Not holding back on tech for the Vulcan 2000, Kawasaki implemented an ECU system that managed the electronic fuel injection with the dual 46mm throttle bodies and sub-throttle valves and iridium spark plug ignition.Ī gear position sensor in the transmission was also equipped, which could send signals to the ECU which would further enhance the fuel injection system and timing, increasing the performance to the best of the bikes ability.įinal drive to the rear wheel was used in the form of a super low-maintenance belt drive that was smooth and quiet. Riders at the time likened the experience created from the big V-twin to the imagined feelings of being strapped to a rocket launcher.Īll that torque was the most immense thing about the experience, the Vulcan packed tonnes of it and would shift you what felt like 50 feet in a blink of an eye.Īt the top the engine is liquid-cooled while the bottom two thirds is cooled by cooling fins, so the engine gets the best of both worlds.Īlthough the engine was also equipped with built-in oil and water pumps, the transmission also served as the oil tank.Ī primary drive chain transferred the torque from the V-twin to the 5-speed transmission, the case of which housed a multi-plate wet clutch. It is a massive fuel-injected, SOHC, V-twin with 2,053cc capacity, in fact the big pistons used were the biggest ever used in a motorcycle. The best place to start with the Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 therefore is the engine. In Cycle World Patrick Kelly, who was product manager for the 2000 said “We could see where the market was going with displacement, so at the time we thought we’d leapfrog them with a 2 liter,” Of course this was Kawasaki’s game plan, winning the monopoly on the biggest cruiser was almost a guarantee that sales would increase and the bike would be a success tempting hardcore American fans to the darkside. There was no doubt about it there was a new sheriff in town and the Americans had no choice but to move over. It was the biggest, baddest, meanest V-twin around, and it hit the press with an almighty roar. Kawasaki had set the bar for performance cruisers with the Vulcan 1500 and later 1600, but they weren’t about to sit back and let that be the end of the line.Ģ004 rolled around and so did the very first post 2000cc engine in the form of the 2053cc V-twin that would power the all new Vulcan. Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 Review This Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 was photographed by Christian Ammering and is kindly licensed via CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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