Kawasaki Is Set To Eliminate The Rebel

After teasing the Eliminator’s revival, Kawasaki has unveiled the cruiser at the Osaka Motor Show in Japan. The new Kawasaki Eliminator’s heart is based on the Kawasaki Ninja 400, and the motorcycle is also built on a trellis frame. Kawasaki will offer the cruiser in two trims: Standard and SE, with the former costing JPY 759,000 (around Rs 4.70 lakh), and JPY 858,000 (about Rs 5.32 lakh). 

While it uses the Ninja 400’s 398cc, liquid-cooled, parallel twin engine, it in fact churns out 3PS and 0.2Nm more (48PS at 10,000rpm, and 37.2Nm at 8000rpm, quite peaky!). However, in comparison to the Honda Rebel 500’s 471cc parallel-twin engine, the Rebel makes 1.8PS less, but, fittingly for a cruiser, 6.1Nm more. The engine also comes with a six-speed transmission along with an assist and slipper clutch. Oh, and if you’re curious, the claimed mileage of the Kawasaki Eliminator 400 stands at 25.7kmpl.

The cruiser is built on a new trellis frame linked to a swingarm with, as Kawasaki claims, the same mounting plate as the iconic Ninja H2. Suspension bits include 41mm telescopic fork, and twin pre-load-adjustable rear shock absorbers. Braking is via a 310mm front disc with twin-piston axial caliper, and a 240mm rear disc, also with a twin-piston caliper. It rolls on a larger 18-inch front and a small 16-incher at the rear, wrapped with a chunky 130-section front and a chunkier 150-section rubber at the rear.

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At 176kg (for the standard variant) and 178kg (for the SE version), the bike is around 14kg lighter than the Rebel 500. Even the 735mm seat is pretty accessible. A taller, 765mm and a shorter 715mm seat will also be available as accessories. That said, the 12-litre fuel tank fitted to the bike is disappointing. The lighting system is all-LED, and the instrument cluster is a full-LCD unit. 

The SE variant gets fork gaiters, headlight cowl, matte black exhaust heat shield, premium seat, USB-C type socket, and, get this, a GPS-compatible front and rear on-board camera! How cool is that! 

Kawasaki doesn’t offer anything accessible below the Vulcan S under the cruiser segment in India, so the 400cc Eliminator makes perfect sense for the Indian market. In fact, more than the Vulcan, the competitively priced Royal Enfield Super Meteor 650 will have a (slightly) closer competitor if Kawasaki brings it here and prices it at around the Rs 5 lakh mark (ex-showroom).