[ranjitnair77]

Originally Posted by GoBlue

There is hardly anything extraordinary about this bike for this pricing to be justified.

I was fortunate to closely examine and ride a Z900RS in the US. It's not about the spec sheet but how this bike looks and feels.

It is an utterly gorgeous motorcycle, perhaps the best looking bike going around, especially in the Cafe Racer and SE guise. The design and the fit and finish is top notch. She rides beautifully with a lot of poise and balance. The I4 sounds amazing when you open the throttle. This is a timeless bike that will still turn heads 20 years on.

The price is bonkers, though. I'm surprised that Kawasaki is not assembling these locally and getting the price down to slightly higher than the Z900. They've already done that with the Z650 RS. If they manage that, a lot of potential Bonneville owners will beat Kawasaki's door down.

[GoBlue]

Originally Posted by ranjitnair77

I was fortunate to closely examine and ride a Z900RS in the US. It's not about the spec sheet but how this bike looks and feels.

Well. As long as utterly gorgeous costs 12-13L OTR, it should be palatable

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by bf1983

Overdrive made a mistake.

The website is updated, wonder if Kawasaki has any leftovers from the past at rebates

https://kawasaki-india.com/bikes/z900rs/#specifications

Also, will be interesting to know what's the rationale in launching such products that are not even sold in double digits. Free media publicity or? Will be a big problem for the stores/ spares guys. To create and manage so many part numbers on the Indian server even if copied from elsewhere. Can only feel for the owners of such examples, how much time do they have to wait for regular parts and god forbid if any body parts or major components are to be changed?

I did check this in person when I was shopping for one in Canada for my Son and this indeed looks gorgeous. Reminded me of the old days of 350. I think if we use inflation both on money and capabilities of this, it's pretty close to the price of that iconic Yamaha. In the relatively small city of Edmonton, where the riding season itself is very short, there were at least 4-5 of these on the floor at the dealership and priced at around 15000 CAD. Whereas 850 GS was at least 3-5 K more depending on the loadings. It's completely the opposite here though. So definitely not a fair price by the manufacturer.

[bf1983]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Also, will be interesting to know what's the rationale in launching such products that are not even sold in double digits. Free media publicity or? Will be a big problem for the stores/ spares guys.

This is a new model and the previous one launched in India was a Euro 4 model. I think Kawasaki are just trying to keep a large portfolio of bikes in India even though they might hardly sell. They sell the extremely expensive KLX 110 which isn't even road legal in India so they might import 5 units of the Z900 RS or so for the Indian market.

The Z900 RS shares a lot of components with the Z900 so spares is not a big issue. In areas where it does differ like the instrument console, that is same as the Z650 RS so they will have spares for that as well.

The only thing that is unique is probably the spoked wheels as there isn't another Kawasaki bike sold in India that has spoked wheels after the Versys 300 was discontinued here.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by bf1983

The only thing that is unique is probably the spoked wheels as there isn't another Kawasaki bike sold in India that has spoked wheels after the Versys 300 was discontinued here.

No spoke wheels, they are cast wheels which look like they are spokes.



Cheers

[bf1983]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

No spoke wheels, they are cast wheels which look like they are spokes.

Attachment 2429725

Cheers

Whoops ! I made a booboo. I somehow just saw the photos and assumed they were spoked wheels like on a Triumph T100 or T120. So these wheels are also shared with the Z650 RS which means less worries getting spares for the 2 - 3 people who actually buy this overpriced bike.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by bf1983

So these wheels are also shared with the Z650 RS which means less worries getting spares for the 2 - 3 people who actually buy this overpriced bike.

Don’t know if they are shared, but lovely looking bike for sure. Saw it on a ride once and spoke to the owner, he was obviously in love. I much prefer the Speed Twin (in the retro category) from Triumph in every way. An inline four is not a big deal or a must have in my book.

~19-20 lacs on road is also not worth it for me however great it looks etc etc . But I appreciate and understand that value is in the eyes of the spender and the depth of his pockets

Cheers

[ads295]

I think there's either a typo there, or the picture is wrong. I can clearly see 4 exhaust header pipes. It's an inline 4.

[RT13]

I haven’t had the opportunity to ride it, but on a walk through a random neighbourhood, I caught a flash of something from the corner of my eye. Discretely parked in the corner of an otherwise non-flashy yard was this beauty in red. It really is a looker and a true throwback to the seventies and eighties. Screams quality for sure. Unfortunately though, one always does benchmark. And the Z900RS globally is priced at a 15-20% premium over the Z900. And is ballpark benchmarked against the Speed Twin 1200. Which in India is 11.1. And which itself is a really delish ride! With the Z900 at 9, 11ish would’ve been an accurate price here. Even if not something that would set the sales charts on fire, it would still be right for people wanting a particular kind of retro-thrill experience and are willing to pay a premium for it. 16.5 is an insane 85% premium over its street sibling! It would have to sell to pure, passionate collectors who are willing to put all logic completely aside.

I was wondering why it was so insane and came across this article from 2018 which kinda made sense. The Thai FTA is what gives us the z900 at such a good price while the RS is a CBU from Japan which attracts 100% duty. So I guess that’s that. Also explains the W800s pricing I suppose.

https://bikeadvice.in/z900rs-high-price-reason/amp/#

Oh well, it is what it is. Too bad.

[doga]

It's undoubtedly a looker but at that price one'd have think long and hard about their (motorcycling) vanity!
There's something about those round headlamps and tank shape which pulls at your heartstrings. I have lusted after the gen1 and gen2 Honda hornets for so long for these traits. I almost had the 600 before I ended up getting the f4i years ago and sometimes I think what if

[GoBlue]

Having seen a Z900 RS in person, Speed Twin 1200 looks much better finish wise. Z900 RS looks coarse in certain areas.

The SE model should've been launched at these prices, that has better equipment, looks more appealing too.



People associate value for motorcycles with astonishing variance. For some who have been dreaming about this bike, this price may be trivial.

However, it seems stupid for Kawasaki to keep making this bike in JP, because it's a budget bike elsewhere in the world. There are far better finished bikes which are being CKD'd in India.

[gitartha]

Originally Posted by RT13

Well it’s been launched. And at 16.5L ex showroom, it is utterly BONKERS!!! I mean, what are Kawasaki smoking?!

Attachment 2428934

Attachment 2428935

Why is it mentioned as parallel twin when the engine is an inline 4? I expected more from a publication of the calibre of Overdrive. Maybe they wanted to say twin- parallel- twin engine

[navin_v8]

As much as I love the Kawasaki Z900 RS (owing to my lusting for the original Kawasaki Z1 of the 70's), given a chance I will still opt the Honda CB1100 for staying true to the original CB750. The Honda CB1100 comes with proper wired spoke wheels, twin shocks at the rear, chrome mudguards (call me silly, but I want chrome and more chrome on a retro classic any day), normal forks as opposed to upside down forks (for the retro looks), longer wheelbase (as I don't care much about handling on a retro classic motorcycle) on the CB1100 (which is 15mm longer than Z900 RS), etc.

Owing to these, I would pick the Honda CB1100 over the Kawasaki Z900 RS.