Keeping in line with the current trend of small capacity dual-purpose adventure motorcycles, Kawasaki too is working on a 250cc variant of the Versys and might soon launch it in Indonesia.
It should not be a far-fetched idea too as Kawasaki already has a 250cc engine with the Ninja. The platform is there as well in the Z250. The Versys 250 should carry the same looks and design as its elder siblings, the Versys 650 and the Versys 1000. A taller fairing, a windscreen, and a slightly higher ride height should do the trick. The cycle parts should remain the same as that of the Z250. The engine too in all probability will be the same as the one on the Z250, a 249cc liquid-cooled parallel twin engine that makes 30bhp of peak power and 21Nm of torque or thereabouts. The state of tune might be different though, with top-end performance being sacrificed for grunt lower down the rev-range. The engine comes mated to a 6-speed transmission. The equipment level too should be similar to the Z250, which leads us to believe that ABS will be standard.
What a time to be alive this is, for motorcycle enthusiasts! Less than a year ago, the words adventure touring motorcycles were used to refer to big brawny motorcycles which ride high, have big displacement engines, lot of technology, equipment, chunky tyres and cost a bomb too. With the advent of the Royal Enfield Himalayan, a whole new motorcycle segment opened up. That of the small-sized ADV motorcycles! Why does an adventure motorcycle have to big? Why cannot the same idea be implemented to motorcycles of 300-600cc displacement? We will soon see the answer to that question in the form of the BMW G 310 GS, the KTM 390 Adventure and now the Kawasaki Versys 250.
Will Kawasaki unveil this motorcycle at EICMA? We do not know, but what we know is that the next year is going to be really, really exciting for all people who are looking to buy a small capacity adventure touring motorcycle.
