You don't need a Tac. Just like a stick shift car, feel and listen to the engine, thats plenty to go off of for shifting. Even as a 1st timer on said vehicle 15 minutes is plenty of time to get a good feel.
I agree you shouldn’t need a tac but the bike handles very different in low revs and high revs. Not clear when to shift as I said in the video. If you’ve looked around my channel you’ll see I’ve ridden a bunch of bikes and some have tacs and some don’t.
I bought a used Vulcan 900 Classic LT (same bike, different styling) after years of riding sports bikes. It is huge and heavy from my perspective. I thought I had ruined the engine because it kept on dying whenever I accelerated. I finally figured out that I was bouncing off the rev limiter. We use our Vulcan as a 2 up touring bike. The brakes are just ok, and I’ve learned that I need to actually use the rear brake. The power is fine, my wife loves the Mustang seat we put in it (stock seat reeks). The bags are marginal. The bike could use a 6th gear. I pretty much agree with your review. The Vulcan is not a “cool” bike by any means. It is the Hyundai Elantra of touring cruisers: perfectly capable, but nothing anyone would lust after. It is simply a well built, reliable, relatively light weight cruiser. It is average in every way. It isn’t fast, it isn’t sporty, and most of all it isn’t a Harley! But I’m not really a cruiser guy. My wife and I like touring together, but she wanted something with a bigger seat and a lot more leg room than my other bikes. We’re not going anymore. We needed something more comfortable. The 900 LT is exactly that. It will haul 2 people down the road at 75 mph in reasonable comfort and great reliability, getting 45-50 mpg while hauling all of our stuff. It’s not my dream bike, but it’s the bike that works, and works well.
I wish they offered more colors like they used to and a 6th gear. Mine had the baffles taken out and it sounds pretty good. They do offer a mini tachometer from the factory. I drove mine in 30 mph gusts yesterday and it wasn’t bad.
Depends on what you want. If you want a nice relaxing ride and not too exciting, this is it. If you want some excitement but still nice try the eliminator 450, Vulcan 650. Those have the ninja engines
I love my 2015 custom! Sooooo nice!! Looks like they haven’t changed much as far as look and style. Cuz they didn’t need too. I have the Vance n Hines pipes and it rumbles. I also added larger floorboards. Other than that, I listen to the engine and shift by sound. It’s a great bike!!
Great bikes they have everything you need and nothing you dont...its a v twin... not hard to know when it's time to shift ...my only knit pick is above 75 the bars get a little buzzy ..over drive would be nice ..
Honda Shadow 750 is a great first cruiser and it only weighs 550lbs. you can buy one for about 3k and with low miles. I just sold mine for 3k with 9k miles on it and it was clean.
I recently got a 2010 Ebony Special Edition of this bike. I like it a lot, but it does need a 6th gear, so I bought the 'Barons' slightly larger engine pulley (a couple more teeth) and rear wheel pulley (a few less teeth) to alter the gearing. I'll live with the original setup for the summer, then get them installed. They reckon it should make about a 12% difference. Update: Did the work myself recently and it's made quite a difference, it's now a much better bike! (Don't know why they didn't have better gearing in the first place???)
Stock form my only complaint is the handlebars being too low and the gearing but I do have a bigger front pulley coming because I ride mostly highway and I purchased some 2 inch handlebar risers and man those risers alone made it waaay more comfortable but I am a short guy only 5'8"! She loves to be laid down in corners though...dragging pegs!!!
I have this bike and it does not vibrate. The engine cuts out if you push it "too" hard, It is a preventative measure that Kawasaki built into the bike. They were being conservative though cause the engine can be pushed way more. Ivans ECM reflash really unlocks that engine. Anyway again no the bike doesn't vebrate, Ive been on my vulcan 900 for over a year now and this is not the case.
I'm sorry for saying my opinion.. I just came from a motorcycle shop today and I sat down on one of this and I got to say it's not a light motorcycle.. this motorcycle is not light it's really heavy bike, this bike is super heavy
Gotta whole heartedly disagree, definitely would not describe this as a heavy weight cruiser, add 125 lbs. I find it to be a light and pretty agile motorcycle, great for novice and intermediate riders. Oh ! It's a fun bike to ride and capable.
@@marcmaschal2897 Yes it is. Its a retuned engine from the Ninja 650 which is the parallel twin bike which is commonly considered a beginner bike not to be confused with the 600cc inline 4 cylinder in the Ninja ZX-6R the Supersport bike.
