Kawasaki NOMAD reviews

I had the 1996 1500 classic and the only thing was to put on the Vance and Hines 2 1/4 straight shots with no baffles, take off the bladder underneath, added a hyper charger and Mustang seats. Top speed was 145 mph. Now I have the 1999 nomad, the factory seats are great, power is an issue and I shift into 5th gear at 65mph. The gas tank should be bigger. I removed the exhaust bladder and that helped with power, getting ready to install the hyper charger and Vance and Hines pipes, which should help out greatly. I have over 50,400 miles on it with no complaints. Show less

I love this bike! I have been riding my 2008 1600 Nomad for about two years. It was supposed to be a place holder bike until I got the more expensive bike that I wanted. I ended up riding it much longer than expected. It has good power, it is smooth running, and has never given me a single problem. The bike is comfortable and rides nicely with a passenger,...hardly any different than alone. It starts right up in any kind of weather and always runs the same. The side loading bags are something you have to prefer or get used to. I do not prefer them over top loading but some do for whatever reason. The horsepower is sufficient and the motor has very nice low end torque. The torque shows when riding two up as the acceleration is practically the same as riding alone. It will not blow your socks or any doors off, but the bike is sufficiently powered for fun and safety. Overall, these are great, reliable, smooth running, good looking motorcycles. Show less

I am the second owner of a clean 2005 Vulcan nomad 1600. I have absolutely no complaints about this bike, it is a very smooth ride, and even at high speeds it feels like it's going a lot slower. Power to spare and highly stable, but don't lay it down it's hard to pick up. Show less

I bought my Nomad new out of the crate in 2014. It was a leftover but was the greatest buy I ever made. I got a great deal on this bike and it was that I expected. I replaced my 900 classic with the Nomad because the classic just wasn't cutting it on the highway. I felt that the engine revs were too high to maintain the 75 mph speeds. In my research I found that the 5 speed transmission of the 900 was not geared to handle the highway. My Nomad is perfect for the long trips I like to take. The ergonomics are great for a person of my height or taller. The electronic cruise control makes that even better when you are putting the miles behind you. This bike has the power and then some!(Not to mention the boost I got when I added the high flow air filter and aftermarket exhaust). As in some other reviews, I have never found ground clearance to be an issue(Remember, you are not riding a sports bike). It handles like a dream on the highway and in the city. Show less

This is a damn fine bike to take a trip on, my wife says it's the most comfortable bike I have ever owned in 30 years of marriage. She falls asleep on it all the time, thank god it has a back rest! I added a Dobeck FI programmer, and what a big change in power it made. I am NOT A CRUISER GUY by any means but I needed something my back and knee's could handle for long hours on the road. Show less

I rode this bike for 26,000 miles. It's very reliable, has a comfortable seating position for taller riders, will cruise all day, 2 up, loaded at 75 mph. and nice big saddlebags. It is a heavy bike, but handles well for it's size. Show less

Hello. The Kawasaki VN1600 Classic Nomad is indeed a solid reliable machine and is quite well built. The solid alloy wheels are a bonus as spoked wheels tend to rust so no problems with the wheels. Some may find on second-hand machines they have a front wobble (speed wobble) but knowing many other owners, this is down to the tire having a run off or is not seated correctly. A simple tire change sorts this out. There is plenty of room with the side panniers and rack and it's a nice machine to ride on. My mpg. is around 42.5 per gallon of petrol (gas)but I have had the standard exhaust removed (very heavy) and had the Vance and Hines sent over from the USA (Bagshots) so maybe this and the combination of a new air filter and power commander has an effect on fuel consumption. You receive the screen and side panniers as standard and this VN series has the pipes on each side for a more balanced look. I do find that spraying your machine with WD40 or other water retardant helps the bikes wires to become dependable in the long run. Please note that once the VN refused to turn over but do not take it to bits looking for a fault if it was working fine. Check the clutch wires on the lever (2 wires covered in a plastic shroud) as they tend to come off if not secure and can be overlooked. Show less

It's the most dependable bike I have had so far. I love its comfort and balance and its ability to hold the road in the windy conditions. Show less

