Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128306
somet hing about the wide seat , low handlebar reach and perfe ctly spaced footb oard s that make yo u want to ride all day. The Vulcan 2000's lower bar and massive headlight nacelle co m bine to lessen th e dreade d "cruise r mainsail effect" at speed, t ho ugh like most in its class, t he bike co uld do with track . but the feedback th rough the big Batt1ax tires is co nfidence -inspiring at reaso nable cruise r lean angles. and the Vulcan 2000 responds well to steering input at freeway With all tha t torq ue on ta p. we 'lI be darned if we know why Kawasaki felt t he nee d to eq uip the Vulcan 2000 with such a low first Shapes of things: The Vukan's styling, from the new headlight assembly to the fenders to the slesh-eut exhausts, is very Kawasaki, which is very good. an accessory windscreen for touring or long stints on the highway. As big as the Vulcan 2000 is. you'lI swear you 're not riding anyt hing so bulky whe n you 're cru ising a bout t own . C re d it that same swee t motor. the seating position and the balanced feel. but the big Vulcan actually ha nd le s on t he lit he side at speed . We wo uldn't exactly suggest tak ing one to the speeds. Of course . it's as stab le as an ocean line r in a straight line, but with a 32-degree rake and a wheelbase of just over 68 inches. what wou ld you expect? On the ot her side of the coin. it is abo ut as fun to push arou nd as an ocean liner when you're attempting to jockey the bike into a parking position or turn it arou nd in your garage . As big as the Vulcan 2000 is, we were pleased to note that the dual 268m m front brakes with four-pisto n calipe rs and the single rear brake - 292 mm with two-piston calipers - do a great job of hauling the Vulcan 200 0 fro m speed. At least one te ste r thought tha t the effort at t he front brake lever was a little on the high side. but all praise d th e modu lation. Ditto for t he rear brake , wh ich has plenty of feel to help keep the rider from acci dentally lo cking it up. The clutch. too , offers up a great , silkyfeel. Suspe nsion action is fairly plush. though the single rear shock does transmit a tad too much shock fro m heavier ro ad bumps. The Vulcan 2000's tank holds 5.5 ga llons . Shorter riders might find the stretched rear portion be a bit intrusive when riding. Rear suspension travel from the single. linkle ss shock is only 3.9 inches. and the re 's o nly so much that you can do with 3.9 inches. We had no complaints from the fro nt fork. which boasts S.9 inches of travel. gear. It's practically useless - unless maybe yo u have a tree stump t hat yo u'd like to remo ve fro m your yard . or perhap s a bui ld ing you 'd like to demolish. and Kawasa ki officials don't reco mmend using the Vulcan 2000 like that. Low gear affords neck-snapping acceleration, but it feels so underdriven that the Vulcan's torque band is easily passed through almost befo re you can make the shift to second . And God forbid that yo u sho uld have to jump back off the throttle. because the decele ratio n is so severe that you'lI nearly smack yo ur head on the headlight nacell e . Th e problem is co mpo unde d by th e fact that thanks to Kawasaki's signatu re Positive Neu tra l Finde r. you cannot bypass first gear and simply go from neutral to seco nd . Noooo, instead some engineer ing gen ius decided t hat cr uising ride rs have too much trouble finding ne utral. and thus this silly gimmick was invented . Hate it. O the r tha n first gear, the transmission ratios are right on . althoug h we'd like to see Kawasaki add ress the second-to -th ird upsh ift ac tion . as t he sh ift mecha n ism sometimes hangs up before catching third gear during hard acce leration . By the time you hit fifth gea r, howeve r, you had bett e r take a glance at the large-faced speedomete r on the Vulcan 2000 's ta nk. Th is thing is faster t han it fee ls, and it's nothi ng for the mot or to push the bike to 90 mph wit hout even breaki ng a sweat. The Vulcan 2000 is sta ble at tha t speed . t oo . Just ... take o ur Popquiz: What hastwo holes and disp laces more than your averageVolkswagen Beede engine? Answer: You're lookingat it . The Vulcan2000's colossal 2053ccV-twin engine sports a 52degree cylinder layoutwith a bore and stroke of 103 by 122.3mm. Its crank carries massive 220mm flywheels that throw a single crankpin but w ith the forged rods arrangedside by side on that pin rather than in the fork-and-blade fashion utilized by those Milwaukee guys. The pistonsare also forged lightweight units w ith very short piston skirts. Kawasa says that it we nt with the pushrod valve actuation to ki lower the engine height - thereby improving the cg of the engine. The Vulcan's lifters are hydraulic, which meansno maintenance issues. The engine sports four valves per cylinder. Intake valve diameter is 40mm , 36mm on the exhaustside. Kawasaki calls the Vulcan 2000's oil system a "semidry sump" design. T hree oil pumpsare used to circulate the slick stuff throughout the internals - two are scavenge pumps, and one is a pressure feed pump. The EFI system is one of the most advanced that Kawasaki hasever used. Twin 46mm throttle bodies feature fine atomizinginjectorsthat are claimedto produce better fuel economy The system uses subthrottle valves below the but. terfly valves to prevent the engine from getting too much fuel too quickly The systemworks in concert with a sophisticated enginecontrol unit (ECU) that . manages the EFI and the digitaf ign ition to optimize throttle response. There is alsoa gear position sensor in the transmission that sends signals to the ECU , w hich then dials the fuel-injection and ignition mapsaccordingly. The sum of the parts is a monster V-tw in that puts out a claimed 141 ftAbs. oftorque at 3000 rpm, and a 116crank horsepower at 5000 rpm. That's bigleaguepower from a big league motorcycle. CO M P LA INTS/BOTTO M LIN E www.cyclenews.com word for it. Better yet , if you're in the market fo r a big-inch met ric cruiser. don't take ou r word for it. Visit you r local Kawasaki dea ler and The Vulcan 2000's wide, generously padded seat is easy on the bum try a Vulcan 2000 on for size. It just might be the best metric cruiser yet , and at a suggested retai l price of $14,499. we'd have to call it a big. big deal. eN SPECIFICATIONS Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 $ 13.499 2053cc Liquid-cooled V -twin SOHC four-stroke BORE x STROK E 103 x 123.2mm COM PRESSION RATIO 9.5:1 CARBU RETION EFI IGNITION Digital TRANSMISSION Five-speed START IN G SYST EM Electric FUEL CAPACITY 5.5 gal. WHEELBASE 6B.3 in. RAKElTRAIL 3rt lB2.BBmm SEAT HEIGHT 27.2 in. FRONT TIR E I 50/BO-16 REAR TIRE 200/60- 16 FRONT SUSPENSION ..49mm LIST PRICE DISPLACEMENT EN GINE TYPE telescopic fork FRONT·WHEE L TRAVEL 5.9 in. REAR SUSPENSION Steel pipe swingarrn wlsingle shock REAR·WHEEL TRAVEL 3.9 in. FRONT BRAKE........Twin 300mm discs wi four-piston calipers REAR BRAKE .5ingle 320mm disc wftw in-piston caliper FINAL D RIVE CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT Belt 750 Ibs. CYCLE NEWS • JAN UARY 14, 2004 47