ODD MAN OUT

THIS is another bike I’ve been hanging on trying out for some time now, Kawasaki’s most recent on-again, off-again incarnation of its 1965 W1 vertical twin, itself a development of the earlier BSA A7. The much revamped 2019 W800 Cafe is nothing like the original W1 except maybe in how it rides and goes and performs; surely no other new bike feels as ‘British’ to ride.

It looks pretty authentic too, once you get your head around the SOHC bevel tower on the right side of the engine (which has been around for 20 years) and the discreet Kawasaki tank badges and not-so-subtle seat lettering. It looks very British, helped by a physically small engine, tiny compared with modern Triumph, Norton and Royal Enfield twins (it makes you wonder what they put inside them). The W800’s more the