Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

"RU)ING"lMPRESSICN Kawasaki VN800'A Vulcan 800 1; an d spi n-o n oil filters, autom atic camchain tensioners, electronic igni tion and maintena nce-free battery. The single overhead cam opera tes four valves in each cylinder head, which have an in cl u d e d valve angle of 40 degrees. The rear cam is driven off the right side of the crank, the forward cam is driven off the left end of the cra nk. Valve actuation is by shim and rocker arm and adjustment is made by use of a slidi ng rocker arm arrangement, similar to that of the ZX-ll. . A super-heavy flywheel is utilized in the Vulcan which Kawasaki claim s is 50 percent greater than that of the Vulca n 750 's fl y w h e e l. The heavier weig h t ena bles the BOO to id le slower and provi des smoothe r acceleration a t slower spee ds . ' The carburetio n sy s tem is q ui te un iqu e. The Vulca n 800 u ses a si ngle, s ide-draft, Kei hin CVK 36mm carb, which features an accelerator pump. No other Kawasaki motorcycle has used a CVK with an accelerator pump before. The big, circular ch rome cover on the right side of the eng ine hou ses the air filter which can be service d by removing ju st o ne screw . Rem o ve two mo re sc rews o n th e ins ide a n d yo u ca n remove the en tire air-fil ter ho using and reach the carburetor . The en gine is carried in a double-era(Left) Kawasaki introduced the new Vulcan 800 in Florida, which included a ride from Orlando, via Hollywood and Miami, to Key West. (Below) The Vulcan 800 s hown here is fitted with Kawasaki accessories, including a windscreen and leather saddlebags. I A B ~ 10 - --- By Kit Palmer f yo u have any doubt that cru iser bikes are making a big comeback in th e motorcycle marketplac e, th en check ou t the latest roa d warrior from Kawasaki - the Vulcan 800. The allnew and rest yled Vulcan is obviously Kaw asaki 's answer to Honda's reint ro du ced VF750 Magna musclebike and the all-new VT1100 Shadow American Class ic Ed it ion (ACE for short ). Clearly, Kaw asaki is out to get a big piece of the crui ser-bike pie. Kawasak i made this fact well known in su nny Orlando, Florida, where th e company invited the motorcycling press, as well as outside-the-industry representatives from Pla yboy, Popular Mechanics and NBC's Today show, to examine and ride the new Vulcan 800. Interestingly, this was Kawasaki's firstev er major p ress introduction for an y Kawasaki cr ui ser motorcycle, which perhaps goes a long way in provin g just how important the cruiser ma rket and the Vulca n 800 are to Kawasa ki. "W e fee l that the cruiser ma rket is taking off and we don't wa nt to be left behind," said a Kawasaki spokesman. Unlike Ho nda's very 195Os, hot-rod sty led Magna, and the mostly-made-inAmerica Shadow ACE, Kawasaki chose no t to give the Vulcan an "A merican" subtit le despite the fact that the bike's s ty ling is very red - w hite -a n d -b lu e , "Kawasaki is a Japanese company an d the Vu lcan is made in Japa n, We:re not goi ng to try and h ide these fact s . Instead, we're going to rely on building a functional cruiser bike that me lds classic look~ with modem technology. We (the Jap an ese factory ), however , didn't design thi s bike, the consumers did . We listened to what people here in the U.S. wanted out of a cru iser bike and this is it, a bike tha t is com fortable, looks good, performs well , is easy to maint ain and won ' t leave you stranded on the side of the ro ad - a blend of f orm and func tion . And, all for under $7000." A t a g la n ce, th e n e w Vulca n 80 0 ind eed ha s that class ic, tra d i tional Am erican cru ise r look , very H arleyDavid son-ish, as evi den t by its lon g, ki cked -out fr on t e n d and s ki n ny . 80/90 x 21-inch front whee l, "har d tail"> looking rear suspen s ion , low step ped se a t, wid e 55 -d e g ree-spaced V-tw in engine, spoked wheels, ta nk -moun ted s pee do me t er a n d ga uges, a n d fat , 140/90 x 16 rear rubber. And, of course, it' s dripping with chrome, including the dual exh aust pipes, which are doublewalled to prevent discoloration. The sharp-ey ed mi ght .notice a few interesting facts about the Vulcan right off the bat. If you look real close, you 'll not ice that there is no spee do meter cable running down to th e fr ont wheel. To keep th e front end from having a clutte red look, the Vulcan u ses th e rear whee l to drive the spee do me ter . Initiall y, yo u might think that the Vtw in powerplant is a ir- coo le d , but a closer examina tion revea ls th a t th e engine, complete wit h po lish ed cooling fins, is in fact liquid-co oled . Looking at the bike from the side, the en gine's na rrow radiator is next to invisible ..The single radia tor is flush-mounted between th e fram e' s two front d own tubes, an d the water hoses are carefully placed out of sight and harm's way. Plus, unlike its bigger brother, th e basically unchanged 1470cc Vulcan 88 (i.e. 88 cubic inche s), the 800 comes with a cost -saving drum, ins tead of a disc rear brake. The Vulcan 500 and 750 also use a mechanical drum rear br ake system . Another cost-cutting move wa s to use a standard drive cha in instead of a belt, ala the Vulcan 88. While Honda chose to give the ACE a more Ha rley, or "macho," sound and feel (mean ing more vib ratio n) by going to a sing le-pin crank design, Kawasaki chose a more utilitarian route by using a tw o-pin crank assembly incorpora ting a gea r-d riven balancer. To furt her d iminish vibration, the front of the Vu lcan 's engine is rubber-mounted . Kaw asaki says that the V-twin engine is based on the du al theori es of "simple is best " and "sim ple is beautiful," which might explain the sing le, instead of dual, overhea d cams, sing le carburetor, easyto- ad jus t valve system, easy- access air dl e, single-backbone, high-tensile-stee l fra me, and the righ t-side down tu be u nbolts for ea sier access to the engine. Wheel ba'se is a lon g 64 inches , and the seat height is a low 28 inches. Su spension chores up fro nt are handl ed by a long, 41m m Showa conven tional fork, and the fork width is a wide 9.6 inches . Whee l travel is 5.9 inches. In the back, the single rear shock is comp letely hidden fro m view and features only preload adj ustme nt. A modest 3,9 inches of wh eel travel is offe red in the back . The Vulcan 800 is dressed with a larg e 4.0-gallon fuel tank. There certainly wasn 't a shortage of motorcycl es to rid e for our two-day cruise from O rlando to Key West, as we had a whole stab le of Vulcans to chose from, including the origi na l 500, 750 and

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