The Kawasaki Z650 is a sports naked motorcycle from Kawasaki. It was launched in 2017 and is still on sale. Naked and roadster bikes pair a lively engine with an upright riding position and little or no fairing, which makes them easy to live with every day. With a 649 cc engine it sits in the middleweight 450–800 cc class.
Power comes from a 649 cc twin-cylinder liquid-cooled fuel-injected engine that makes 67.31 bhp at 8,000 rpm and 64 Nm of torque at 6,700 rpm. Its bore is wider than its stroke (83 mm x 60 mm), a short-stroke layout that generally favours higher revs. Divide power by kerb weight and it has about 357 PS per tonne; by that measure, it is genuinely fast, well beyond everyday traffic speeds. The claimed top speed is 201 km/h. It has electric start.
It has a 6-speed manual gearbox with a 1-down, 5-up shift pattern, and a chain carries drive to the rear wheel. It uses a wet multi-plate clutch.
Its frame is trellis, high-tensile steel. Suspension is by ø41 mm telescopic fork/125 mm at the front and horizontal Back-link with adjustable preload/130 mm at the rear. Braking is by a disc at the front and a disc at the rear, with dual-channel ABS. ABS on both wheels keeps either tyre from locking under hard braking. It rides on 17-inch alloy wheels with tubeless tyres — 120/70-ZR17 at the front and 160/60-ZR17 at the rear.
The seat is 790 mm off the ground, which is about average and suits most riders. It weighs 191 kg ready to ride, which is on the heavy side, so moving it by hand takes some effort. Ground clearance is 130 mm — low, so take speed breakers and steep ramps slowly. It is 2,055 mm long, with 1,410 mm between the axles. Its 15 L fuel tank and claimed mileage of 21.16 kmpl work out to roughly 317 km per tankful on paper; real-world range is usually lower.
Equipment includes a digital instrument console, an LED headlamp, call and SMS alerts, distance-to-empty readout, gear position indicator, real-time mileage indicator, service due indicator, shift light, engine temperature indicator and low fuel indicator, among others. Safety equipment includes low fuel indicator.
The manufacturer's warranty is 30,000 km or 2 years. For the Kawasaki Z650, Mechiee offers a fixed ₹9,999 doorstep service.
It is best suited to riders who want performance with an upright, everyday-friendly posture. With this much performance, it is better as a step-up bike than a first bike.
Recommended tyre pressures are 32 psi front and 36 psi rear, solo or with a pillion. Its chain drive needs regular cleaning, lubrication and slack adjustment.
