2005 Kawasaki reviews

I'm a returning biker who finally got a deal I couldn't refuse. This is my first cruiser and my maturing body absolutely loves it. Lots of room for this older belly to hang out without hitting tank and a great Mustang gel seat that feels more comfortable than anything in my home. I got the bike equipped with a Kuryaken Hyper Charger and 2" slash cut Cobra Pipes which provides ample power out of this 805cc engine. When I went in for a safety check, the dealer thought it was a Harley! Awesome sound, very comfy seat, and 45mpg. Happy in Hawaii... Show less

I picked up an '03 blue Rex with 800 miles. I wanted a bike to replace the '85 Gs 1150e I bought new and sold years ago. My old bike had lots of hop-up work done - K&N pods, jet kit, Supertrap S.S. full 4-1 baffeled sys., undercut gears, rearsets, clipons, frt. springs, etc., plus some Racer Supply engine work. My rex is still stock, however in comparison to my worked 1150, the Rex is very impressive right out the box! Upgrade the frt. springs & valves and she'll be fine. I'll leave her stock except for letting the engine breathe with a new filter and end can. This bike is great if you're a general street warrior. I like being able to ride softly but at the same time know I have a tiger by the tail. When your riding down the road in the proper power range in any gear and crank the throttle, the Rex screams forward with relentless thrust. It has big bike world class thrust. The Rex requires extra body imput to track a tight line. Things happen quick on this big fast bike. Newbees will be way over their heads once they wake this tiger. Show less

36 years of riding and this bike is second only to my 95 gpz1100. Back to zzr1200 just bought it 2 days ago. It is an amazing machine. If you are going to use it as a sport-touring bike you will have to do the following to it to make it on a long haul. Heli-bars, or at least gen-mar risers, or like I did on my gpz1100 high bend dirt bike bars. This will put you in a more upright position, "no back ache" as we are not all 20 something anymore. Seat selection is very important if you want to log a lot of miles. Mine has a corbin on it now, but, "I have no butt" as my wife says. So I will be switching it out for a Day-Long Touring Saddle by Russell. I rode this bike from Vegas to Colorado, just a short 584 miles. It performed perfect. It loves to cruise comfortably at 100 mph. It has great roll-on power, going 75 mph and grab the throttle and before you are done passing that semi you look down and you're at 130!!! Maybe because I have no butt, but I was not able to ride it longer than 60 miles before my rear hurt soooo bad. The day-long saddle will cure that. I have bad knees also, so I will be lowering the pegs 1 and 1/2 inches also. On the last 50 miles, a guy in a retired police car flew past me. I was running a nice and easy 90 mph. So he had to be doing 130. I couldn't let this happen so, I grabbed the throttle and caught and blew by him doing 175. "You should have seen his face". But listen here folks, not everyone is a speed freak like me. This bike is "without sinking thousands of dollars in", the best bike you can get your hands on. Previous bikes: CB1100 supersport Gs1100 gs1150 454ltd 1400 intruder chopper GPZ1100 intruder 700 virago 1100 and about 20 other street bikes and another 30 dirt bikes. You can't go wrong with a zzr1200 but from stock will take some fixing to make it touring ready. But a 160hp sport-touring bike, What a thrill. Show less

I've been riding for 45 years. Club raced a lot in the 70's and 80's. The Kawasaki 1200R is the best all around street rocket I've ever owned. My other is a fully restosed 83 CB1100F with 33mm smooth bores. It's fun and makes smile a lot but the Kawasaki with full Muzzy system is the best ever. Happy riding my Brothers! Show less

Bike is awesome, fast, but for me doesn't handle well, but I have a race ready Ducati 999s as well. This thing straight ahead is the fastest stock bike I have ever ridden. I have owned or ridden everything!!! It's a really great deal for the money. If you wanna go fast and beat everyone off the line and on the highway this is your bike!!! Show less

This is my first bike and it is amazing. I just got it back for repairs and just rode around in my front yard a little, but I can tell that it's amazing. This bike will pull the front wheel off the ground and send you back in first gear if you crank the throttle, compared to other bikes I have ridden (pw80 and ttr-125). This bike is AMAZING. Show less

This was my first bike and it was awesome to learn on. Great handling and had some power, but it got old really quick. I have heard a lot of people say it will keep up with a 600 but only if you are cruising. Great bike to start and learn on if you have never riden before but you will be looking to upgrade in a year. I would suggest getting this over a 600 to start off with because a 600 will but you on the ground if you don't know how to ride it. Show less

Well it's been two full years of hard trail riding and my KDX 200 2005 is still unbelieveable and still almost stock. Nothing has gone wrong with it. Two weeks ago I spent some time on two 2009 two strokes. The YZ 250 and the KTM 300 exc. These bikes definitely have more power that my bike but the margin and the way the power is delivered still does not justify the switch. My two friends who own these bikes are GNCC racers and ride better than I do. STILL in tight trails and narrow single track, my bike stayed with them fine. However when the trails opened up, my two buddies could pull away from me easy as their skill level and bike power are superior to mine. Had my skill been equal to theirs, I would have kept up as the difference in bike power was not tremendously greater. The KTM 300 is a bike that I've had my eye for some time. However for the riding I do the KDX 200 is still a perfect fit. I am blown away at it's reliability, punch, and woods prowess. We ride a lot of really technical single track and fast 4 wheeler trails and the KDX keeps up with 450F's, 250 twos and 250f's giving the same rider skill level...which is the case most of the time.' Show less

This being my third bike since a beginner 15 years ago, I have to say, not bad. The stock seat sucks, as most stock seats do, so I'd recommend getting rid of that. Maintenance wise, not much is needed over the long haul except for oil changes and such. that's a good thing, because any work to be done is a pain as it's hard to get to anything without moving a lot of other things out of the way. That being said, anyone with mechanical aptitude can work on this bike. I've changed the leaking coolant pipe on the right cover, the chain and sprockets, front brake pads twice, and the light switch. There are a lot of aftermarket parts for this bike and mods are easy to do. The high rpm's at highway speeds are annoying, so do what I did. When it's time to change the sprockets, get the rear one with less teeth. I went from the 42 stock to a 39, and wow! Now I can peg the speedo. Show less

I just got a used 05 Vulcan Classic 800 with ONLY 3200 miles for a great price. I wasn't planning to buy this bike. I was visiting the dealer to trade in my old bike for a new V Star 1300 Tourer. Instead I purchased the Vulcan 800 Classic and kept my old bike. The bike fits me perfectly. It is not over powered, but not slow either. Top speed on a flat road was 110 mph in 4th gear, but I pegged the speedometer in 5th gear on a downhill. The bike was stable at those speeds; slight wobble, but it wasn't bad. A former bike I owned was uncomfortable and unstable above 70 mph. This Vulcan 800 has the same acceleration and power as that bike but without the issues. This bike is about evenly matched with the 1100 cruisers. I ride with the big boys and I can keep up with this bike. I am very happy so far. Show less