It’s been a while since Kawasaki made some noise in India, having shown an aggressive streak a few months ago with several big bike launches coming back-to-back including the Z800 and Z1000. Kawasaki is now confirmed to be on the verge of launching two new naked streetbikes in India, the Z250 and ER-6n days from now, on October 16^th.

The Kawasaki Z250 is a high quality, neatly styled naked motorcycle that shares styling cues with elder sibling, the Z800. The Z250 is powered by a 249cc, four-stroke, liquid-cooled and parallel twin-cylinder engine. The Japanese quarter-litre sportbike comes to India with fuel-injection, producing close to 33bhp. Kawasaki has scheduled this launch at just the right time, with DSK Motowheels and Italian bike maker Benelli also soon to bring India a new generation twin-cylinder 300cc bike, the BN302, as well as in-line 4 cylinder engine powered 600cc sportsbikes, apart from which the new Kawasaki’s face few competent rivals.

Kawasaki’s ER-6n is a funky looking, really high quality motorcycle, the naked variant of the Ninja 650, already popular and top of its class in India. The ER-6n derives powered from the same engine as on the Ninja 650, a parallel twin-cylinder, 649cc, four-stroke, liquid-cooled and fuel-injected unit. The naked parallel twin engine on the ER-6n produces 71.1bhp at 8,500rpm, with peak torque output being 6.5kgm at 7,000rpm. The ER-6n will make a stylish, quick and practical motorcycle on Indian roads.

Rayomand Darius with Rishad Cooper