OF the Japanese manufacturers, Kawasaki is something of an oddity. While others bolster their ranges with scores of scooters and 125cc learner bikes, Kawasaki has little to offer learners or commuters and instead focusses on the big-bike end of the market.
But which of its bikes does best? Is the ZX-10R reaping the rewards of its WSB title? Are little machines like the Ninja 300 proving to be big sellers? We’ve scoured the latest official Government registration figures for the first half of 2015 to find out exactly which models are selling and which aren’t.
And there are a couple of surprises here, not least in terms of the strong demand for non-ABS versions of bikes that can also be had with anti-lock brakes. Since we’re approaching the last year when it will be legal for manufacturers to offer big bikes without anti-lock, that the price of ABS is coming down and that the systems’ effectiveness is constantly improving, it’s an eye-opener to see how many people still, given the choice, opt to avoid it.
Oh, and you’ll notice the ZX-10R is missing. That seems to be down to the breakdown of special versions, ABS and non-ABS models etc. All combined, there are something over 200 ZX-10R registrations so far this year, enough for a top-three position in this list, but the highest individual version – as specified on its reg document, which is how this list is broken down – has only 72 registrations between January and June 2015, so doesn’t quite make it.
This list breaks it down pretty clearly.
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the H2 doesn’t make the top 10. It’s closer to it than you might have imagined, though, coming in as Kawasaki’s 19th best seller, with 52 registrations in the first 6 months of the year. Of course, track-only H2Rs can’t be registered, and it’s likely that a number of H2s have also gone unregistered to speculators hoping their value will increase.
10. EX650 FFF ABS (90 registrations, Jan-June 2015)
“EX 650 FFF” is the name you’ll find on the registration document of a 2015 Kawasaki ER-6f with ABS, and as you can see, only 90 people have opted for one in the first half of the year. That’s still enough to grab it 10th place on the list of Kawasaki best-sellers, though. But read on to see how many more people have ridden away on the same bike, minus anti-lock brakes…
