2023 Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Voyager - Authentically unrefined on purpose! - Complete In-Depth Review!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มี.ค. 2023
- The 2023 Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Voyager is a throwback big cruiser that can take you across the country with ease. This bike is for a motorcyclist who wants to feel the rumble, but not the discomfort. Someone who wants the technology, but doesn't want that technology to get in the way of a classic cruisers look. The Vulcan 1700 Voyager is also a fantastic bargain in the big cruiser marketplace. Want to see it for yourself? Connect with the amazing team at Jim Gilbert's PowerSports here: powersports.wheelsanddeals.ca...
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Voyager has best heal toe shifter on the market
I purchased this bike last year August 2023. After watching the review that Peter gave i was sold and I am truly satisfied zero regrets. Thanks Peter.
Awesome! Thanks for sharing!
I have a 2010 Voyager that I bought in 2015 with 1700 miles on it and really like the bike. I had a 2010 Nomad that I bought new and wanted a trunk kit for it and when I was shopping for a kit on eBay I ran across the Voyager and bought it for $7,500.00. I was able to sell my Nomad for $7,500.00 that I added some extra stuff on it.
I appreciate you’re honesty and that you state your biases up front. That’s a rare trait today. Thank you.
Thx
I had a 2013 model and went on many trips solo and 2-up…..great bike. Solid. No issues at all. Sold it after a few years and went back to a full size ADV bike for no reason other than liking that style as well, and the weight is less.
I would get one again if I was in the market. No regrets.😊
Just bought this very bike 3 days ago. You're review is spot on.
I own a 2011 Voyager, and the bike is fantastic! I've done several mods to it, including an amp & new speakers, dayrunner headlights & driving lights, tri-oval pipes and a ECU re-flash from Ivan's. I'm considering picking up the aftermarket heat dissipation system, as it does tend to radiate in hot weather. No ABS, no K-ACT on this 2011 but I get along fine without. I've taken many open road trips on it and after 20,000 miles I can say that comfort has never been an issue. Excellent value and very reliable. I'm keeping it! 👍
Thanks for sharing your experiences with it!
I'm going on 2 years with mine and absolutely love it. Great job on the review.
I ride a 2018 Voyager and it's been fantastic! I have over 50,000 miles on it with no problems. Just regular maintenance and the bike is garage kept when not crossing the country. I ride a great deal. I have full confidence in this motorcycle. I think it's one of the best cruiser bargains on the market. Sometimes less is more.
Sometimes less IS more! People buy a bike to put smiles on their faces, and I feel like sometimes we get lost in spec sheet grins that we forget that for most of those higher specs, the smiles per miles don't add up compared to simpler bikes. I'm not saying that's true for everyone, but a bike like this costs a lot less than other big touring bikes, and if your goal is to get out and enjoy your tours, the scenery, the ride, etc... then having Apple CarPlay in the dash isn't going to add up to more smiles per mile. Grab a handlebar GPS, and take this!
I just bought a 2023 with 1 km on it the exact same colour as the one in the video, next week it gets it's fist oil change, then in June the Ivans ECU tuneup. Great bike sounds good and the radio works wonderfully. I luv it a great bike for the price.
Always been a Kawisaki fan. But this past few years they are really nailing by using their older reliable platforms and just updating the important stuff while not raising the price. Like the KLR and KLX models. Reliable, good looking and always super smooth controls
Thank you for your time reviewing this fine motorcycle and its capablities also value to an enjoyable riding experience. Very good review,
Thanks so much for watching!
Great job, Peter 👍
I enjoy your videos, always well done w. everything clearly explained. Thanks!
Thanks for watching! I appreciate the support!
Thanks for your review
Great video liked and subscribed!
One thing he mentioned about rear shocks you DO NOT use compressor on shocks you’ll blow them out, you need a low volume hand pump. He needs to get up to speed, great bike I’ve had mine for 6 years
Correct. I was given misinformation just before I filmed. But you are right. I was not familiar with the system and asked the wrong person. Thanks for clarifying.
I like how you point out the modern features as good things but the modern things it lacks but should have you say it’s because they want classic. It doesn’t have LED turn signals because they don’t want to add the extra wiring and resistors involved. It needs an air compressor for the shocks, because even classic bikes had one and a classic look has analog gauges. This bike is great but way behind other companies when it comes to cruisers.
