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A Father, A Daughter, and a Custom Kawasaki W800 Cafe That Saves Lives

The following story is about more than just a Kawasaki W800 Cafe customized to raise awareness for a common but relatively unknown genetic condition but also – and perhaps more importantly – about how a father and daughter bonded through their discovery that they both had this condition and a shared enjoyment of motorcycles. This story first appeared in Rider‘s June 2023 issue. – Ed.


Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives
Photos by Scott Radabaugh and Stephen Thompson

Scott Radabaugh was on the elliptical machine at his local gym when he felt the first signs of trouble.

“I started having chest pains,” he said. “It was a burning sensation, just like when you do intense exercise and feel that lactic acid burn in your muscles. I realized, ‘Oh my God, I’ve only got one muscle in the center of my chest.’”

After the pain subsided, Radabaugh called his doctor. Even though he was just 43 years old, he underwent an emergency quadruple bypass to prevent what would have otherwise been a fatal “widow-maker” heart attack. When Radabaugh recovered from the surgery, he discovered that the cause of his problems, a genetic condition known as Familial Hypercholesterolemia, was present in all three of his children – including his 5-year-old daughter, Chloe.

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives

“Kids with FH look normal and healthy,” Radabaugh said, but he added that it can drastically reduce life expectancy to as young as adolescence. However, what started out as feelings of fear and anger at the diagnoses led to a bond between father and daughter over motorcycles, both riding and repairing them.

When Scott and Chloe – now in her mid-teens – shared their story with me, it really hit home, not only because it involves motorcycles but, maybe more importantly, because I’m a parent as well.

‘My whole purpose was to help save Chloe’s life’  

When my wife and I were expecting our first child, whenever people asked if I had a preference between a boy or a girl, I always said I wanted a boy. I wasn’t being misogynistic; I just understood boys better. Of course, I got a girl, and while I still have a lot to learn about females, there is definitely something to be said for the bond between fathers and daughters. I wouldn’t change a single day of the past 12 years. Coincidentally, my daughter is the same age Chloe was when she started undergoing aggressive treatment for FH.

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives
Chloe requires regular six- to seven-hour treatments to filter the dangerously high levels of LDL cholesterol from her blood.

Familial Hypercholesterolemia is a life-threatening genetic condition that causes extremely high levels of low-density lipoprotein, more commonly referred to as LDL or “bad cholesterol.”

“There are two types of FH,” Scott told me. “There’s heterozygous FH, meaning that you inherited the FH gene from one parent. And then there’s homozygous FH, meaning that you inherited the FH gene from both parents.”

Heterozygous FH, which Scott discovered he has, affects approximately 1 in 250 people. Since there are about 8 million motorcyclists in the U.S., Scott said “about 32,400 riders” have heterzygous FH. Unfortunately, according to the Family Heart Foundation, less than one third of people with FH know they have it.

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives
With the help of a Moto Guild instructor, Chloe refurbished a 2001 Honda CBR600F4i bought on Craigslist in rough shape.

“Most people think that high cholesterol is an adult-lifestyle disorder from eating too much bacon,” Scott said, but he added that’s not the case with FH, which is the danger of the condition. “You don’t look like a heart attack waiting to happen. Especially not a 5-year-old girl.”

He told me his wife also has heterozygous FH, and as a result – or at least one possible genetic result – their daughter Chloe ended up with the rare and more severe homozygous FH.

“Kids with the double defect, homozygous FH, can have heart attacks as toddlers,” he said. “And life expectancy can be like 16 or so.”

Fortunately, the Radabaughs caught it in time for Chloe to start receiving treatment, but Scott told me he struggled at the beginning.

“I was really angry at the whole process,” he said. “I was like, ‘This is the cruelest joke of all. I get to survive my quadruple bypass and then watch my youngest child suffer with this very serious and potentially fatal condition.’ But after I went through the stages of grief thing, I decided that my whole purpose was to help save Chloe’s life and just guide her through these tough times and try to find cures and treatments that will keep her safe.”

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives
Chloe prepares her Kawasaki W800 Cafe FH-awareness bike, “Motorcycle Saves Lives,” for an upcoming motorcycle show.

