BS6 Kawasaki Vulcan S: Raw And Punchy

It can cruise comfortably at 120kmph, even if the engine gets a little shouty at that speed. Ride sensibly, and the 14-litre fuel tank should last you for just about 290km, which is decent. City fuel efficiency has taken a bit of a hit but we observed something similar on the Z650 as well.

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Unchanged Quirks And All That’s Likeable

Aside from the paint scheme, the Vulcan S remains the same as before. It continues with a conventional cruiser riding stance with those annoyingly inward-angled mini ape hangers. The rider’s seat has got a nice thick cushion.

The handling remains relatively neutral with a vague front-end feel when you start edging closer to the bike’s limits. The spring setup remains quite soft, and thanks to the low travel at the rear, the monoshock tends to bottom out, especially over large speed humps. The monoshock has a quick rebound action as well. So, over small sharp humps, you could be tossed off the seat.

Lastly, one has to remain ultra-cautious when going over small plastic speed humps. More often than not, you end up banging the underbelly exhaust. That isn’t a pleasant experience when you are putting down big money for a bike like this.

	Kawasaki Vulcan S BS6	Kawasaki Vulcan S BS4
100-0 kmph	44.09m	46.28m
80-0 kmph	28.04m	28.68m
60-0 kmph	16.38m	16.14m

Braking remains strong and consistent. There are none of the ABS niggles that we experienced on the Ninja 650.

However, what is missing are the LED headlight and colour TFT screen, which were added to its 650cc siblings last year. At an asking price of Rs 6.04 lakh (ex-showroom India), we would’ve really liked to see these on the 2021 bike.

Buy It?

The Kawasaki Vulcan S isn’t a typical torquey cruiser with a deep bassy exhaust note. It also lacks modern elements, which is a bit disheartening. But even when you consider all its shortcomings, it is still a capable cruiser adept at mile-munching.

It remains the lone warrior in the mid-displacement cruiser class in India, and it makes a compelling case for itself if you’re seeking an affordable big-cruiser experience.

That is until the 650cc Royal Enfield cruisers come our way. While those will not match the Vulcan in performance, they will undercut the latter in pricing, that too by a sizeable margin. So, if you aren’t too eager, we suggest you wait for a couple of months and then make a purchasing decision.