Soup :: Kawasaki's Psychatronic 2009 650s, now with added Glint

Kawasaki's Psychatronic 2009 650s, now with added Glint
by jim mcdermott
Monday, September 22, 2008

Passion Red 650R - now with reservoir tip
image: thanks, mel not moore
At their annual dealer show this past weekend in Dallas, Kawasaki introduced a revised 2009 version of their popular Ninja 650R sportbike. The improvements are extensive, and are intended to provide a much sharper edge to the bike visually and dynamically.

First off, the bodywork has been redesigned from nose-to-tail, with a much more aggressive look at the front of the bike. Whereas the outgoing version's looks perhaps betrayed its budget price-point, the 2009 looks less bulbous and flows better, looking like a much more expensive machine. Mirrors and turn signals are sleeker, more integrated, and of a higher quality than the 08 bike. The tail section is sharper and features LCD lighting; there is a new dual headlight with multi-reflector hoods, and a revised windscreen with a lip and air duct for reduced wind buffeting. The instrument panel is now LCD based, and includes fuel level, a clock, odometer, dual trip meter, digital speedo and bar-style tach. We hope that the new display performs well under different real world lighting situations, as sometimes direct sunlight can make such displays hard to see. But they sure look cool when you're night riding!

The motor gets revised fuel injection settings to boost bottom end power and allow the bike to rev more freely. Rigid rear engine mounts have been replaced with rubber mounts for decreased vibration from the parallel twin; and the catalyzer now meets Euro III emission standards. We'll have to see whether becoming Euro III compliant has negatively effected the Ninja's historically smooth throttle response, as Euro III compliant bikes from other manufacturers often have very glitchy fuel injection. It's getting harder to pass emissions and noise standards while still making strong, useable power, so we'll just have to wait until we can test ride the bike to see if Kawasaki has delivered.

Chassis-wise, there have been major changes, including a reduction in frame stiffness, and new, more rigid swingarm to balance the decrease. The front and rear suspension settings have been tweaked to match the frame and swingarm changes, and the handlebar is now rubber mounted. There are a variety of other small changes all geared towards subtly improving the bike.

2009 ER-6N: Lasso Of Truth and Invisible Plane sold separately
image: thanks, kwai kwando

Kawasaki claims this all adds up to a crisper handling, livelier motorcycle which will be less fatiguing to the rider. Soup test rode the 2008 model at Infineon Raceway, and were really surprised how enjoyable and competent the old bike was. The 2009 650R is a much nicer looking motorcycle, so if the dynamic improvements match the visual ones, this Ninja should be a very hot ticket at an MSRP of just $6799. We love the names Kawasaki have come up with for the color choices: Lime Green (Jose Cuervo's pick), Passion Red (ribbed for your pleasure), and Metallic Diablo Black (fave of Judas Priest fans who have yet to shoot off their own faces).

Another very cool surprise from Kawi was the launch of the (unfortunately named) ER-6N into the US market. This is a neat little bike, sharing the same chassis and engine as the 650R, but with a muscular, futuristic design. This is what a standard-type motorcycle should look like in 2009. There is little wind protection other than the trick little instrument pod up front; I sat on the bike and the handlebars felt a bit narrow, but maybe I just have monkey arms. This neat little bike deserves a cooler nametag, ER-6N just doesn't roll off the tongue. The ER-6N will be available in Candy Plasma Blue (same color as Wonder Woman's underpants), a bit cheaper than the Ninja, at only $6399.

Both of these bikes are a whole lot of machine for the money, and Soup can't wait to try 'em out.

ENDS

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