When Chloe started a new form of treatment in 7th grade, one that required her to miss school for a few days every two weeks, she got bullied. She told me it was mostly the result of the toxic friend group she was part of, but having to be gone so much didn’t help.

“Nobody understood it,” she said. “So I would try to explain it, but they didn’t really care.”

In her younger years, the FH had been mostly an inconvenience, she said, but as she entered adolescence, it became an issue of injustice, something that’s very important at that age.

“At that point, I was realizing that not everyone has to deal with this and was like, ‘Why do I have to do this? It’s not fair.’”

Scott Radabaugh isn’t a doctor, so when it came to medical treatments, he had to leave it in the hands of professionals. However, he is a motorcyclist, and when he realized his daughter was struggling, given his mission of providing guidance through her tough times, he leaned on what he knew.

“To help her, I’d take her on some speed runs on my 2011 Honda CBR1000RR,” he said.

“There’s a little place where we can kind of get away and open it up a little bit. And, you know, adrenaline is the best cure for depression in every motorcyclist. I think Chloe and I got up to maybe 127 mph one time. I’m not gonna win Parent of the Year for that, but she loved it!”

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives
Chloe is always smiling when she rides.

‘Chloe has the motorcycle gene’

Even though Scott had family connections with motorcycling in his younger years, he didn’t get his first motorcycle until he was 18, and even then, it was a surreptitious purchase.

“Some of my relatives used to own the first Harley-Davidson shop in Houston,” he told me. “They had a flat track, and my dad used to work at the concession stand.”

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives
Chloe has a fondness for koala bears. This sticker under the seat – signed “for Chloe, Love Dad!” – is Scott’s favorite part of the Kawasaki W800 Cafe.

Scott’s relatives planned to give him a small trail bike as a gift. Another family had previously bought it for their son, but when he crashed it and broke his arm on the first day, they brought it back.

“It had a few scratches, but my relatives were gonna give the bike to me. I even got to sit on it and everything, but my parents must have seen that look in my eye, and they were like, ‘Oh hell no.’”

Later, when Scott went off to college at Texas A&M, he discovered there was a superspeedway right outside of town.

“So I bought my first motorcycle when I was 18 without my parents knowing. And I was actually doing club racing before my parents found out,” he said. “I remember my mom called the insurance company to ask a question about my car insurance. And they said, ‘The car or the motorcycle?’ That’s how I got busted.”

When I asked Chloe if she knew about this story, she grinned and said she had heard it before.

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives
The Radabaugh’s Kawasaki W800 Cafe was intended to be Chloe’s personal ride, but it’s now become more of a show bike.

Scott said that nobody else in his family liked motorcycles. “As far as my kids, Chloe has the motorcycle gene. And there’s something to that.”

I can understand Scott’s sentiment. Motorcycling can be both a solitary and a group endeavor. I enjoy riding alone, but I much prefer to share the experience. I don’t have a lot of friends nearby who ride, so I was glad when my wife finally decided she trusted me enough to join me as a passenger. And I was even more excited when my kids expressed an interest. For Chloe, this interest started young as well.

“I remember that my dad always had a motorcycle in the garage. I always remembered seeing that,” she told me. “And he would take us to motorcycle races and stuff, which were always fun things to get to do. I would just sit back and watch it all. And then as I grew up, I started going on rides with my dad. I’d be on the back of his motorcycle.”

Scott said these experiences were “an amazing way” to connect with his daughter.

“We would stop and take breaks and get a cup of coffee or something to drink and just chitchat. The amazing thing about this is that an inanimate motorcycle has had such an impact.”

However, he said, the CBR1000RR wasn’t really comfortable for a passenger, so Scott set out to find a bike that would be more suitable for the two of them and that he could eventually give to his daughter.

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives Honda CRB300R
The first time Chloe operated a motorcycle was at age 14. She started on a CBR300R owned by John Bartevian and later moved to her dad’s CBR1000RR.

He ended up getting a screaming deal on a 2019 Kawasaki W800 Cafe at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Because he saved so much money, he decided to trick the bike out and make it fun for Chloe.