But still a great value! And it's still a bike that we haven't been able to keep in stock. Every time one shows up, it's gone the next day. One thing to remember about motorcycles is that there are a wide range of tastes. We're all on the same team, but just because something doesn't appeal to you or to me, doesn't mean that it's not exactly what appeals to someone else. I agree with you that I'd like to see some updates to appeal to my tastes, but maybe Kawasaki doesn't feel that same pressure as they're selling these at or above their expectations.
@@PeterLoweOne you are correct that it is a quality made machine and reliable. Thank you for the video
Just update a few things like bluetooth and this bike would be an amazing Gem.
Beautiful bike. At about 900 pounds, I just wish it had a reverse gear (but the Harley's don't either)
Yeah, I can definitely see how that would be useful, it's just something you need to be aware of when you park. As I said in the video, this isn't a style of bike that I ride, but I think those who own this bike are able to work around the lack of reverse. With a bike like this, you can go through a never ending list of adding more and more and more... but it has a charm in the sense that it's an old school bike that's honest about what it is.
@@PeterLoweOne It was funny once I met a couple riding an old Goldwing in Nova Scotia. To get out of the parking spot he called his wife his "Reverse" who would get in front of the bike and push the bike out of the inclined parking spot. 🙂
@@pcthayer Now that's love! Either that or she was in a hurry to get home to the divorce lawyer!!
@@PeterLoweOne That's funny but probably true. :-) That was during my first motorcycle trip to NS to do the Cabot Trail. It was amazing and I've done it sever times since but it never was like the "first time".
@@pcthayersounds like he should have just rolled the bike back into those types of parking spots lol. Poor "reverse" wife of his.
That paint looks great
Wow, you're like the doctor of motorcycle sales. Top notch! Expert in your material stats. Comfortable to the ears, like ASMR. Wish you were near New York State, I'd buy from you! God bless brother!
Haha! Thanks for watching! All the best to you too!
Another great video
Thanks for your kind words!
Love this bike... my choice... all the way, great review...
Yeah, it's not my style as I'm used to smaller more nimble bikes, but the more time I spend with this bike, the more I really appreciate it! It's very well done!
I have an ‘06 Vulcan 900 and the reliability is excellent. I do wish that the bikes had some more modern touches (Touchscreen, GPS, etc) but for $10k+ less and unrivalled reliability than its rivals, I can deal with it.
Getting ready for my 2nd service(5000 miles) on my 23 voyager. Very comfortable bike for me and the wife. Seats,floor boards and handlebar position are very comfortable. Were very pleased with it. I have a couple different bikes and i ride everyday and put about 20,000 miles a year on. So it needs to be inexpensive to maintain. The bike is extremely good in its price range. As the equivalent harley or indian goes 2.5X the price. But its also the ONLY japanese bike in the full touring vtwin class. The japanese dont fair well in this category and have all but closed up shop. Their loss, our gain! 3 things i dont like about the voyager. 1) fuel consumption is substandard. I hand calculate 40mpg. 2) the radio sucks. Plain and simple. No bluetooth. Huge disapointment. 3) the stock wind screen is massive. Keep it clean cuz you cant see over it. The 107° degree summer days are bear with this thing blocking your wind. All being said its a fair compromise for a bike thats literally less than half the cost of a traditional tourer
I own different bikes too including a goldwing DCT but that Voyager is seducing me for some reason vtwin old tech classic, you can change the windshield, I would never use this bike if the temperature is over 29 Celsius
I’ve installed a “Clearview” windshield just tall enough to see over. Much better than the stock barn door of a shield.
Greetings / I have a 1700 voyager, and I have had it for 10 years.. the reason that it is less $$ then others is that it does not have an infotainment system, it does not have an adjustable windshield, key fob, central locking ect.. it has manual locks on the bags and trunk, it has manual air assist shocks, yet is has cruise control and the air protection you want for long rides and is its very comfortable. I am an old school rider, and having a modern bike that has some tried and true "old school" ways to it, like the manual locking bags and trunk, means no issues..
If you take this bike and load it up with auto-adjust windshield, heated seats/handlebars, push button start, key fob locking/unlocking, infotainment system, ect... then this bike would be priced in that 27-30K range, but that also means more issues that can "and do" go wrong.. I know, I have friends that have other touring bikes that would not start when they pushed the start button or bags and trunks that would not unlock when they hit the key fob, and there was nothing they could do about it..
1700 Vulcan Voyager.. I will buy another one when mine dies....
Thanks for listening
Thanks for sharing your experiences!
I agree with you 100%, I’ve had my 2010 Voyager for almost 10 years myself and I like all it for all the reasons you mentioned, I do like the cruise control.
