Kawasaki Eliminator Debuts For US, Canada

Kawasaki has officially confirmed its new lightweight cruiser for both the US and Canadian markets. The Kawasaki Eliminator should be here in coming weeks, with a design very much influenced by Team Green's sportbikes.

Starting with the engine, this liquid-cooled parallel twin powerplant is based on the Ninja 400. With 451cc capacity, we do expect a bit more power, but it's worth noting Kawasaki's press release emphasizes the machine's torque. Perhaps the 44ish hp of the Ninja 400 is roughly the same on this bike, but the 27 lb-ft of torque is probably increased on the Eliminator.

Of course, a six-speed gearbox and slipper/assist clutch is standard, same as the 400 twins.

The Eliminator will compete directly with the Rebel 500 cruiser from Honda. Photo: Kawasaki

There's an 18-inch front wheel, and 16-inch rear. Seat height is a low 28.9 inches. There is only a single front brake disc (310mm) and a single rear disc as well, of course (240mm). Taking all that into consideration, Kawasaki says the trellis frame draws influence from the Ninja's chassis, but we wouldn't expect sportbike handling, even with the swingarm bolted directly to the engine case like a modern superbike. Curb weight is 388 pounds, though, so it should steer nicely enough, especially with that wide handlebar.

To help things along, Kawi designed the bike with a fairly upright riding position, with mid-mount pegs. There are low and high accessory seats available, to help you dial in the fit better. Taking a look at Kawi's diagram below, you can see the seating position isn't far off the Z400, although you can expect the suspension performance (dual rear shocks, telescopic fork) to be much reduced. And, remember that even a slight change in your body's balance points can make a big difference in comfort, particularly on a bad road.

Image: Kawasaki

LED headlight and taillight come standard, and an all-digital LCD dash. Riders can connect to that dash via the Rideology app, from Kawasaki, to get updates on maintenance schedules, display incoming call details or other info.

In the US, the Eliminator is available without ABS in white or gray for $6,649. With ABS, your choice is white paint or black, for $6,949. The Eliminator SE, with headlight cowling, USB power socket and other upgrades costs $7,249, coming in orange/black. In Canada, riders only have a choice of ABS model in white or black, at $8,199 MSRP. Another $300 CAD will get you the SE model.

Nobody is buying this to do the same things that most people do with a KLX300. The Kawasaki Eliminator will offer a bumpy ride on back roads. It's a cruiser, not a dual sport or adventure bike.

And yet, this bike will most certainly launch thousands of riders down a career that leads them to adventures, many of them on adventure bikes. It will offer the same gateway drug experience that the old small-cc cruisers of the 1980s gave us. And for riders doing fly-and-buys in overseas markets? I expect to see these Eliminators showing up in Ride Reports from other continents pretty soon. You can ride around the world on paved roads, and this machine could be a pretty fun way to see Southeast Asia.