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Fix up, look sharp

The growing suspicion that I’ve taken a wrong turning is confirmed when the road through a sleepy Portuguese town comes to a dead end, but I’ve rarely been happier to be lost so far from home. After all, the sun is shining and I’ve got the whole afternoon to find my way back to the launch hotel. If missing a turn and going off the planned route means I get more time on the revamped ER-6n, that’s no bad thing at all.

Especially as Kawasaki’s updated parallel twin soon shows itself to be a good bike on which to get lost. It’s manoeuvrable enough to make an effortless U-turn and pick its way nimbly back through the town; and well suspended enough to stay composed when I find myself on a horrendously bumpy back-road that surely can’t have been on the scheduled route. The 6n also proves quick enough to recover some time with a motorway blast. And it’s comfortable enough to make the day’s slightly extended ride seem utterly effortless when I finally make it back to the hotel.

My navigational skills might have been lacking but you couldn’t accuse Kawasaki of losing its way with the ER-6n, which has done a consistently good job of appealing to both novice and more experienced riders alike.

The original bike was an immediate hit on its launch in 2006, and a redesign three years ago ensured that the model remained one of Kawasaki’s most popular, with over 60,000 now sold. With this second major overhaul Kawasaki has been careful to retain the 6n’s non-threatening look and character, while updating just about everything.

What’s new?

The 649cc, DOHC eight-valve engine is the one major component that remains, although fuel injection and exhaust changes give a slight boost below 7000rpm while leaving the max of 72bhp at 8500rpm untouched. The four-into-one pipe has a downpipe connector that smoothes torque delivery, and its silencer is angled up slightly more.

Frame and swingarm are both new, and share a design based on side-by-side steel tubes. The rear subframe is also redesigned, to allow extra seat padding without increasing the height of the seat itself. Slightly less racy steering geometry (rake and trail 25º and 110mm, from 24.5º and 102mm) and softer suspension are also intended to enhance the rider-friendliness that has always been a key 6n attribute.

Its distinctive, long-nosed look is updated with a reshaped bikini fairing, smoked instead of painted instrument screen, plus sharpened front mudguard, bellypan and tail section. Other changes including new instruments, span-adjustable levers, 10mm higher mirrors and new front brake pads suggest that Kawasaki has tried hard to get the details right.

The instrument console is one of the most obvious improvements, as the previous model’s hard-to-read panel has been replaced by a simple analogue tacho above a digital panel that incorporates the speedo plus some extra info including fuel consumption and remaining range. Shame it couldn’t have provided a handlebar-mounted switch to toggle between displays, but the basic info is certainly clear now.

Otherwise it’s much as you were, with an upright riding position that hasn’t been changed for the simple reason that it suits riders of all sizes pretty well. Being tall I was glad of the ample legroom, while shorter riders will appreciate that the seat has been made slightly narrower, making it easier to get feet on the ground.

If I have got a criticism of the ER-6n it’s perhaps that at a claimed 204kg with fuel, it’s quite heavy for a bike of fairly modest performance, and in fact has got 4kg heavier this year due to the subframe and swingarm changes. The weight is held quite high, too, and the Kawasaki felt a bit lardy even when I moved it around at a standstill before setting off.

How does it perform on the roads?

Weight aside it’s still a very manoeuvrable machine, and felt effortlessly controllable and novice-friendly as we headed out from our Algarve launch base. The wide bars and reasonably sporty geometry helped make negotiating small roundabouts easy, and its abundant steering lock made the bike superb at flicking through traffic when we rode through the nearby town of Loulé.

That flexible engine played its part in the Kawasaki’s friendly nature, too, always seeming to have enough grunt on tap to deliver a useful burst of acceleration, without being sharp enough to intimidate even an inexperienced rider. It pulled from as low as 2000rpm without complaint, though keeping three grand showing on the tacho made the response notably stronger.

I suspect that the torque improvements Kawasaki spoke about are so small that you’d struggle to tell the difference even when riding this bike immediately after the previous model. But having just a fraction more grunt is fine when there was already plenty available. When riding reasonably gently I frequently glanced down to find I was accelerating with no more than about 4000rpm on the tacho, at which point the 6n was accelerating happily and with barely a hint of vibration.

