The Kawasaki Z650 Akrapovic Performance takes one of the most popular middleweight naked bikes on the road and finishes it to the standard most owners eventually build towards. A full titanium exhaust system and a comprehensive kit of protective and cosmetic parts come fitted, leaving a bike you can simply get on and enjoy.
The engine is a 649cc liquid cooled parallel twin, an unfussy and characterful unit that has earned its reputation on how usable it is. It responds cleanly from low revs, pulls hard through the middle of the range where road riding lives, and works through a six speed gearbox. The Akrapovic titanium full system, homologated to Euro 5+, lifts weight off the machine and transforms the sound, giving the twin the hard, metallic bark that suits the Z650’s aggressive Sugomi styling.
The chassis is a large part of why this bike suits so many riders. Dual semi floating 300mm petal discs with two piston calipers give confident braking, and the suspension is set to stay composed over broken surfaces. The naked riding position puts you upright with wide bars for leverage, which makes the Z650 genuinely easy in traffic and unintimidating on unfamiliar roads, while the LED lighting and TFT display bring it right up to date. It flatters an inexperienced rider without boring an experienced one.
The detail figures underline how usable it is: 50.2kW, or 68PS, at 8,000rpm with 64Nm of torque at 6,700rpm, 188kg at the kerb, a 790mm seat and a 1,410mm wheelbase, with a 220mm rear disc and 107g of CO2 per kilometre. The Performance edition is the most thoroughly equipped of the two. Alongside the exhaust it carries a single seat cover for a cleaner tail, a large smoke meter cover, a tank pad to protect the paint from jacket zips, a dashboard screen protector and a Z-50th tag keyring marking fifty years of the Z name. Everything an owner would want fitted is already there. Come and see it at GT Motorcycles in Plymouth, your Kawasaki dealer serving riders across Devon and Cornwall, where we can arrange finance and get you out on a test ride.
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