It wasn’t a bike to inspire a generation, but nor was it meant to be. It was firmly aimed at people looking for a forgiving machine that could do what you wanted it to do. It was built right down to a cost in Thailand and despite its budgetary restraints it had some nice features.
It had an under-slung exhaust to lower the weight and centralise mass, and this came at a time when such things were still quite a novelty. With the bulk of a catalytic converter now being a significant lump of the bike’s overall weight then hanging it under the bike was certainly an advantage. It had wavy brake-disks as standard, because people thought they were cool, and it had a rear-shock mounting position that gave you something interesting to look at.
The ER6 is no sportbike, even if it looks like one to a new rider. It has power, and enough of it to make the bike really quite fun to ride, but it doesn’t have the explosive impatience of modern sportsters.
Acceleration is brisk, even if you have to rev the engine quite hard to wring any performance out of it. Once you do crank on the throttle, the bike rewards you by pulling reasonably hard, and hard enough for the target audience. The sound the engine makes is musical, even through the strangulation of the catalytic converter. The only irritation is that it doesn’t deliver instant power, especially from a standstill, you have to rev quite a bit to get enough enthusiasm to get the thing rolling away. It’s not a problem, it just isn’t what you would expect from a parallel twin.
Handling is where the budget really shows itself up. The suspension handles lumps and bumps, it lets you dive into corners and doesn’t wallow or bog itself down. Still, for all it does manage to do, it does none of it well. It feels cheap and never really inspires confidence. It’s good enough to get the job done, but absolutely no better, and if you’re even slightly more skilled than a new rider, or looking for just a little more from the bike then it isn’t really enough.
Ergonomics is where the bike really shines. It’s all just so very easy, so happy and so utterly friendly. It’s a bike you could cheat on. It’s a bike where you could have a race-bike for trackdays right next to it one side and an enduro for the lanes on the other. It would still smile happily with a slightly dazed look on its face and just be thrilled that you still ride it once in a while. It’s a doormat of a bike that you can wipe your dirty boots on and it will still love you while you do it.
The seating position is easy, it might look sporty and it might even feel quite fun around town but underneath it all, it’s just an everyday commuter that’s as easy to get on with as the overweight kid at school who is just happy someone is talking to him. The bars are wide, off-road style things and although they look cheap, they work well and give you great leverage in corners. The steering lock is very wide as well, almost offering as much low-speed manoeuvrability as an enduro but staying sure-footed while it does it.
It’s a light bike, by modern standards, and small enough to accommodate a variety of riders. A confident woman rider would easily feel right at home here, a man of smaller stature or someone who doesn’t feel ready, willing or able to tackle anything larger would all be fine. This bike is accessible to anyone who is willing to give it a try. If you can sit on it, you can ride it.
Kawasaki have done a great job of keeping them looking modern but that’s one thing it really isn’t. It’s an old-fashioned steel frame, an engine with a heritage that dates back decades and a level of electronic sophistication that’s roughly the same as the Indian space-program. There’s nothing wrong with any of that, of course, and it just explains why these things keep on going and managed to stay popular in a hotly contended area of the market.
The ER6 is a good all-rounder but fit and finish could be better. Welding on the frame can be a little suspect and the overall finish isn’t the best. It’s got wavy brake-disks and other neat features but they’re factory-made items that just look slightly second-rate. Similarly the rear shock is exposed out on the side but it’s an inferior piece of kit when you look closely at it.
But it’s not about quality, it’s about getting the job done on a lower end of the budget. It’s a bike that has limitations that are easy to forgive since it manages to do so much for so little.
It’s everything you need in a motorcycle and a platform that’s highly adaptable. They make a version that pretends to be a sports-bike, a naked roadster, an adventure bike and even a cruiser too. It just goes to show how versatile the setup is.