“The next thing you know, we’ve got this freaking show bike,” he said, “but I also wanted to use the bike to raise awareness for FH, as a conversation starter.”

Scott describes the final look for the bike as a visual match of DNA and genetics, in keeping with the FH awareness theme, and it has been shown at The Quail Motorcycle Gathering in 2022 and other shows.

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives J&P Cycles
The Kawasaki W800 Cafe FH-awareness bike at a J&P Cycles show.

“The nickname of the bike is ‘Motorcycle Saves Lives,’” Scott said, “because the first one it saved was my daughter’s.”

Beyond the Kawasaki W800 Cafe: Building a Future Together

When it was time for Chloe to learn to ride, she started on a Honda CBR300R that belonged to John Bartevian, a hot-rod painter who did the paint work on the W800. Then she moved on to the Kawasaki W800 Cafe, but Scott said the bike soon became “almost too nice to ride because it was in all these shows.”

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives
Scott says the “Motorcycle Saves Lives” bike was painted to look like someone rode 100 mph through a wall of ribbons with DNA strands on them.

“So then she started learning how to ride my CBR1000RR, which was amazing.”

Chloe agreed. “You just can’t really get that feeling other than by riding. There’s no other way to experience it. It’s just really fun to be in control of something that can go so fast. I really like the adrenaline rush.”

Not long after, Scott bought a 2001 Honda CBR600F4i in “really rough shape” from Craigslist, and they started working together to rebuild it.

“She’s actually done most of the work on the whole thing,” Scott said. “There’s a motorcycle shop on Treasure Island, which is near San Francisco, called the Moto Guild. You take your bike there, and you can work on it in their shop, and they have instructors walking around or you can have private lessons. Chloe learned how to rebuild the front forks, change the sprockets, chains, brake rotors, brake lines. She’s almost gone through every system in the bike except into the engine. It’s amazing. She probably knows more about motorcycle repair than I do at this point.”

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives
Chloe working on her 2001 CBR600F4i at the Moto Guild, located on Treasure Island between San Francisco and Oakland.

Beyond amazing, Chloe said she was a little surprised that she enjoys it as much as she does, since it wasn’t something she ever wanted to do when she was younger.

“Then we started customizing bikes,” she said. “And as I started learning about the different parts of the bikes, it was really interesting to me. And once I got the opportunity to work on a bike and help fix it up, I found myself enjoying putting it together and taking it apart and watching it get better. It’s a really good sense of accomplishment to see something that you fixed up from nothing basically.”

It’s also rare – and special – for a father and his teenage daughter to spend time together, sharing a common passion. That’s especially meaningful for Scott.

“The one thing that I really like most about working on bikes with Chloe is that it gives us time to talk,” he said. “It’s not the easiest thing for a dad and a daughter to have meaningful conversations, but when we’re working on a bike together, there’s nothing else to do except chitchat with each other.”

Kawasaki W800 Cafe Motorcycle Saves Lives
This motorcycle not only brought a father and daughter closer, it has also helped raise awareness about FH.

My own daughter is just starting into her teen years, a few years behind Chloe, and I can relate to this sentiment. Those years for girls are pretty foreign to me, and it’s everything I can do to find ways to relate to her and keep her talking to me. So it wasn’t surprising that when I asked Scott and Chloe what the future held, even though Scott had previously spent so much time talking about raising awareness of FH, his first response to this question was what he hoped to see for his daughter.

“I would love for Chloe to do a race school on a track,” he said, “because I feel like that’s where you really learn how to ride a motorcycle, and you really learn where the limits are, and it just gives you so much more confidence on the street.”

He also mentioned the Royal Enfield “Build. Train. Race.” program, which is exclusively for women.

For Chloe, both ideas sound fun, but when it comes down to it, what she really wants to do for now will be familiar to most of us.

“I just want to focus on riding.” 

For more information on the “Motorcycle Saves Lives” Kawasaki W800 Cafe, including specs and build details, or Familial Hypercholesterolemia, visit the Family Heart Foundation website.

The post A Father, A Daughter, and a Custom Kawasaki W800 Cafe That Saves Lives appeared first on Rider Magazine.

