Kawasaki has teased a new four-cylinder tall and upright sport tourer on its UK social media handle, which we expect is to be the new Versys 900. The presence of a windscreen resembling the one on the Versys 650 and 1100 models and an inline-four cylinder soundtrack both reinforce our claim.
- 4-cyl motor sounds unstressed, not peaky and high-revving
- Bike shown tackling varied road conditions in teaser
- It has a tall adjustable windscreen, like 1100 and 650 Versys models
Will a new Z900-based model supplement the Versys range soon?
There are quite a few signs in the teaser which point to this fact
There are some primary points to pay attention to on the teaser shared by Kawasaki UK. Firstly, the four-cylinder soundtrack immediately reminds one of the smooth and refined hum of the unstressed, torque-rich, big-bore 948cc four-pot motor on the Z900 complete with the exhaust pops as if a bidirectional quickshifter (a feature on the latest-gen Z900) is being used to shift between gears. Second, what looks like an adjustable windscreen shown at the end of the teaser (pictured in the lead image) is very similiar in style to that of a tall rounder motorcycle like the Versys range. Another indication that this is going to be a road-biased machine is that while different road conditions are shown, never once does the bike in question leave the tarmac – another Kawasaki Versys hallmark.
Last but not least, the motorcycle in question is shown tackling different sorts of roads including wide and fast sweeping corners, a tight and slightly bumpy surfaced road as well as a tunnel on a highway – all factors pointing to this bike being geared toward handling long-distance travel comfortably.
Then there is also the fact that many reputed international publications had pictured a fully production-ready – but partially obscured by a cover – Versys model – which was presumably out on an advertisement/promo shoot – with a four-cylinder engine some months ago. Given that shoehorning a supersport-derived engine from its own lineup (like the ones on the ZX-4R, 6R or 10R) wouldn’t suit the sport touring nature of a Kawasaki Versys model, this automatically leaves only the Z900’s four-cylinder engine to be used on this machine.
Some other factors which would lend more credence to our claim of this being a Versys 900 are that the middleweight tall-rounder segment has grown quite large internationally with entrants from big marques like Yamaha, Triumph, Ducati, BMW and Moto Guzzi fielding at least 1 contender in this burgeoning class. Against these bikes, the Versys 650 is far too simple and slow while the Versys 1100 is a bit too heavy and big, making a 900 the perfect option to plug this gap. Kawasaki hasn’t officially confirmed any of this and this model will be revealed on October 10.
