09-08-2017, 05:15 AM
If the bike ends up looking like the rendering in the article that the ferret referenced then my hat is off to Kawasaki. I think that such a bike could potentially find a new market of buyers. These would be folks who don't want a full-on retro bike, appreciate modern day suspension components/geometry and yet who aren't exactly crazy about today's transformer styled machines.
To me, this rendering shows a nice integration of a couple of key classic Kawasaki styling cues (tank/duck tail) that work on a bike with a more modern configuration. This is similar to the approach that Yamaha has taken but the Kawasaki appears to be much more well thought out and better executed in my opinion. An air-cooled engine might have had greater appeal to me personally, but I appreciate the fact that Kawasaki has taken a straight up approach with their choice to not attempt a mask the non-retro components. This appears to be very straightforward motorcycle.
So no, I wouldn't call this a retro bike, but I would call it a really nice "modern standard". I actually like the looks of this rendering quite a bit. I'll be interested to see what the actual production bike looks like by comparison.
To me, this rendering shows a nice integration of a couple of key classic Kawasaki styling cues (tank/duck tail) that work on a bike with a more modern configuration. This is similar to the approach that Yamaha has taken but the Kawasaki appears to be much more well thought out and better executed in my opinion. An air-cooled engine might have had greater appeal to me personally, but I appreciate the fact that Kawasaki has taken a straight up approach with their choice to not attempt a mask the non-retro components. This appears to be very straightforward motorcycle.
So no, I wouldn't call this a retro bike, but I would call it a really nice "modern standard". I actually like the looks of this rendering quite a bit. I'll be interested to see what the actual production bike looks like by comparison.