Excellent Big Boy Bike! Thank you Kawasaki!
Written: Jul 17 '04 (Updated Jul 17 '04)
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Pros: Looks, Comfort, Power, handling, smoothness, reliability
Cons: Small back seat, few plastic covers need to be steel
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for a big bike, it is worth looking at this bike.
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| ftavassoli's Full Review: 2003 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500 Mean Streak |
I am a 46 year young man 5' 6", 180 LBS. I started to ride motorcycles no more than 3 months ago on a beautiful 2002 Vulcan EN 500 LTD. I took the motorcycle safety class twice, yes you heard me right, twice. I needed to build up my skill set and confidence level. Very rapidly I accumulated about 3000 miles under my belt, finally I got my M1 drivers license. From the start I wanted a bigger Bike, after much search, I came across two possibly suitable choices, the Yamaha Warrior and Kawasaki Vulcan Mean Streak. I chose the Mean Streak because of features such as its liquid cooled engine, ride comfort and smoothness, and last but not the least its look. I purchased a silver 2003 model left over from last year, (got a decent price break on it with a four year unlimited miles full factory warranty). As big and as powerful as this bike is, it rides very smooth at low city speeds or higher freeway speeds, I have taken it on twisty roads up hill and down hill; it corners with ease and great stability (I did not push too hard since the tires are still new and slick). It sounds pretty good too, not too loud but it gets the traffic's attention (but remember that you are always invisible to the traffic on the road and compensate for all possible scenarios). I haven't taken it over 65 miles/hr (2800 RPM) yet since it has only 145 miles on it, but it is very stable and could easily achieve much higher speeds. The breaks are excellent; the bike is balanced so well that it really doesn't feel like a 640lbs bike (that's dry weight, with fuel and me nearly 850 Lbs). It is a lot of fun to ride on this bike, and anywhere I go, it gets a lot of praise, simply because if not the best looking, it is one of the best looking stock cruisers around. The driver seat is very comfortable, suitable for long hauls, I used to get numbness in my posterior riding on my EN 500, but not on this bike, only if Kawasaki had placed a larger and more suitable passenger seat, it would have been perfect. I almost forgot, about ten miles ago, I discovered a whining noise which seems to be coming from the fuel pump; I took it back to the dealer to get it checked out. Other than that so far I love this bike. In town I get about 35 miles/gal and I am pretty sure once it is properly broken in, I can get up to 40 miles/gal. If you are in the market for a bigger bike it doesn't hurt to look at this bike as well. You may like it!
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 10,800 OTD
Condition: New
Model Year: 2003
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Epinions.com ID:
ftavassoli
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Reviews written: 2
Trusted by: 0 members
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