All Tests – Kawasaki W800 Test Drive: Back to the Past! – The return of the Kawasaki W

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Kawasaki W800 test: back to the past !

All Tests - Kawasaki W800 Test Drive: Back to the Past! - The return of the Kawasaki W

Like the Z, the W is a separate letter in the Kawasaki alphabet … In 2011, the new Kawasaki W800 revives the dynasty of the air-cooled vertical twin. Site was able to try it on the Tropezian coast: first contact !

The return of the Kawasaki W

The story begins in 1965 with the presentation of the W1, the model that allows Kawasaki to obtain the status of manufacturer of "big cubes"! Admittedly, the K1 had paved the way at the very beginning of the Sixties, but this copy of BSA A7 was the work of the Japanese manufacturer Meguro….

Absorbed in 1963 by the Akashi giant, Meguro then received invaluable help from Kawa engineers whose small car engine project had just been canceled. The famous K1 are labeled Kawasaki and the Greens wish to improve the product … In 1964, however, they did not touch the K1 in order to honor the orders of the Tokyo Police: it was a question of representing the city with dignity during the its Olympic Games !

In 1965, Kawasaki and his men were finally able to concentrate on the development of two motorcycle engines: the SG (a 250cc single cylinder) and the famous K1, remodeled as a K2. The former Meguro engineers work on the cycle part.

K1 and K2, W1, W2, W3…

Unfortunately, the second version of the 496 cc vertical twin is not powerful enough and does not appeal to bikers, especially Americans. Kawasaki engineers therefore continued their work and in 1965 unveiled their W1, a 624 cc twin cylinder equipped with an overhead camshaft. !

Marketed in Japan and the United States in 1966, the W1 has continued to evolve: the W1SS (with new pots) and W2SS (with a second carburetor) came out in 1967, the W1S (the W2SS Japanese version) and W2TT (a Street Scrambler for the US) in 1968, the W1SA (with selector on the left) in 1971 and the W3 (with two discs at the front) in 1973.

Despite a nice success on his land, the line was interrupted in 1974, due to lack of success on the new continent. As the first 4-stroke model, the "Double-Ve" entered the history of Kawasaki, but it will take another quarter of a century to see it reappear in the catalog !

Indeed, it was not until the dawn of the year 2000 that Kawasaki relaunched the W dynasty, with a new W650 (read and our).

…W650 and W800 !

Its 676 cc twin-cylinder with single overhead camshaft and 4 valves per cylinder, endowed with a remarkable distribution by conical gearboxes, charms a whole fringe of bikers, less sensitive to the performance of roadsters of the third millennium than to the charm of old bikes.

Revisited in 2004, the "new" Kawasaki model and its two 34mm carbs were unfortunately victims of the Euro3 standard three years later. They then let Triumph and its Bonneville dominate the segment alone – niche, but segment all the same! – neo-retros.

But the Greens remain aware of the still strong attraction that old lines and old mechanics arouse on bikers in general, French in particular: "their average age is increasing", reminds us Maurice de Rochefort, press manager of Kawasaki France !

It is therefore in 2011, 45 years after the release of the first W of the name, that Kawasaki offers us – finally! – a "standard" version of its 21st century W: the W800.

By organizing the official presentation of its latest novelty 2011 at the Hotel Pastis – true! – from Saint-Tropez, Kawasaki France allowed Site to immerse itself – and not to dive again, since the Journal moto du Net is "only" 12 years old – in the sweet atmosphere of the seventies … First test !

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