Kawasaki Z650RS for 1-2 hour trips?

[Gawardawg]

Thinking about one of these bikes. This is for back road riding. No long trips. 1-2 hour trips. I live in the foothills in North Carolina. I haven’t ride in about 10 years. I use to ride mainly Hondas. Last bike was a 919. I don’t need or want crazy speed. I love the retro look. They claim these are very reliable engine/transmission combos. ABS , slipper clutch, led lights , some sort of traction control. 3 levels. 1&2 then off. I ain’t got a clue what traction control is. So a 650 parallel twin. What am I getting into ……

 

[JeffKeryk]

Looks like fun to me! The guy up the street restores Hondas. The 305 Scramblers and 450s really get to me.

 

[Passport1]

After a lifetime of immense joy from riding motorcycles I quit because old guys ought not get on ladders or motorcycles. If you are bent on getting back in the saddle after a decade, this brute might be more than your match. Getting into trouble on a bike is frequently that it has more capability than the rider can control. 650s are startlingly fast. I was very tempted a few years ago to scale back to the Kawasaki Verseys 300. It is a very competent machine that lends itself to be heavily farkled as the owner likes.

My suggestion along with this ppg;

 

[oilburnin]

Any bike is fine for that type of riding. The only things you could shop for are farings vs naked for wind, and your preferred riding position.

Edit: just adding that if I were doing only that type of riding, I'd get a Yamaha YZF-R3

 

[Inked]

Only you can answer that since only you know your capabilities. Talking about reaction time, spatial awareness etc. Last time you rode there were a lot of a**holes on phones. There are even more now. Not trying to talk you out of it though. I still ride but as much as I love it I will hang it up when my internal clock says to do so. If you do start riding again, get your “sea legs” back slowly.

 

[Bonz]

I lived in western North Carolina for a little bit. My larger displacement standard was a fish out of water. It handled great but didn't need (couldn't use it is more the proper way to say it) anything near the power or acceleration on the twisty roads around Boone. In my opinion you will enjoy that bike a lot!

 

[mdc09]

Great bike, go for it. It's got good useable power but nothing that'll get out of hand.

 

[FZ1]

Thinking about one of these bikes. This is for back road riding. No long trips. 1-2 hour trips. I live in the foothills in North Carolina. I haven’t ride in about 10 years. I use to ride mainly Hondas. Last bike was a 919. I don’t need or want crazy speed. I love the retro look. They claim these are very reliable engine/transmission combos. ABS , slipper clutch, led lights , some sort of traction control. 3 levels. 1&2 then off. I ain’t got a clue what traction control is. So a 650 parallel twin. What am I getting into ……View attachment 347569

Buy used. 2 cylinders ain't as smooth as 4 cylinders.

 

[Ride_Red]

Thinking about one of these bikes. This is for back road riding. No long trips. 1-2 hour trips. I live in the foothills in North Carolina. I haven’t ride in about 10 years. I use to ride mainly Hondas. Last bike was a 919. I don’t need or want crazy speed. I love the retro look. They claim these are very reliable engine/transmission combos. ABS , slipper clutch, led lights , some sort of traction control. 3 levels. 1&2 then off. I ain’t got a clue what traction control is. So a 650 parallel twin. What am I getting into ……

Looks like a fun bike!

I loved my Honda NC700X. It had all the power I needed for around town and pleasure riding. It would also move on the freeway when needed and I took it on a few multi-day trips. I used an AirHawk seat pad on the long trips.

That 650 will have all the power you need to enjoy the ride.

 

[danstraylee]

That 650 is a great platform and engine. I had the 650R Ninja some years ago and the engine is the same for almost 20 years. As an added bonus it has a cassette trans so easy to change internal gearing.

 

[sw99]

Those bikes are a blast. Triumph makes a some great bikes also. The scrambler models are pretty sweet. The have a 400 and a 900.

https://www.triumphmotorcycles.com/motorcycles/classic/scrambler/scrambler-400-xc

 

[danstraylee]

Triumphs are awesome except for reliability. Would not be bad for a daily rider though. The triple is an amazing sounding machine