Some custom styles work very well, others come out as a complete mess, defining the difference between American and Japanese tastes. The EN450 is, of course, an example of the latter. It's not all bad, the watercooled vertical twin motor's reasonably tough and the thing more or less goes where it's pointed, unlike many customs. And, it's significantly cheaper than the GPZ500.
I bought my 1987 example in 1992 for only 700 sovs. I thought it was a real bargain as the condition was immaculate, the mileage a mere 8000 and the engine ran as if new. The owner had tried to off-load the Kawasaki for a whole six months, the price coming down each time he advertised. I still believe that if I wanted to sell then I could do so without incurring a loss.
A lot of my biking is in town, the cruiser riding position being a bonus rather than a liability. What a delight to swing through traffic in armchair comfort, yet on a bike that was nicely narrow and had a lot of grunt. I was never tired or stressed, even after a cross London run that had cagers eating their suits in sheer frustration.
Fuel was quite poor, though, around 45mpg, the EN needing a steady dose of 70mph cruising to improve frugality to 50mpg. Unlike some bikes, it never had a speed range where economy became excellent. Cruising at over 80mph turned in only 40mpg and I even managed 30mpg on one memorable motorway thrash.
Memorable because it involved an hour's worth of 100mph cruising with my head in the clocks and feet on the pillion pegs. When the devil drives needs must, so to say - I was late for a job interview and had to make up time somehow. Usually, discomfort stopped me going much above 80mph.
The EN450 remained pretty smooth, actually feeling better the harder the motor was revved. Pistons move up and down alternatively and a gear driven balancer takes care of the remaining out of phase pulses and secondary imbalances. The only odd part of the motor is that rather than long lasting gear primary drive there's a hyvoid chain, albeit a bloody big one, which adds to the engine's rattles rather than threatening longevity. Considering that sixties Japanese twins had gear drive this is a totally incomprehensible piece of design but one that should not put you off purchasing one of these bikes.
Naturally, part of the charm of cruisers is the ability to load up with the camping gear and beautiful bimbo, to head into the sunset with a song in my heart and bulge in my trousers. Women were not immediately won over by the appearance of the EN but quickly became reassured by the relative comfort of their perch and the gentle nature of the acceleration, which often meant excessive play on the gearbox two-up to avoid being seen off by rat 250 Superdreams and the like.
Handling remained tolerable up to 80mph, the greatest threat to life and limb coming from the compressed suspension letting the undercarriage ground into the tarmac. This sent shivers of fear through the girlfriend who would hang on for dear life, not realising that such intimacy was so distracting I was more likely to ride off the road than pull the bike back from the hereafter.
Any kind of motorcycle adventure requires faith in the bike and the EN never gave a moment's cause for concern, the watercooling and advanced engineering living up to their reputation for durability. I never broke down once, even when riding through the most torrential rain that made me think we were in the tropics rather than England's green and pleasant land. High mileages in a day were much more limited by the comfort (good for 200 miles before I started squirming around) than any thought of the engine giving up in despair.
Of course, there were the odd occasions when I yearned for a bit more top end power. Aren't there always? The worst obstacle was shooting past convoys of caravans moving in both directions. This was real frustration country and the lack of go above 80mph meant that the girlfriend came close to being knee-capped a couple of times when I misjudged the time it would take to cover the distance between two converging caravans.
I made one chap veer off to the side, the huge caravan on the back of his Volvo (smirk) seemed to wobble like a giant, terrifying blancmange. I glanced at the beetroot red face of the driver who was either fuming with anger or fear; then screamed as the caravan seemed to totter over towards the bike. Somehow it flicked back the other way in time and we literally scraped through the gap, the girlfriend gaining a layer of white paint to her black leather jeans (so sexy, man!) and ageing about ten years.
Generally, she seemed in favour of the pillion perch and was even persuaded to give the controls a twirl. The EN450's light, narrow, and well balanced with a low seat height and easily controlled power output - in other words a much better learner than many a stroker 125. She got on fine with the bike and I rather enjoyed taking her from behind (at least in my mind) as we lurched along. Her only real fault was that she forgot to put her feet down when we came to a halt; luckily, I was quick enough to save us.
She was slightly less impressed by the motorcycle experience when some clown in a Metro compensated for the pathetic nature of his cage by ramming the side of the EN. The disturbing shudder of violence threw the bike down the road. It was so unexpected, so impossible to believe that anyone would do something so stupid that I was absolutely gobsmacked. One moment all was well with the world, the next I was rudely thrown on to the tarmac. The girlfriend's leathers saved her from any serious injury and the EN survived with a bent peg and lever (thanks to the engine bars) but that didn't stop a deep rage and consequent slugging match with the cager.
As I was wearing leathers and helmet I was quite well protected from his blows whilst my motorcycle boots were brilliant at enhancing my kicks. He was bigger than me but after five minutes he was crying like a baby after I delivered a vicious kick to his balls, the echo of breaking bones staying with me for a long time. I gave his car a few kicks for good measure and rode off full of macho pride, etc, etc.
The EN wobbled away for a few miles but that was just the aftershock of the violence leaving me shaking....I'm normally an easy going kind of chap. Which is why the Kawasaki suits me fine for most of the time. The only major improvement I yearn after is a bit more midrange grunt, rather like a 650 Bonnie without the shakes which would probably mean a 600cc version of the EN or radically retuned version of the GPZ500 (both engines started out as a 400 to meet the Japanese home market requirements). Overall, though, the 450's not so bad that I would be willing to spend loads of dosh upgrading.
My bike hasn't even worn out the final drive yet, although the exhaust is becoming a little louder. The only engine maintenance I've done is 3000 mile oil changes (and one oil filter), although the valves are screw and locknut adjustable they are a real pain to get at so I've never bothered (which may explain why some bikes have top end problems). The EN450 may not quite make it amongst the Easy Rider crowd but it's been a very easy ride so far!
Dave Late