| 1999-2000 Kawasaki W650 |
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| Performance |   |
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| Not a powerhouse, but smooth and friendly. Very much in keeping with the bike's character. Straightforward, honest design; no fake fins or beauty covers. It didn't need the complex, expensive, totally cool bevel gear valve actuation, but it really has it. Lean carburetion the only minus. |
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| Handling | |
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| Narrow chassis handles easily but reamains secure at speed. Again, not known as a bike for pushing the envelope, so extremes of grip and cornering mean little. |
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| Looks | |
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| Perhaps the most attractive bike to come out of Japan in the last 20 years. Yes, it copies the looks of the classic Triumph Bonneville, but it copies a suburb bike superbly — not slavishly, falsely, or to the detriment of function. (If you can show me a bevel-drive Bonnie, I want to see it!) |
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| Reliability |  |
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| Solid construction and over-engineered. Nothing fake or chintzy. But will repair parts evaporate in the USA within a few years? |
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| Practicality | |
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| Harkens back to the era when 'do-it-all' standard bikes really could do it all, but with reliable electric starter and modern switchgear. |
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| Desirability | |
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| Drop-dead gorgeous, graceful, lithe, and troublefree. A better update to the Bonneville legacy than Triumph's pudgy, awkward-looking attempt, by far. |
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