I have a 2023 and personally I do not like this bike at all. Out of all the bikes I’ve had and ridden it is the worst I’ve ridden. Braking power for how heavy it is could use updating. Could use more power for the highway or at least add a 6th gear. Not too mention the vibration makes it almost impossible to see out of the left mirror at highway speed.
Shawn, my man...these engines are meant to be high rev., but.....to help with buzzing...I used Barron pulleys and 170 back tire, and oh man! it does make a difference!
Come on man.I have one and there is a little excess vibration.but you can see the mirrors fine .If you wanted a giant heavy bike to do mostly highways you should have bought a 1200 cc.Please trade in your bike if you hate it so someone who will love it can own it. Thanks
Ninja drive train = high rpm. Kawi went cheap again. Instead of putting an appropriate drive train. Just like Kawi using a plastic skid plate on their ATV. Kawi doesn’t want to put much into their products. Their 2x2 uses a Chinese Chi-Com engine! Not even a Kawi engine! Keep it.
You don't need a Tac. Just like a stick shift car, feel and listen to the engine, thats plenty to go off of for shifting. Even as a 1st timer on said vehicle 15 minutes is plenty of time to get a good feel.
I agree you shouldn’t need a tac but the bike handles very different in low revs and high revs. Not clear when to shift as I said in the video. If you’ve looked around my channel you’ll see I’ve ridden a bunch of bikes and some have tacs and some don’t.
@@MidgetMotogive it a little time and shifting by ear becomes second nature
Just bought this bike! (2023) and so far so good! Shifting guide is in the owners manual as to when you should shift to which gear based off mph-km/h.
Ah I see. I was surprised at how much I liked it!
The VC 900 fits that niche where the old Honda Spirit 1100 and the Harley Sportster presided at one time. They should sell a bunch.
I bought a used Vulcan 900 Classic LT (same bike, different styling) after years of riding sports bikes. It is huge and heavy from my perspective. I thought I had ruined the engine because it kept on dying whenever I accelerated. I finally figured out that I was bouncing off the rev limiter.
We use our Vulcan as a 2 up touring bike. The brakes are just ok, and I’ve learned that I need to actually use the rear brake. The power is fine, my wife loves the Mustang seat we put in it (stock seat reeks). The bags are marginal. The bike could use a 6th gear.
I pretty much agree with your review. The Vulcan is not a “cool” bike by any means. It is the Hyundai Elantra of touring cruisers: perfectly capable, but nothing anyone would lust after. It is simply a well built, reliable, relatively light weight cruiser. It is average in every way. It isn’t fast, it isn’t sporty, and most of all it isn’t a Harley!
But I’m not really a cruiser guy. My wife and I like touring together, but she wanted something with a bigger seat and a lot more leg room than my other bikes. We’re not going anymore. We needed something more comfortable. The 900 LT is exactly that. It will haul 2 people down the road at 75 mph in reasonable comfort and great reliability, getting 45-50 mpg while hauling all of our stuff. It’s not my dream bike, but it’s the bike that works, and works well.
I wish they offered more colors like they used to and a 6th gear. Mine had the baffles taken out and it sounds pretty good. They do offer a mini tachometer from the factory. I drove mine in 30 mph gusts yesterday and it wasn’t bad.
I agree!
go with a taller 170 tire and not only speedo corrects but so much less buzzzzz, me? 2009C Orange naked
Ok so which cruiser bike beats this one in your opinion? I'm looking for a second bike. Just sold my shadow 750.
Depends on what you want. If you want a nice relaxing ride and not too exciting, this is it. If you want some excitement but still nice try the eliminator 450, Vulcan 650. Those have the ninja engines
I'd say it a short step up but you should notice that extra power on the Interstate rides and when passing.
Is this purchasable in Europe or is it just US? I can't find any Kawasaki retailer in Europe that's selling this bike.
www.kawasaki.co.uk/en/products/Cruiser/2015/Vulcan_900_Custom/overview?Uid=086DUVpbXAwOWVxbX11cXF8ODFFQWAlfDF4OXVhZDAtZDFE
I love my 2015 custom! Sooooo nice!! Looks like they haven’t changed much as far as look and style. Cuz they didn’t need too. I have the Vance n Hines pipes and it rumbles. I also added larger floorboards. Other than that, I listen to the engine and shift by sound. It’s a great bike!!
I enjoyed the ride!
Great bikes they have everything you need and nothing you dont...its a v twin... not hard to know when it's time to shift ...my only knit pick is above 75 the bars get a little buzzy ..over drive would be nice ..
Would this be a good 1st bike?
It definitely won’t get away from you. Was very relaxing bike to ride
@@MidgetMoto thanks for the reply, can it handle a passenger ? About 320 lbs in total.
