The Kawasaki ER-6N as Touring Bike

They say first impressions are crucial. That said, I immediately found the Kawasaki ER-6N harsh and uncomfortable. Unfortunately, the seat seemed to lack padding and, if you're sitting correctly you place a lot of pressure on your prostate. When I look at a friends ER for a run, the seat had no such problem and I suffered no discomfort at all. This begs the question whether it was that particular seat, or maybe it is indicative of the newest model, potential buyers will have to assess this for themselves.

Next, the suspension seemed overly hard, and this is something that my friend agreed was a problem on his Kawasaki ER6N too. I had even wound the rear pre-load right off, but, while this improved things, it was still very stiff, unyielding, more suited to smooth surfaces, freeways of highways, no the average Thai road. I did a round trip of 300 kilometers over some local average rural Thai roads and spent the last half of the ride wishing it was over!

The pillion gets the better seat with excellent grab rails, plus, I'll bet that if I'd had the chance to chauffeur someone around, it may have well made the hard suspension behave itself. What my friend spend a good amount of money for replacement Ohlins rear shock/spring and, yes, this fixed the problem (but why should it have to be done?) Interestingly, Kawasaki's own promotional material states “direct action offset rear shock absorber delivers a smooth and supple ride”.

On the race track perhaps! Knife-like handling meant pushing through hard corners was a breeze, the Kawasaki ER-6N had sure footed handling that some full on sport-bikes would be proud of. Great brakes, the discs being those flash looking “wavy” things. The mirrors were quite good and the Kawasaki ER-6N had easy to read lights and digital gauges.

Both levers are adjustable and the controls fell easily to hand. The fuel gauge starts flashing a warning once you get to reserve. Speaking of which, riding the Kawasaki ER-6N without too much attention given to economy returned 20.5 kilometers per liter, which should give a range of about 250 kilometers from the fuel tank, with 3 liters reserve. 4800 rpm is indicated at about 100km/h, and that's with a 6-speed gearbox! I found it unnecessary to change down except for very tight corners, plus, the engine will pull away at 60km/h in 6th gear. My friend changed the rear sprocket 4 tooth smaller one on his Kawasaki ER-6N and this dropped the revs to 4400 rpm at 100km/h plus increased his fuel range to about 300 kilometers before reserve. Also his speedo is now accurate to his GPS, whereas it had previously over-read by 13km/h! He also upgraded his screen and added a top-box further extend his Kawasaki's touring abilities.