HONDA ’91
Two new Nighthawks and a stripper Gold Wing debut while the
hot new CBR600 remains under wraps.
SUZUKI ’91
The racey get racier, and everything else is secret. You can’t
make us talk about the shaft-drive 1100 or the sporting 400.
No way. Our lips are sealed.
YAMAHA ’91
While the others spend time digging for gold, Yamaha polishes
its existing gems.
ROAD I l.S T
KAWASAKI VULCAN 500
Cruiser bike looks with an EX500 soul? Well, not quite.
f..La.J.A.AA. A.
PEORIA: THE LAST TT by Tyrone van Hooydonk
America’s God-given right to turn right still plays in Peoria.
GROWING UP FAST by Tyrone van Hooydonk
Two-time World Superbike Champion Fred Merkel wants a
shot at the other World Championship.
evaluation
WAVE OFF by Jim Miller
Which radar detectors work on bikes? And which works best?
R E .VIEW.......................................
ULTIMATE MOTORCYCLE DETAILING
Washday handbook for Type A personalities.
DE.PA R .T M E N T S............................
EDITORIAL by Steve Anderson
TDC by Kevin Cameron
LETTERS
BITS
PIPELINE by Jim Greening
Remember when the
first Japanese cruisers
came out? In the late sev-
enties, aiming for the
boulevard style that sold
Harley-Davidsons, the
Japanese began experi-
menting with things like teardrop tanks,
steer-horn handlebars and extended
forks. The first examples—Kawasaki
LTDs, Yamaha Specials, Suzuki Low
Slingers and Honda Customs among
them—were barely more than standard
models hiding beneath new bodywork and
layers of chrome. Transplanted inline-
fours and vertical twins provided the
power for entire cruiser lines, ranging
from 250s to literbikes. In the early eight-
ies, evolutionary versions had revised
frames that dropped saddle height and
increased fork rake to accentuate a long,
low cruiser look.
Kawasaki’s new Vulcan 500 seems a
throwback to that era. Today, with the
exception of the Vulcan’s sibling 454
LTD, all other Japanese cruisers rumble
down Main Street with narrow-angle V-
twin engines—a la Harley—and practi-
cally infringe on Willie G. copyrights with
their Made-in-Milwaukee styling. Some,
such as Honda’s Shadow and Suzuki’s
Intruders, were actually penned in the
U.S.A. Quick, was that a Harley that just
flashed by ... or wasn’t it?
You’re unlikely to guess wrong when
you see the Vulcan. It’s a cruiser as seen
through Asian eyes, as sketched by styl-
ists inside Kawasaki Heavy Industries,
Kobe, Japan. Styling influences came
from visits to American trade shows, sur-
veys, and conversations with dealers. But
with the Vulcan, Super-K’s American dis-
tributor had little say beyond color
choice—metallic red or blue in this case.
The resulting bike has the visual cues that
say cruiser: teardrop tank, bucko-bars,
far-out forks, fat rear tire, chrome on
chrome, but. . . . The Vulcan reverts
back to earlier Eastern attempts at a
Western-made image, with proportions
that seem more caricature than homage
to American customs.
Whatever the appeal of the Vulcan’s
appearance (and certainly, tastes differ),
the bike benefits from some of its Japa-
nese proto-cruiser think. Rather than in-
cur design and production costs for a new
V-twin, the Vulcan borrows its engine
from Kawasaki’s EX500 sport bike. The
EX powerplant, which we raved about
when it was introduced in 1987, is a
refined 498cc version of the 454 par-
allel-twin, basically a two-cylinder slice of
the original 900 Ninja inline-four. The
EX engine shares specifications with the
1985-’86 Ninja 1000 four, including its
oversquare 74.0 by 58.0 bore and stroke,
its four valves per cylinder, screw-type
adjusters, and double overhead cams.
Mounted in the Vulcan, the liquid-
cooled, six-speed motor uses low-mainte-
nance belt final-drive instead of the EX’s
chain—as does the 454 LTD. The 498cc
twin always starts instantly and warms
quickly, settling into a secure, lumpy idle.
There, and at low revs, its basso profundo
chuffing sounds like a narrow-angle V-
twin—surely Kawasaki’s goal, achieved
through careful exhaust timing. Only
higher speeds reveal its vertical-twin...
And much more!
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