Not every day an email pops up, which makes you realise the amount of fun you will have over the weekend. This happened to me last week, when India Kawasaki Motors asked me to pick up their new bike, the Z250 from their factory in Akurdi. I was excited, very excited! The reason was the inclusion of the alphabet “Z”, which recently has found home in the Indian super bike segment. I am talking about the famed “Z” series motorcycles from Kawasaki. In a matter of 12 months, India Kawasaki Motors launched two highly successful motorcycles – the Z1000 and the Z800. When we reviewed it, we came out very impressed and that had set the tone for the Z250 review, which is based on the bigger “Z” motorcycles.
The quarter-litre motorcycle segment in India is an exciting one. The growth rate is high, so is the profitability. Kawasaki was the early “serious” entrant who stormed the market in 2008 with the Ninja 250R – India’s first parallel-twin fully-faired sports bike. While many other manufacturers followed the segment, Kawasaki discontinued the Ninja 250R in 2013 to make way for the Ninja 300. But with the quarter-litre segment continuing to show tremendous growth, India Kawasaki Motors decided to bring a 250cc motorcycle back, but this time in a streetfighter avataar – the Z250. Let’s find out if the Kawasaki Z250 follows in the footsteps of the Ninja 250R and makes a difference in the Indian market.