you to ridealittl equicker andholdthe revsalittle
long er,egged on by thatcharismaticexhaust.Once
into the mountains,Ipreferred the racy Café and
found myself pushingon, pace-wise. TheCafé
styledoes come with compromises. Thenarrower
bars slow thesteering as yousimply don’t have the
leverage to throw it intoacorner.Ath ighspeedit
doesn’t feel as stable as the Streetand, withmore
bodyweight over thefront, theforks don’t fee las
plush either,though this mayalso be due to the
increased speed.Despite moving therider’sweight
forward, Kawasaki didn’t change thesuspe nsion
set up between theCafé and theStreet, and I’d
prefer the pegs to beabit furtherback ,too.
In terms ofappeal an dlook, however,the Café
hits the nail on th ehead. Thefront cowlis a
throwback to thecaféracer culture,and is more
forshow than anyreal windprotection. Iprefer the
looks of the Café over theStreet, andfavour the
feel of thesportier bike forashort blast to the
coast or favourite bikerhangout, but for
some gentle touring, I’dchoose the
Street. I’sall amatterofpreference
and what you wantfrom yourride.
Yes, Idid sa ytour –the 2019
bike evencomes withalarger
fuel tank,an optional rack and
heatedgrips.
The test route embracedall
types of roadsand weather,
and thestandard Dunlop
K300 surprisinglycoped with
all of it.Ath ighspeeds it’sa
little vibey,mainly through the
pegs, andthere is no mpg,rangeorg earposition
info on the dash, butotherwise it’shard to fault.
If you’re lookingfor amiddleweight retrothat's
easy to ride, themarketisa wash with attractive
choices. Moto Guzzi’sA2licence-compliant V7is the
obvious competition.Youcould even throw in
Harley’sair-cooled 883,Triumph’swater-cooled and
more powerful StreetTwin or RoyalEnfield's new650
Interceptor.And this iswhere theKawasaki stumbles
alittle. At £8030forthe Street andjust over £9000
for th eCafé, th eW800 is th emost expensive of a
wide selectionof machines.
Youcan se ewherethe money ha sbeen spent: the
bevel gear-driven camengine, withits wide cooling
fins, islovely looking andhas perfect fuelling .The
exhaust hasacharismatic tone, the detailing is
lovely ,and there'safeeling oftrue quality throughout
that arguablyjustifies its premiumprice.
Bikes in this classshouldn't be evaluatedon
performance orhandling –it’show theymake you
feel that counts. Do you feel pridein
ownership; does it make you smile every
time you open thegaragedoor ?Every
time Ijumped onthenew W800 I
smiled;evenonday th ree Iwas still
being charmed bytheeasy-to-ride
Kawasaki.
Grab your open face helmet and
leatherjacket, andtake t he W800
for atest ride.Don’ tgoc hasing
therevsand performance –
insteadrelax, turn off yourphone
and enjoy the simplicity the W800
delivers.BELOW:Café looks the
part.BOTTOM:Café version
is the more
compromised of the
two ergonomically.