This bike is great. I bought it (2011 model) at the 2012 Toronto Motorcycle show in January. I took delivery in mid-March, and have ridden 1,250 kms. so far. It's a very nice, very comfortable bike. It's perfect ergonomics for me at 6'0". The windscreen at the lowest setting and there is no wind buffeting at all. It is lighter in handling than my 2003 1500 Nomad, but similar to the 2006 Harley Road King I owned for a while, and almost as good handling (except for limited lean angle - I've dragged the footboards several times on the pavement going around corners already) as the 1984 1200 Honda Goldwing I owned for 12 years. It has considerably more power that any of the others except for the Goldwing (which had 96 hp. and 87 ft/lbs. torgue if I remember correctly). It's got more power in stock form than my 2003 Nomad stock, and still more than the 2003 Nomad after I added the V&H pipes, custom air intake manifold and K&W air filter and a Dynajet Power Commander to the 2003. The Harley's power starts earlier in the revs (almost immediately you twist the throttle) and is more linear in feel the way it builds up. But eventually when the revs. get up on the 1700 Nomad, it finally pulls harder. But, you have to get the revs. up (probably to about 3500 rpm. - estimate for now) to feel a good satisfying burst of power. So I'm getting a tachometer installed so I can read when I'm in the best power RPM range in each gear. Maybe I'll even see what a set of V&H pipes or D&D pipes with modified air intake and Power Commander will do for this one. Cruise control was an option I was really looking forward to, and it worked great - for the first three times I used it. Then it just stopped working after that (at about the 200 km. mark). It's currently in the shop for its first warranty check, and hopefully it gets fixed under warranty (it should or I'm going to be mildly upset to say the least). Shifting is a bit clunky, but just like my Harley Road King was, but to me, it just feels like good solid quality. The Goldwing and 2003 Nomad shifted more with that snickety-snick feel to it which makes the transmission seem rather lightweight. There's no more noise on this bike than there was on any of the other three I mentioned above. Personally, I absolutely love every piece of the styling, looks and design of this bike. I just wish they had designed a slight more ground clearance on the lean angle to let it carve out the corners a little cleaner, because the frams give such a confident solid well controlled feel when cornering. Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who is in the market for this kind of bike Show less

I purchased my 2010 Nomad in July of 2011 it was a leftover with 0 miles on it. I found two others exactly the same at other dealers but only one was serious about dealing. The Nomad has been on the short list of bikes I liked and wanted for awhile. I have always like the look of Nomads be it the 1500, 1600, and now 1700s. The new top loading bags are scoffed at by some of the 1500 and 1600 Nomad riders as is the belt vs shaft drive on the 1500 & 1600s. Personally I like the looks of the top load bags but there is a bit of a gap between fender and bags to allow them to open which does give them a clean look up close. I upgraded from a 750 Shadow to this bike and it has gobs of power compared to the 750 and slow speed handling is actually better at least to me. The bike is geared very tall and 6th gear really does not come into it's own until 65 mph. and makes interstate cruising very relaxed. With that said though you will need to down shift if you really want to get it moving which I have found it does with little problem. There are no issues keeping up with the 104CID Harley's though in a drag race with the Nomad gearing it will be at a disadvantage. If you want more mph. the typical exhaust, fuel processor, and intake upgrade will wake it up. It does generate quite a bit of heat but no more than the typical big twin air cooled or water cooled. There is some gear whine which is typical for straight cut gears in the transmission and belt noise vanished after the first 1,000 miles. 1st to 2nd shift is loud but this apparently is also typical of the '09 & '10 1700 Vulcans. The seat is comfy but does curve up a bit too much for me in the front. Air shocks are easy to put air into if you are riding two up and the shocks have easy to adjust pre-load settings. The seat is super easy to remove to access the battery. The windshield is adjustable and at 6'-3" I have it actually set pretty low and get very little turbulence thanks in part to the lower deflectors on the forks. The fit and finish I think is superb on this bike and it will turn some heads though not everyone will like the style of the hard bags. I like the "classic" Amercian cruiser/bagger styling that is still distinctive in a sea of Harley Davidson's. Last but not least the cruise control is amazing! Show less