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E .MODELS . 1995 Kawasaki street bikes
... Kawasaki Vulcan 800
By Paul Carruthers
NASHVILLE, TN, OCT. 6
hr ee new mod els highlighted Kawasaki' s int rod uction of its 1995 lineup to
de aler s in a country-west ern extra vaganza, held at the Opryland Hotel in
Nash vill e - the GPz1100 sport-tourer ,
a n ew Vulca n 800 crui ser and th e
updated race-ready ZX6R spo rtbike.
With cruisers currently lea ding the
way in motorcycl e sale s, it se emed only natural
that th e big "K" would ha ve a new Vulcan for the
1995 season. The all -new Vulcan 800 follows the
.... Kawasaki GPz1100
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... Kawasaki ZX~R
pa ttern set by Harley-Dav id son, and mo re recen tly
the H on da American Classic, wi th lots of chrome,
low seat heigh t, V-twin power, and kicked out
front end. Choppers for the '90s.
But while Honda ha s t ried to duplicate the
vibratio ns and throa ty r u m bl e tha t ha ve helped
make Harley-Da vidson so popular, most notably
by u sin g a single crank-p in des ign, Kaw asaki
cla ims that they have accomplished th e same goal
but without - in their own w ord s - " d raining vibration normally associated with th is d esign." Th is
was d one by pl antin g a gear-driven counterbalanc er in the liqui d-cool ed, 55-degree V-twin engine
and using rubber front engine mounts.
The engine 's eight val ves ar e driven by a singl e
cam in each cylinder; the forward cam is d riven off
the left end of the crank, and the rear cam is d riven
off the right side.
Carburetion is handled by a single, sidedraft,
Keihin CVK 36mm carb, complete wi th an accelerator pump.
To give the bike that custom look, the cylinder
heads incorporate large cooling fins , and the cy~-
