KOZHIKODE: Naked sports bikes have been in vogue for a past few years, with the likes of Yamaha, KTM and Suzuki making some great inroads into the market with their trademark products.
However, bike giant Kawasaki India hasn’t been on the offensive in the Indian two-wheeler market as they got off to a slow, lukewarm start.
In the past one year, the Japanese two-wheeler company has introduced a number of products in India, most of which have been brought through the CBU route.
The biggest hurdle faced by Kawasaki is the pricing of its motorcycles in India. To make the brand more accessible, the firm recently launched the Z250 — the cheapest from the Japanese bike maker.
The naked street monster is priced at Rs 2.99 lakh and is the third member of the company’s Z family of naked bikes. Much to the merriment of the sports bike enthusiasts, Z250 comes as the company’s cheapest two-wheeler in the country at such a lower price.
The Z250 looks, however, so similar to the Z800 as it adopts a design so identical to the latter. The new heartthrob of the bike lovers has an identical head-lamp assembly, side rear view mirrors and elegant tank design.
The Z250, however, gets a Ninja 300 inspired tail section, alloy wheels and exhaust. The bike’s instrument cluster, too, looks similar to the one found on the Ninja 300. It has the same analogue tachometer and LCD screen display for speed, trip and fuel information.
What’s different though, is its back-light and size.
Powering the vehicle is a 249cc liquid-cooled, parallel twin motor that churns out a maximum power output of 33bhp along with 21Nm of peak torque. The engine comes mated to the 6-speed gearbox, which is also found in the Ninja 250R.
Z250 is expected to pose a bigger challenge to Duke 390, which has been leading the section of naked sports bikes for some time now.
However, the bike enthusiasts seem to benefit from the competition as they now can test the two options and choose the best.