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I completed the MSF course and am looking for a bike. I am thinking about a used Kawasaki vulcan 750. I could not find any information online regarding horsepower/torque for this bike. Is this an appropriate bike for a beginner?

Yeah, it's a good bike for a beginner. the bike makes about 45hp, 48 ft-lb torque. Remember though, even a 250 can get anyone in to trouble if they aren't careful - congrats on completing the MSFBRC and have fun with your new ride!!

Kawasaki and suzuki both are a pain about publishing horsepower horsepower numbers ...

Thanks for the information. Picked up my bike this morning and took it for my first ride. Sweet! I was tempted to get a much smaller bike (250cc), but after one ride I am glad I went with the larger bike...

Congrats, Vulcans are cool.

Vulcans are cool! Do lots of practice with the MSF skills you learned - you'll want to get used to this larger bike, especially at slow speeds. Enjoy and ride safe!

Cheers,
Loonette

TechBMW wrote:Yeah, it's a good bike for a beginner. the bike makes about 45hp, 48 ft-lb torque. Remember though, even a 250 can get anyone in to trouble if they aren't careful - congrats on completing the MSFBRC and have fun with your new ride!!

Kawasaki and suzuki both are a pain about publishing horsepower horsepower numbers ...

Bikez.com shows the 750 with 60 Hp (1994) and 65 hp (1989). The torque specs were similar. This seems reasonable since the en 500 makes 48-50 hp, depending on who you ask . Magazine editors really like the old vulcan 750, seeming to almost prefer it to the newer 800, because of the shaft drive. Evidently it really gets up and goes, too. I think it was Motorcyclecruiser magazine that tested the mid-size cruisers, and couldn't keep from commenting on the 750, even though it wasn't at the test! I'm pretty sure that test comparo is still on their website. It's a good bike, no doubt.

The 500 is a parallel twin tuned for more power than the v-twin cruiser.

I think Bikez.com has its specs wrong. Here's Kawi literature listing the bike's peak torque at 47.7 ft-lb

https://www.k-dealer.com/Site/SASales/p ... 50a21s.pdf

I dunno - that's for a 2005 model - it's possible they dumbed down the model.

Sidenote - I used to be at a place that has a superflow dyno, and we tested a bunch of new motorcycles out of the box for the heck of it over the course of a year. What we found was that the Hondas and Yamahas had the least derivation between same models in terms of power. (Yamahas at 1% derivation were slightly better than honda's 2% in results). Suzukis came in at about 5% derivation between bikes of the same model and year, and Kawis had about a 7% derivation between the same model. I don't know why this is, but i bet it's why suzuki and kawi hesitate when publishing power figures.

Our little 'study' was unofficial too and there are plenty of reasons why we got our results the way we did. (Suzukis and Kawis are put together at the dealership - Hondas and Yamaha's ship almost completely together. which may have alot to do with it) Who knows ..

Good point. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Do you remember if the 750 has self-adjusting hydraulic lifters? Seems like it does..that would be a selling point!

Yep, the mid 80's design Vulcan 750 has hydraulic lash adjusters and shaft drive. It also has cast wheels with tubeless tires, centerstand, and fuel and temp guages. Sadly, of all the current mid size metric cruisers only the VN750 and the Suzuki M50 offer tubless tires.

The mid 80's design Vulcan 750 and Intruder 800 (S50 now) are the best performers of all the mid size cruisers with the Intruder being the faster of the two, especially in top gear roll-ons.

Have always said I would never again buy a bike without a centerstand and tubless tires or with shim under bucket valve adjustment. Do all my own maintenance and just can't see tearing an engine down just to tune it up.

In this land of loud chrome plated cruisers and plastic coated sport bikes there is almost nothing left of a pratical nature on the motorcycle market. Image rules all here.

If you like the rather outdated Vulcan 750 styling, grab one while you can.

I have had this bike for almost 2 weeks now and am having some serious fun. All I want to do is ride. I have put over 1600 miles on the bike so far. Dropped it for the first time this morning as I was sitting on it getting ready to go for a ride. Hard to explain, but it just sort of fell over, but I was able to "catch" it and lay it down gently - not a scratch on it...

Thanks again for all the help...