Source: RiderMagazine.com

2020 Kawasaki W800 Street and Cafe Review | Motorcycle Tests

Kawasaki W800 World Launch

Motorcycle Test by Adam Child ‘Chad’ – Images by CAPS


Kawasaki’s new W800 Street and Café deliver bags of character and soul, something that’s regularly missed by Japanese manufacturers. We travelled to Japan to test Kawasaki’s new heritage range, which can trace its routes back to the W1 650 of 1965.

The old W800 was loved by many. It was simple and straightforward, which appealed to a generation who remember when bikes had kick-starts. Equally a younger audience enjoyed personalising and modifying the W800 and the older W650.

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan DSC

The W800 enjoys a reputation as a characterful refined machine, as well as a platform for modifications

However, the discontinued now ‘old’ W800 was in desperate need of an upgrade, and no longer conformed to tighter Euro-4 legislation. From 2019 Kawasaki have delivered an all-new W800 and there are two variants to choose from, the laid back Street and the racier Café. Although both bikes may appear almost the same as the old model, they are entirely new.

Thankfully Kawasaki haven’t wondered too far from the path of the successful W800, and older W650. In a country led by technology where toilet seats are automatically warmed, they haven’t been tempted to chase horsepower, nor over-complicate a proven recipe. Kawasaki have kept it simple as a retro bike should be.

The 783cc powerplant remains air-cooled and retains the unique bevel gear driven cam, which Kawasaki admit is for cosmetic reason only. They could have opted for water-cooling and even conventional chain driven cams, which would have resulted in more power, but instead have kept with traditional air-cooling.

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan

The W800 remains air-cooled, and pumps out 35 kW at 6500 rpm

Internally the engine has been upgraded with new pistons, but essentially it’s the same, with a quoted 47 bhp at 6000 rpm which means the new W800 is still A2 compliant.

The steel double cradle chassis is all-new and thicker to improve stiffness. The brakes have received a significant upgrade, the rear shoe brake has been replaced with a more modern disc item, and the front also sees an increase in the single disc diameter, up from 300 mm to 320 mm.

The most significant change to affect the handling is the change in front wheel size, the older 19 in front has been replaced with a 18 in front, matching the rear. The non-adjustable fork has also increased in diameter, up from 39 mm to 41 mm. Kawasaki have tweaked the handing characteristics to improve the responsiveness of the steering, to give the W800 a sportier edge.

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan

The front wheel is also now an 18-inch item, with a larger 320 mm rotor

Cosmetically it’s all new. The Japanese built W800 has some lovely detail touches. I love the fact they’ve stayed with the bevel gear drive cams – they’ve gone to that extra effort. The air-cooled engine is a thing of beauty.

The twin swept back exhausts appear to have been stolen from the original Kawasaki 650W, which was launched in 1965 – the first mass production large capacity four-stroke to leave Japan. Everywhere you look there are nice little detail touches, the metal flakes in the metallic paintwork, the ‘old school’ switch gear looks like it’s been taken directly from the ’70s. The seat couldn’t be anymore retro, with the Kawasaki logo printed on the rear.

In Japan on the exclusive product launch, Kawasaki cleverly had an original 1965 W1 on display, which clearly highlighted the similarities between the original and new bike. The family resemblance was obvious.

They both looked like they been produced by the same man, in the same era, only the modern-day bike disc brakes hinted at the new bikes true age. On looks alone Kawasaki need to be applauded. Over the years Japanese manufactures have attempted to build in character and induce some soul but fall short – not this time.

Kawasaki W Street Cafe Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Street Cafe Review Japan DSC

The W800 Cafe (left) and W800 Street (right)

There are two variants to choose from, the Street or the pricier Café. Both share the same basic platform, identical engine, performance, chassis and brakes. The Street is easily identifiable with laid back bars, wide retro seat, chrome spoked rims and small details changes, like a black only bevel cover. The Café comes with racy drop bars, black wheels and engine, plus side tank pads, chrome bevel cover and obviously the front cowl.

