It’s a half-century for the Z! Kawasaki India has launched the Z650RS 50th Anniversary edition priced at Rs 6.79 lakh (ex-showroom). Taking inspiration from the original Z1 from the 1970s, Kawasaki chose the ‘Fireball’ colourway for the Z650RS 50th Anniversary and features cool, golden-coloured alloy wheels. Other changes include a different seat with a textured leather cover, a chrome grab rail for the pillion and sports the ‘Z50th’ badge on the tank. Since this is just a cosmetic change, the rest of the things remain unchanged for the Z650RS.
The Z650RS has a steel trellis frame identical to the Z650 but with a modified subframe for a flatter seat that sits at 800 mm tall, and has a fuel tank capacity of 12 litres. Moreover, the motorcycle tips the weighing scale at 192 kg. As far as the equipment is concerned, it gets a non-adjustable 41-mm fork and a preload-adjustable horizontal back-link rear shock for the suspension, while the brakes are modest two-piston callipers with 320-mm discs up front and a single-piston 300-mm disc in the back.
Powering the Z650RS is the same 650cc parallel-twin engine that powers the Z650, Ninja 650, Versys 650 and Vulcan S. It produces 67 bhp at 8000 rpm and 6.5 kgm of torque at 6700 rpm. Only 20 units will be available in India, so you better decide fast whether it’s worth shelling out Rs 7,000 more than the standard Z650RS. If you ask us, we’d certainly go for the Z650 RS 50th Anniversary edition.
