Road-testing the Kawasaki KLV 1000: All-rounder machines like the Kawasaki KLV 1000 have been popular for a good many years, and there is plenty of choice. Key characteristics are large wheels, long travel suspension, an upright seating position and a high-torque engine.
These days it occasions no surprise to find competing car manufacturers using the same platform and each other's engines.
It also happens in the world of motorcycling. Suzuki engines power all manner of other makes as they do here. The engine is a de-tuned variant of Suzuki's venerable TL 1000 power plant.
Kawasaki and Suzuki have a mutual aid agreement and the result is that, apart from very minor differences such as instruments and colour schemes, Kawasaki's KLV 1000 and Suzuki's DL 1000 V-Strom are virtually one and the same machine.
Where a real difference can occur, thanks to the vagaries of the trade, is in the realms of price. Right now a new KLV 1000 can be bought for €9,999, compared with the €11,967 list price of a DL 1000 V-Strom, enough to concentrate most minds.
Just like the V-Strom, the Kawasaki KLV is a good, honest, solid machine in which just about everything feels dead right. The seating position is comfortable. For total perfection we would prefer a somewhat softer seat, but it is well suited to long distance work.
It is a "tall" machine, great for keen observations in traffic and for seeing over the hedges in the country. The seat height, at 830mm, is around about the comfortable limit for the average rider without being too high.
There is a wide range of suspension adjustment. That, coupled with large diameter wheels and long travel suspension, means that it copes well with poor road surfaces. Our pillion tester remarked that no matter how poor the surface, for once she did not experience those all-too-common spine jarring jolts.
The real delight is the engine.
It has that great, long-legged gait. It never seems to be working hard and yet you find you are going along at an impressively brisk pace.
The 6th gear is a genuine overdrive complete with tell-tale light on the instrument panel. Where it is permitted, cruising in the 160 km/h to 185km/h range is utterly stress free for both engine and rider. Top speed is around 220 km/h.
The machine has a solid but not over-heavy feel about it, and the robust suspension is well up to carrying two well-nourished people and a week's luggage over atrocious surfaces.
The 22-litre tank capacity is good for 300 kms between stops.
The brakes are powerful, effective and vice free. Roadholding is of a high order.
Sports bike riders might think this style of machine is something akin to a carthorse but, in reality, in the right hands a KLV would often have the edge.
The small screen, adjustable with tools, proved highly effective, one can ride visor up at 150km/h. There is a generous, substantial rear carrier which makes a nice picnic table!
The oil cooler is placed well down at the front of the engine, guaranteed to get smothered by everything thrown back from the front wheel. The test bike has a front mudguard extension which helps a bit. Even though there is a protective grille it strikes us as potentially vulnerable. Having said that, we have never heard of one failing.
The one defect our test did throw up is one you would not expect. We had stopped high up in the Wicklow Gap for some photos. Just as we finished, much to our surprise, a freak gust blew the bike off the centre stand, something that has never happened to us before.
After we'd righted the machine, even at a 207kg dry weight having a pillion passenger comes in handy at times like these, we noticed that the spread of the centre stand legs is less than one would expect and the foot on the right hand leg is much, much smaller than one would expect.
There is no valid reason for this since even if the spread were wider and the foot three times its size there still would be no fear of the stand catching under enthusiastic cornering.
All told, this is a thoroughly good, capable and sensible machine which is a joy to ride in all conditions. It is possible to pay almost €5,000 more for some competing machines in this class. For many that makes the KLV worthy of serious consideration.
Tech spec:
ENGINE: 996cc, fuel-injected, DOHC, liquid-cooled, 90° Vee-twin, 4-valves per cylinder, 11.3:1 compression. 73.1kW (98bhp) @ 7600rpm, 101 Nm (74.5 lb-ft) @ 6400rpm. Six speed gearbox, chain drive.
CHASSIS: Front: telescopic adjustable coil spring, oil-damped. 17" wheel. Twin 310mm disk brakes 2-piston callipers.
Rear: Link type adjustable coil spring, oil damped. 19" wheel, single 260mm disk, single piston calliper.
DIMENSIONS: Wheelbase: 1,550mm, seat height 830mm. Fuel 22-litre. Dry weight 207kg.
PRICE: Current offer price €9,999