The 2022 Kawasaki Ninja 650, Z650, and Vulcan S launched

After the global launch, India Kawasaki Motors has launched the model-year 2022 Ninja 650, Z650 and the Vulcan S at Rs 6.61, Rs 6.24 and Rs 6.1 lakh respectively. The 2022 model-year bikes get new colour schemes and remain mechanically unchanged over the outgoing models.

What’s new?

Starting with the Kawasaki Ninja 650, it gets two new colour options, which are ‘Pearl Robotic White’ and ‘Lime Green’, which is in line with the colour scheme of the all-new ZX-10R. The Z650 continues to get the Sugomi styling and still gets an updated colour scheme called ‘Candy Lime Green Type 3’. And lastly, the Vulcan S also has a single colour option called — Metallic Matte Graphensteel Gray. Barring the new colour schemes, the rest of the design of these three motorcycles remains the same as outgoing models.

Engine

All the motorcycles continue to be powered by the same BS6 compliant 650cc liquid-cooled parallel-twin engine. For the Ninja and the Z, the engine is tuned to churn out 67bhp at 8000rpm and 64Nm of torque at 6700rpm. And for the Vulcan S, which is a cruiser, the power and torque figures are slightly lowered to 60bhp at 7500rpm and 62.4Nm of torque at 6600rpm. All three 650’s here come mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox.

Chassis

As aforementioned, mechanically all three bikes remain unchanged. Meaning, the Z650 and the Ninja 650 use a steel tubular trellis frame that is suspended on 41mm telescopic forks up front and a preload-adjustable monoshock at the rear. The Vulcan S also incorporate 41mm front telescopic forks but for the rear, it makes use of the off-set mono-shock with adjustable preload. Braking duties on the Z650 and the Ninja 650 are taken care of by dual 300mm disc with semi-floating callipers for the front and a single 220mm disc with a single-piston calliper at the back. The Vulcan S on the other hand make use of a single 300mm disc with a dual-piston calliper for the front and a 220mm disc with a single-piston calliper at the rear.

Rivals

The main competition for the Kawasaki Ninja 650 in the Indian market is the Honda CBR 650R which comes with a price tag of Rs 8.8 lakh and the upcoming Aprilia RS 660. The Kawasaki Z650 will go up against Triumph Trident 660 which has an ex-showroom price of Rs 6.95 lakh and the Honda CB650R which is priced at 8.7 lakh. The Vulcan S doesn’t have any direct rivals though the two bikes that come closest to it could be the Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 and the Benelli 502C.

Bookings for the 2022 Ninja 650, Z650, and Vulcan S are already open via Kawasaki dealerships or the official website and deliveries are expected to begin in September.