Rewind to sometime in July 2012. I was in Indonesia and on impulse walked into a Kawasaki showroom. Standing there in all her green glory was the 2012 Ninja 650. Don't believe in love at first sight/ride? Well, I dint either. That was until that fateful day when I parked my backside on her saddle.
Came back to India in August and started bombarding the Dehradun Probiking showroom manager with repeated reminders about letting me know about the booking date. The official launch came and went and my patience grew into obsession and beyond. Finally told the manager that I am coming to Dehradun and if he dosent take my booking in the three days that I am home then it wont happen until my next visit in September. As luck would have it, on 16th of August I went to the showroom and got the news that I can book the bike. Put down 50,000 hard earned Gandhijis there and then and went home a happy man. I was given a written commitment of 10 days delivery period by the manager.
Come August 29th and the bike was at the showroom. On 31st, I cleared the payment (Rs 5.15 lakhs OTR) and got her unpacked and ready for registration. The RTO process got botched up and delayed due to the strike by the employees over a reservation issue. Bah! Better I dont get into those details.
Anyways. Today I went and finally got my Goblin home. Rode her for some 50 odd kms thanks to my mother's insistence that the pooja be done at a mandir which is on the city's outskirts (she forgot to mention the maniac rush at the place). Well, my first impressions are as follows:
LOOKS: Ok. She is BIG. And i mean big and bulky. Pics do not do any justice to her street presence and trust me when I say that to me she seems bulkier than a GSX600R in visual mass. Good thing in my books. Infact my P220 looks downright puny in her presence (the 220 looked decent when seen along with the 250s). The green looks beautiful on her. I wouldnt want her in any other colour. The fit and finish is top notch with everything perfectly and solidly put together. Pure Japanese precision. The front twin lamps, the rear LEDs, the beefy rubber and the huge bulk of the machine is pure crowed magnet. Everyone just wanted to come close to her and inspect her. And ofcourse the 'kitna deti hai' was omnipresent. People were shocked out of their bodies when they heard the price. The supposed mileage of 20+ helped calm their souls down a bit though. A lot of random unclejis and aunties also gave me gyaan on how I should have bought a car instead in this much money.
RIDE AND HANDLING: Did not get much chance to push her on the ghats thanks to the running in needs but she is sure as a locomotive when leaned in. Mid corner corrections are spot on and easy though her bulk prevents her from being as agile as a supersport in the corners. But I am not Rossi and I am not complaining. For my limited skill set she is MORE than enough. And those who said that you cannot put your knee down on her, well, eat your hearts out. I touched my knee guard twice today and that too when I wasnt trying to do so. She is very very comfortable for the pillion and my mother found is much more comfy than my 220. As for handling, she is quite nimble in the city traffic and the ergonomics are from another level altogether. She is just pure comfort for the rider. I have never been more comfortable on a bike before. Not even on a T-Bird or a Bullet. Easily the most comfortable bike to do a saddle-sore on ! (Yes, yes its on the cards)
PERFORMANCE: With 72 PS and 650 cc twin dare I expect anything less. I never crossed the 5k rpm limit and was sedate mostly throughout. But at times when I did open her up very slightly to overtake traffic, she scared the socks off me. I kid you not, she is incredibly powerful for her sports tourer credentials. Infact, after reading the automag reviews, I expected her to be a docile big cat. But boy, can this one growl. Cant wait to finish the run-in and open her up nicely. And the exhaust sounds very very mild but throaty at low revs but the growl intensifies beautifully when u give her the stick. Not mozart of the inline 4 kinds but more like Guetta for those who care for that genre. Roll-ons are fantastic and the gearing is just spot on. You can putter around in the city all day in 3rd without a bother. Braking though assuring is not in the same league as the N250. The front has very sad feedback though the braking power is quite capable. The rear is fussfree but low feedback again. Maybe a change to EBC pads will help.
MISC: The white backlit meters are quite cool and im still figuring my way around the options.
You will get lots of 'Light chalu hai' signs from people on the road.
You will get lots of wannabe racers on the road who will want you to rev the bike or race with them. For their sake, please ignore.
The saree guard makes good bar-be-que grill. Do not waste it.
The engine got quite hot during my city traffic battles. Quite normal and nothing to panic about. Avoid rush hours on her if you dont want tandoori legs. Fan is extremely quiet and one has to strain to hear it. Good !
The gear shift lever is positioned a bit far from the footpeg even for my size 44 shoe. Needs a bit of movement of the foot to shift. Not cool!
She cannot be left alone in any public place without adult supervision. Pesky people want to touch her and fiddle around. Gggrrr !!
Headlight beam is average in intensity and better bulbs are on my list.
DO NOT underestimate her. I whacked the throttle open in 2nd gear and off she went pointing to the stars with the front wheel.
Have already bought frame sliders, tank pad and disc brake alarm lock for her. Should be on her pretty soon.
Finally a BIG BIG thank you to Mayank Sharma, Probiking manager for Dehradun who went out of his way to make my buying experience completely blissful and tension-free. Honestly, I have never seen or heard of customer service of this level. This guy was god sent for every issue I had. Hats off mate! You are a boon to your company. When I buy a bike again, I might just buy from him for his sheer customer service commitment. It was THAT good.
Will update this thread along the way. Hope to see a lot more N650 ownership threads popping up soon. Cheers !