@@AtheerDawood-bt9wr yes!
Honda Shadow 750 is a great first cruiser and it only weighs 550lbs. you can buy one for about 3k and with low miles. I just sold mine for 3k with 9k miles on it and it was clean.
I've found these for about 3k too@@scripteaze
I got my first bike in 1970, how did I ever survive without all the tech? Just ride and learn.
I recently got a 2010 Ebony Special Edition of this bike. I like it a lot, but it does need a 6th gear, so I bought the 'Barons' slightly larger engine pulley (a couple more teeth) and rear wheel pulley (a few less teeth) to alter the gearing. I'll live with the original setup for the summer, then get them installed. They reckon it should make about a 12% difference.
Update: Did the work myself recently and it's made quite a difference, it's now a much better bike! (Don't know why they didn't have better gearing in the first place???)
Nice!
Did exactly that and love the difference.
@@surf221 I agree. I finally did the work myself and the difference was well worth the cost and time!
Stock form my only complaint is the handlebars being too low and the gearing but I do have a bigger front pulley coming because I ride mostly highway and I purchased some 2 inch handlebar risers and man those risers alone made it waaay more comfortable but I am a short guy only 5'8"! She loves to be laid down in corners though...dragging pegs!!!
Glad you’re liking it!
Listen and feel for the gear. That is what I was taught
I’ve only ridden 60+ motorcycles! Good to know
You will need a custom seat with back rest for long runs
Good idea!
Hello wonderful people ,can you explain to me what the world custom for a motorbike means please thank you to all .😊
In this case I thinks it’s just the model name. I don’t think anything is actually custom on this bike.
Bless thank you 😊
@@MidgetMoto It comes it 2 forms, classic (big fenders) and custom(small thing fenders)
Custom is the sporty look large narrow wheel on the front
Vibration at a higher RPM would make me think the engine is not as balanced as it could be. That to me would translate to a shorter engine life.
It wasn’t my favorite thing for sure
I have this bike and it does not vibrate. The engine cuts out if you push it "too" hard, It is a preventative measure that Kawasaki built into the bike. They were being conservative though cause the engine can be pushed way more. Ivans ECM reflash really unlocks that engine. Anyway again no the bike doesn't vebrate, Ive been on my vulcan 900 for over a year now and this is not the case.
I'm sorry for saying my opinion.. I just came from a motorcycle shop today and I sat down on one of this and I got to say it's not a light motorcycle.. this motorcycle is not light it's really heavy bike, this bike is super heavy
Good point!
Gotta whole heartedly disagree, definitely would not describe this as a heavy weight cruiser, add 125 lbs.
I find it to be a light and pretty agile motorcycle, great for novice and intermediate riders. Oh ! It's a fun bike to ride and capable.
That bike is designed to shift at higher RPM’s. They basically basically took a ninja engine and tossed it on a cruiser
Thats not correct the Vulcan Custom is a v-twin engine, your thinking of the Vulcan S which is the engine from the Ninja 650 which is a parallel twin.
I think you’re getting the custom 900 with the Vulcan S 650
No its not a Ninja engine lol
@@marcmaschal2897 Yes it is. Its a retuned engine from the Ninja 650 which is the parallel twin bike which is commonly considered a beginner bike not to be confused with the 600cc inline 4 cylinder in the Ninja ZX-6R the Supersport bike.
@@owens945 Midgetmotos reply is correct.Its a 900 cc engine.Why can't you admit you're wrong?
I have a 2023 and personally I do not like this bike at all. Out of all the bikes I’ve had and ridden it is the worst I’ve ridden. Braking power for how heavy it is could use updating. Could use more power for the highway or at least add a 6th gear. Not too mention the vibration makes it almost impossible to see out of the left mirror at highway speed.
Good to know!
Shawn, my man...these engines are meant to be high rev., but.....to help with buzzing...I used Barron pulleys and 170 back tire, and oh man! it does make a difference!
Come on man.I have one and there is a little excess vibration.but you can see the mirrors fine .If you wanted a giant heavy bike to do mostly highways you should have bought a 1200 cc.Please trade in your bike if you hate it so someone who will love it can own it. Thanks
Ninja drive train = high rpm. Kawi went cheap again. Instead of putting an appropriate drive train. Just like Kawi using a plastic skid plate on their ATV. Kawi doesn’t want to put much into their products. Their 2x2 uses a Chinese Chi-Com engine! Not even a Kawi engine! Keep it.
This bike doesn’t have a ninja engine. It’s way different. The S650 Vulcan uses the Ninja 650 engine
With only 50 hp it's a dog.