Mind you, that laid-back riding style changed when we reached some gloriously twisty roads in the hills north of Faro, and lead rider Francesca set a quick pace that had our group of hacks having to ride hard to keep up. Suddenly I was exiting bends with at least six grand showing, and the Kawasaki sounding distinctly more urgent; I was often needing to keep the revs between about 8000rpm and the 11,000rpm redline.

One other change is that the induction system has been revised, with new intakes between the main frame tubes, designed to increase induction noise under acceleration. The extra sound was certainly welcome and added to the experience, even if the Kawasaki’s bark was more that of a playful labrador than an angry pit bull.

This ever-friendly middleweight had enough performance to make things interesting, though. On the straighter sections the Kawa had been happy to cruise at about 80mph, its pilot glad of the cooling breeze on a 30º October day. Given the opportunity, the bike rapidly shot up to about 110mph – remaining comfortably vibration free thanks to its balancer shaft and rubber-mounted bar and pegs – with more to come to a top speed of 130mph.

Handling was also very adequate, despite a fairly simple steel-framed specification whose only potential for adjustment is rear shock preload.

I’d wondered whether softening the springs of a bike that was already built as much for comfort as for speed would result in a vague and spongy feel, but that wasn’t the case. Although the softness was welcome on bumpy roads and over urban speed humps, the ride was still reasonably taut even when the pace picked up out of town.

In fact the 6n was great fun to throw around. It had fairly light steering (helped by the wide bars) with a neutral feel and a stability that would be very reassuring to less experienced riders. Yet even when we reached the twisty roads around the Vale da Rosa and the Kawasaki was being ridden aggressively, it kept its cool very well, occasionally lurching slightly but always recovering quickly and never threatening to get seriously out of shape.

Adding a click of preload to the easily accessible rear shock was quickly done, and helped maintain ground clearance, of which there was enough that only my boot-tips occasionally touched down. Dunlop’s latest Sportmax Roadsmart II tyres did a good job of sticking to the road, admittedly on surfaces that were hot, smooth and grippy, apart from some treacherously slippery urban streets that quickly brought me back to reality.

Perhaps my only real chassis-related complaint is of the front brake. Its twin-piston calipers have been tuned with new pads (on the non-ABS model we rode), presumably in response to criticism of the previous 6n, but still seemed slightly lacking in bite. Kawasaki would doubtless argue that less experienced riders don’t want too sharp a front stopper, which is true; but a rider has more control when squeezing the lever gently rather than having to grab a big handful.

Ironically that front brake almost helped cause my downfall, when a car driver changed his mind about taking the previous exit as I slowed for one of those slippery roundabouts. When I gave the front brake an extra squeeze the tyre lost grip with a loud squeak. Fortunately I let go in time to avoid a crash, but a less experienced rider might not have been so lucky. That makes Kawasaki’s decision not to fit ABS as standard – or even to offer it at all, in some markets – a poor one in my opinion (and never mind its excuse that most riders don’t pay the extra when offered a choice – if Honda can offer ABS on everything, why can’t Kawasaki?).

That small whinge apart, I ended the day impressed by the ER-6n. Those new brake pads might not have made much difference, and Kawasaki should really have reduced the bike’s weight rather than increased it. A larger tank would have been useful, too, as the current 16 litres typically gives a range of about 140 miles, which is bettered by several rivals, especially Honda’s CBF600F.

But most of the updates are worthwhile. The slightly higher mirrors give an excellent view behind. The thicker seat was comfortable after a reasonably long day’s ride, and still has room underneath it for a U-lock. There are revised pillion grab-handles as well as luggage hooks.

Accessories include engine protectors, panniers and a top-box, making the ER-6n genuinely practical, though it’s a shame there’s only a slightly larger flyscreen rather than a more protective screen. Alternatively you could opt instead for the faired ER-6f, which is updated in similar fashion and will be available shortly after the 6n reaches showrooms in December.

Crucially the 6n should be competitively priced, with this bike likely to cost only about £50 more than the existing model (which is currently £5649). Assuming that’s the case, the ER-6n’s run of success looks set to continue. It remains a respectably quick, sweet-handling and enjoyable machine that should appeal to novices yet has enough to keep experienced riders entertained. It certainly made me glad to have taken a wrong turn during that hot afternoon in Portugal.

Words: Roland Brown
Pics: David Reygondeau and Double Red