Choosing which bike to ride first was the hardest decision of my two-day road test. After a flip of a coin I headed for the laid back Street. The relatively low seat (770 mm) makes the W800 as intimidating as Morris Dancing. I’m 5’7 and was securely flat-footed, while some of the shorter Japanese test riders at even 5’2 didn’t have any issues. The laid back bars, soft seat and wide rubber pegs immediately relax the senses – let’s take it easy.

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan DSC

The W800 Street offers an unintimidating ride

The view from the retro seat is throw-back to the ’70s. I love the simplicity of the switchgear, the ornate clocks are simple with large faces, analogue rev-counter on the right and speedometer on the left. There’s also a small digital display for multiple trips and clock.

The parallel twin, with a long-stoke 360-degree crankshaft starts with a rewarding burble. The twin exhausts sound as good as they look, a blip of the soft throttle results in an authentic exhaust tone and the odd ‘pop’ on the overrun. Kawasaki admittedly spent a huge amount of resources on the exhaust tone.

Obviously it’s Euro 4 compliant, there’s a cleverly hidden cat-converter, but even so they’ve successfully created a charismatic exhaust tone.

Pulling in the one-finger-light clutch with a new back-torque limiter, a neat click into first gear and our Japanese adventure begins.

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

The W800 is also a standout for boasting strong character

Kawasaki’s new W800 is as effortless and easy ride. You can smoothly change gear at any rpm, even as low as 2000 rpm and then simply short-shift to the national speed limit. The torque is very flat, and the fuelling at low speed is soft, effortless. Once in to fifth gear – top – your left foot can become redundant, the W800 will happily pull from low rpm.

As you can image with only 47 bhp, the air-cooled long-stroke engine could never be described as quick, it’s slow revving and almost lethargic, but it perfectly matches the bikes laid-back feel. If you find yourself constantly revving the W800, then sorry you’ve bought the wrong bike, this is laid back cruising at it’s best.

Cogging back one gear will result in a punch in power.  Peak torque is at 4800 rpm but there is more than enough punch from 3000 rpm, which takes care of brisk overtakes with safety.

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan DSC

Peak torque was moved up to 4800 rpm on the updated W800

I only wanted more power when exiting slow uphill corners on many of the mountain passes we encountered. The air-cooled donk was more than enough for 90 per cent of the time, squeezing out an indicated 100 mph without too many woes, in fact the punch from 70-80 mph was more than I expected from an A2 licence legal bike.

The handling like the engine is easy, simple and lazy. Kawasaki have quickened the steering over the predecessor, with a smaller front wheel, but you could never describe the W800 as sharp. The wide bars allow you to have some fun in the twisties, you can throw it around with relative ease, but when the foot-pegs start scraping you know you’re having a little too much fun.

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan

Wide ‘bars offer plenty of leverage on the W800 Street

Even when the pegs start to leave trails of sparks, the handling is natural, it doesn’t feel like you’re at the limitations of the W800’s handling. The new suspension is softly sprung, but still has reasonable control and damping. Some roads in Japan were poor in places but the new W800 took imperfections without jolts and jarring, the ride is smooth.

When you ask a little too much of the new ABS assisted brakes, the front forks travel a little more than I’d like, but they don’t dive to the ground like a scared toddler after a car backfires. With a full four-fingered approach the stoppers have some rewarding bite, and the rear disc brake is a big step from the old shoe item.

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan DSC

W800 Street


The W800 Café

Despite sharing many similarities with the Street, the Café feels like a very different bike. The seat is taller by 20 mm and firmer. Despite being higher it’s still easy to get two feet securely onto the road, as it’s much narrower than the Streets wider and more comfortable seat.

The Café racer bars dramatically alter your body position, you’re now perched further forward with more weight on your wrists. It’s not as natural as the Street, a tad uncompromising around town, but not uncomfortable.

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

The W800 Cafe offers relatively minor differences for a very different feel and ergo

On the open road the Café feels more alive. The aggressive almost racy riding position encourages you to ride a little quicker, hold the revs a little longer and is accompanied by the same charismatic exhaust tone. Once into the mountain region of Kirigamine I preferred the racy Café, despite having the same engine and chassis I was riding a little faster, a little to the annoyance of the Japanese locals who strictly stuck to the speed limit despite being in the middle of nowhere.

