With Euro 4 emissions regulations coming down hard on motorcycle manufacturers in Europe, many are removing large-displacement air-cooled engines from their model range. This includes Kawasaki, who have divulged that 2016 will be the final year of production for its retro-styled Brit-bike look-a-like W800.
While air-cooling gives engines, notably parallel-twins in the British style, a distinctive look, the ‘fun’ police have decided that in the interests of environmental conservation, such power plants are no longer acceptable. This means the 773 cc parallel-twin, with SOHC and four-valves per cylinder, will no longer appear in Kawasaki’s line-up in 2017.
First introduced in 2011, the Kawasaki W800 could never be termed a best-seller, but it did develop a fanbase, especially in Europe. This was because its power output of 48 PS and 65 Nm of torque allowed it to fall under the EU A2 license class, which allows for car driving license holders to add-on the A2 class with minimal testing.
“It’s never easy to say good bye to an old friend, especially one as iconic as the W800. Paying homage to the W series with this Final Edition is therefore a truly fitting end to a long and successful line of machines,” said Morihiro Ikoma, Kawasaki Europe’s corporate planning director in a motorcyclenews report.
The final edition of the W800 in Europe will be produced in limited quantities, and come in a Candy Brown/Sunset Orange paint scheme that is reminiscent of Kawasaki’s 650 cc W1 from 1966. The original Kawasaki W1 (pictured above, left) was Kawasaki’s first ‘big’ four-stroke motorcycle, and based on the BSA A7 – also known as the Shooting Star/Star Twin – from the fifties.
Retail price for the Kawasaki W800 in Malaysia is approximately RM58,000. Its closest rival is the 2016 Triumph Bonneville Street Twin, which displaces 900 cc and retails for RM55,900, including GST.
