My brother-in-law let me have his 1996 Kawasaki Vulcan 500. It had sat for 4 years and he was done with it. A free motorcycle is a free motorcycle so I borrowed a pickup and well picked it up. Changed the fluids, cleaned the carbs, new battery, put air in the tires. It started up. A bit a fiddling and it runs great! Excellent throttle response. It really likes to rev up, good brakes, no handling issues (no wobbles or shimmies). There is nothing wrong with the motorcycle, it is good in every objective way. But there are two things about it that I don't like. I it is a cruiser style, yeah it has the ninja 500 engine, but it is still a cruiser. It doesn't seem to fit me correctly, even with adjusting the rear brakes, shifter and pegs. I just can't get real comfortable. But that is not a deal breaker, it is "ok". The real problem is it has no soul. Even at '96 it seems completely modern and plastic. I KNOW that it will start when I press the button. The throttle is perfect, no hesitation, but also no harshness. This is obviously no a bad thing, but I feel completely different riding the 500. I personally don't like cruiser styles but I don't have any problem with people who do like them. I just can't put my finger on it, so I call it having no soul. I think that is why I can't get really comfortable when riding on it. Although it can perform much better than my R65, here is no emotional response when riding, it is strictly transportation. Outside of when I got it running I generally don't smile when I ride it. I am always smiling on my R65.
