywork while the cylinders have fins, as seen in air-cooled days; and three, the rear suspension is dual shock absorbers, again like the old days. You can’t see them, but they are there and can be adjusted for preload with air, and offer four-position rebound-damping adjustment.
There’s an instrument panel—like a muscle car, the press release says—with speedo, tachometer, lots of warning lights and controls. Below that is the sound system, with AM/FM radio (optional XM) and integrated iPod operation (via the left switchpod), and cruise control and computers to report mpg and time and more.
Concerning the image being created for this model, Vaquero in Spanish translates to Cowboy, and cowboys, as Willie Nelson reminds us, are always alone, eh?
The press packet refers to the Vaquero as the “Ultimate Solo Cruiser” and, sure enough, there’s a sculpted seat and floorboards for the operator, a skimpy pad and pegs for the packee. The sound system and cruise control, normally options, are standard, while the saddle, rear boards and backrest are options, meaning, one guesses, if they expected the buyer to travel two-up, they’d have named it the Spanish equivalent of Homesteader. Fun stuff, marketing.
It would be difficult to find a feature not featured here, as in crashbars now known as case guards, 5.3-gallon fuel tank, hard bags and helmet locks, rocker shift, cast wheels with fat tires, and so forth. But we should get something for a $16,499 MSRP.
Such features add up in other ways, too, and the straight-shooting factory reports a ready-to-ride weight of 835 pounds. Wheelbase is 65.6 inches, described by the factory as “relatively short,” which it is considering the cruiser-style long-and-low profile and the size of the drivetrain.
“Big” is the word here and sure, that’s the intent and there’s lots of tradition favoring the big motorcycle.
If, however, and time for true confessions, a rider who’s 5-foot-9 and weighs 150 pounds in his waterproof boots tips the Vaquero past a certain angle and the bars are on full lock, the Vaquero will keep on tipping and the rider—no points for guessing who—will not be able to hold it up.
Big? Make that really big, and heavy.
Even so, as the cliché goes, the faster you go, the lighter the Vaquero feels. The posture is classic classic, as the seat is shaped right and the wide bars are just high enough and close enough for style and control. The rocker shift falls readily to foot, the brakes do exactly what your pressure demands. There’s more than one metric cruiser that’s hampered function while achieving form, but not this one.
Speaking of quirks, when they installed the cable to mitigate ride-by-wire, they went a tad too far, in that the cable has some lag, just like the analog kind. The temperature gauge is more precise than it needs to be, so that in traffic, the needle goes way close to the red zone but drops down when under way; there’s an electric fan, of course, and the temperature never got into the danger zone, but most such gauges just sit there, no worries.
The exhaust note is pleasant and audible, so one knows it’s a single-pin, narrow-angle Twin, just as it should, but it’s so civilized there’s no bark, no snarl. Okay, we know too loud gives offense, but even so...
Finally, the best part. The under-square engine is a bit harsh below 2500 rpm, long stroke and low speed do that, and the big engine has a rev range matching the muscle-car dashboard redline, but the midrange is a treat.
Torque works.
You need speed, three to six thou, pick any of the lower four gears and there’s an unstoppable rush, topping anything your pop’s Panhead ever dreamed of.
Further, a day’s ride through the Texas piney woods at the press introduction returned 40.4 mpg, and the wind deflectors—plural because there’s a choice of heights, deflector because it’s too low to be a called a windshield—do deflect the wind without blocking the view. And not the least of virtues, you can drag the boards while playing sportbike, but it takes effort.
Kawasaki has bet lots of time, work and money on a cruiser that works better than the class image, so the bet from here is that its bet will pay off. □
