Kawasaki Teases Launch Of New Bike In India

After sending us a ‘block your date’ invite for September 25, Kawasaki has now officially teased the launch of a new bike from its ‘W’ series of machines in India. We previously speculated that the bike coming our way could be the W175 retro-style roadster and the ‘W’ in Kawasaki’s teaser only adds fire to the flame. 

It’s further helped by the fact that the bike was spied on test in India last year as well as back in 2020. Given the recent rise in its popularity, Kawasaki might also be looking to get a share for itself of the entry-level retro-style bike segment. 

The Indonesia-spec W175 is powered by a 177cc single-cylinder engine that makes 13PS and 13.2Nm. While those are in no way impressive figures, its ultra-low 126kg kerb weight should offset the performance disadvantage by a small margin. That said, the India-spec model will be a fuel-injected one, so output figures could be slightly different. 

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The W175 has nothing to boast of underneath the body panels too and it’s suspended on a telescopic fork and dual shocks. The braking hardware is traditional, with a single disc up front along with a drum brake at the rear. The bike looks like a scaled-down version of Kawasaki’s bigger retro-style bike, the W800 Street. Its halogen headlight, teardrop-shape fuel tank, ribbed seat and wire-spoked rims all scream retro.

If it comes our way, we think it could be priced at around the Rs 1.75 lakh mark (ex-showroom). That would make it not only the most affordable Kwacker, but also the Japanese marque’s only single-cylinder offering. Once here, the bike will compete with the Yamaha FZ-X. The W175 could also act as a smaller-engined alternative to the Royal Enfield Bullet 350.