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Kawasaki sportbike/off-road product manager Karl Edmondson wasn’t pulling the wool over anyone’s eyes when he told the press gathered last December at Harrah’s Rincon Casino & Resort near San Diego, California, that the new-for-2006 Ninja 650R was built for the “sheer enjoyment of riding.”
Edmondson has been with Kawasaki for nearly two decades. He’s worked his way up the corporate ladder, filling in whenever and wherever needed, and he still gets his kicks blasting around racetracks—both paved and dirt—and exploring the vast expanses of Baja, Mexico. Point being, he knows motorcycles, and, manufacturer/journalist relationship noted, his word is as good as his wheelies.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Last summer, photographs surfaced of a brand-new, sport-oriented parallel-Twin with sharp, contemporary styling (“Winning Twin,” Roundup, September, 2005). With its low seat height, slender profile, short wheelbase and centralized mass, the Kawasaki ER-6n (n for naked) promised “fun from the moment you climb on.” Setting the bike apart from its peers—Ducati Monster 620, Honda 599, Suzuki SV650 and Yamaha FZ6—was styling unique unto itself, particularly the rakish, instrument-pod-topped bikini fairing and shark’s tooth radiator shrouds that housed flush-mount turnsignals.
In Europe, Kawasaki already had the ER-5, basically an unfaired, tube-framed version of the venerable Ninja 500R. So the ER-6n was the Next Logical Step, not only in terms of a recognized moniker but also handling, performance, technology, etc.
When we asked Kawasaki if the ER-6n would also be sold stateside, the response was a firm, “No.”
Come again? In Europe, where naked bikes are all the rage, the 6n is projected to sell huge. Wouldn’t an eye-catching Twin give Kawasaki’s U.S. operation a better foothold in the sporting middleweight, non-racer-replica segment? Why should Ducati, Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha enjoy all the profits?
All questions were answered two months later when Kawasaki Europe unveiled the fully faired ER-6f, the n-model’s “younger, sophisticated brother.” While not expected to be snapped up across the pond as quickly as the naked version, it was perfect for the U.S. market. Only a name change was needed.
Enter the Ninja 650R.
“Our engineers took a completely different approach when they began to develop this motorcycle,” Edmondson explained. “Usually, they start with the motorcycle, trying to make it bigger, better, quicker, faster. But with this model, they actually considered the rider first, not the bike.”
Determining how individuals interface with their motorcycles was job number one. What makes two wheels fun for the rider? they asked. What posture creates the most confidence-inspiring seating position?
Edmondson was quick to point out that the 650R is not a replacement for the 500R, even though both bikes are powered by dohc, eight-valve, liquid-cooled parallel-Twins that displace within 151cc of each other. And, no, the 650 is not merely a bored-and-stroked 500. It is, in fact, an all-new, semi-dry-sump design equipped with digital fuel-injection, lightweight liner-less cylinders and a stacked gearbox.
The latter feature, which came to prominence on the first-generation Yamaha YZF-R1 and is now commonplace on racer-replicas, mounts the clutch and gearbox mainshaft high, with the countershaft underneath. Upshot being, the shorter powertrain allows for a relatively long, traction-enhancing swingarm without adding handling-hindering inches to the wheelbase.
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