But the Café style does come with compromises. The short narrow bars slows down the steering as you simply don’t have the leverage the wide bars give you to throw it into a corner. At high speed it doesn’t feel as stable at the Street, and furthermore as you have more weight over the front, the forks don’t feel as plush, but this may also have been a result of the increased speed.

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

In the mountain region of Kirigamine I preferred the racy Café

Despite moving the riders’ weight further forward Kawasaki didn’t change the suspension set up between the Café and the Street. And personally, I’d prefer the standard pegs to be further back, racier but not simply the same as the Street.

Of course, arguably the Café is a styling exercise, and hasn’t been led by performance or handing and in terms of appeal and look, the Café hits the nail on the head. The front cowl is a throwback to the café racer culture, but is more for show than any real wind protection.

Personally, I prefer the looks of the Café over the Street, and on day one I did favour the feel of the racer. But after two days and over 300 km of relatively steady Japanese riding, I favoured the Street.

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W800 Cafe

For me the lazy easy handling matches the laid back stance and ride of the Street, it’s the perfect match. And after riding the original 1965 W800 W1, which Kawasaki dragged out of their museum specifically for this event, the new W800 is very much like the original, but with modern technology, better brakes and rideability.

For a short blast to the coast or favourite biker hangout, I’d favour Café, but after two day of touring, I’d choose the Street. And yes, I did say touring. The comfort at legal speeds is exceptional, the ride quality is impressive, I’d certainly take on some serious miles on the Street. This latest model even comes with a larger fuel tank.

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

Of the two, I’d pick the Kawasaki W800 Street

We took on all types of roads and weather, the standard Dunlop K300 surprisingly coping with all conditions. There’s even an optional rear rack and heated grips. At high speeds it’s a little vibey, mainly through the rubber pegs and there’s no economy, range/distance to empty measurement or even a gear position indicator, but otherwise it’s a hard bike to fault.

If you’re looking for a retro easy-to-ride middle-weight machine the market is flooded with attractive choices. Moto Guzzi’s A2 air-cooled V7 is the obvious competition. You could even throw in Harley’s air-cooled 883, Triumph’s water-cooled more powerful Street Twin or Enfield’s new 650 twin, and this is where the Kawasaki stumbles a little as it’s one of the more expensive of the wide selection of middle-weight retro machines.

The W800 Street is available for $12,999 RRP + ORC, while the W800 Cafe is available for $13,999 RRP + ORC. The Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 starts at $9,790 Ride-Away and the Continental GT 650 starts at $9,990 Ride-Away. The Moto Guzzi V7 III Stone in comparison was $14,390 Ride-Away in 2019.

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

There’s also plenty of competition for the W800, with price being an area some competitors compare strongly

In Kawasaki’s defence, you can see where the money has been spent. The bevel gear driven cam engine, with it’s wide cooling fins is lovely looking, with perfect fuelling. The exhaust has a charismatic tone, the detailing is lovely, the Japanese made Kawasaki feels quality, which arguably justifies the increase in price over the competition.


The W800 Verdict

With over 20-years of professionally testing bikes under my belt, I’ve lost count of the amount of Japanese retro, or cruiser bikes which ride perfectly and look great, but lack character and soul. They simply can’t match the character and soul of similar bikes made in Europe or America. However, the new W800 Street and Café, re-sets that balance. They both have genuine soul, especially the Street which can trace its DNA back to the original W1 from 1965.

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Street Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W800 Street

Bikes in the class shouldn’t be evaluated on performance, or handling – it’s how it makes you feel; do you feel pride in ownership, does it make you smile every time you open the garage door? Every time I rode the new W800 I smiled, even on day three I wasn’t bored of the easy-to-ride Kawasaki.

Grab your open face helmet, leather jacket, protective jeans and take the W800 for a test ride. Don’t go chasing the revs and performance, relax, turn off your phone and life worries, just enjoy the simplicity and charm the W800 delivers.

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W Cafe Review Japan DSC

Kawasaki W800 Cafe


Kawasaki W800 Specifications

Source: MCNews.com.au