Beautiful
It's really impressive to see in person!
Are there speaker options? Trunk, lower fairing, saddlebags? Maybe aftermarket options?
The factory speakers are pretty good. You have all kinds of accessory support for this bike from the aftermarket, so you could probably get what you wanted.
Peter, what is the best price for used voyager 2022
I appreciate you talking about the accessories options, but kawasaki doesnt have any accessory options anymore! I have a 2011 and they discontinued trunk speakers, they discontinued alot of the connections for that pocket. So im unsure why they continue to even have that feature if they refuse to continue support for accessories.
I don't use them... I drilled a hole and hard wired an AUX into the ferring so all I have to do is plug my phone in & go. It works swimmingly! 😊
Just found your video. Thanks. I am looking for a bike for my wife and me to go on trips. The 'kids' are old enough now. I've ridden for nearly 20 years but would be my first big bike. Now I am not sure if I should be concerned or not.
He should have had someone video this for him, while he was explaining the work. You could hear him but the work being done was not in the video. He did not show the work while replacing the brackets. It would have been nice to see the work, as he was explaining it.
I'll try to get things on video in a better way in the future. Can you let me know which minute and second you think I need to be more clear? That would help me for next time. Thanks for watching.
Shaft drive, belt? Excellent review.
This is belt drive. Thanks so much for watching!
What about overheating?
Is there an led headlight option?
No but there would absolutely be accessory and aftermarket options.
Hasn't changed since 2009
The look hasn't changed, but the safety features have 👍
I kept hearing good value but I must have missed the price info and warranty info. Would be good to know for comparison
Because minor pricing changes can happen at anytime, I rarely list the price in my video. The link in the description can take you to Jim Gilbert's PowerSports where pricing can be found, or you can check out www.kawasaki.ca
Once my videos are uploaded, they remain online forever, and when I ran a previous, much larger channel, I ran into issues in the comments section when a vehicle had changed a couple hundred dollars in price. This keeps things simpler. If people are actually interested, it's just a click away.
They're around 20k right now.
I got my 2023 in August of 2023 for $16,800 added the extended warranty which gives me 6 yrs of protection for $700. I absolutely love this bike and Peter your review of this bike is what made me run out to get it.
Cars today and too many Bikes have gone into the tech side of the force. Some riders want those things and they're not usually needed. The Voyager is unchanged for good reason.
Is the music system loud enough to jam out
I think it is!
I like the 900 but I'd like to see a larger displacement in an undressed bike. Heard anything?
I haven't heard of any plans for that. I wonder if Kawasaki looks at the amount of competition in that segment and is making business decisions. The Research and Development money that it would take to create that bike might not get the same return as dumping the same money into a bike in a segment that they already sell in large volumes. Hard to say, but that would be my guess on why the cruiser line has been consistent over the years.
@@PeterLoweOne I really feel like they are missing out on the market by not offering this option. Thank you for your reply.
@@shoomapadoo1141 Yeah, I'd love to see a few new models from Kawasaki. I'd love to see an Adventure bike with good suspension built on the Ninja 400 engine, I think a cruiser with fully modern features would be great. There are a few other segments, but I guess it's all about money spent to develop, and return on that investment in sales figures. Hopefully things continue to grow!
they used to offer big displacement vulcans. I have a 2003 vulcan 1600 classic. They had 1700s, and 2000s later as well. They stopped making the big displacement normal cruisers in the mid 2010's. Not sure why they stopped, as I love my vulcan 1600
How about a Vulcan s with the ninja 1043 cc engine with some of the ninja tech sounds good to me
They need to modernize these bikes. A computer would be great with GPS nav, bluetooth connection, and if your waiting for bad weather to pass. Some aps to chill in shelter to just watch.
Yeah, I'm sort of torn. I'd like to see the latest and greatest tech on this bike, but at the same time, it hits a retro vibe that would be lost forever if they did update this. The other thing is the price, a new bike would certainly be more expensive, and there comes a balance of how much more it could be, and what new features add value. A lot of riders (like you and me) like more up to date tech, but there is a market of riders who don't need things to change, and they appreciate this bike for what it is, and appreciate the price.
absolutely not. I'll take analog and half the price of the competition. you can mount your phone if you're addicted to screens
@@DavidSmith-jj5pr ok
Is there any way of lowering this bike by at least 2"? Please advise. Thank you!
Kawasaki doesn't offer a lowering kit. The aftermarket might. But have you tried sitting on it? It's not all that high, and I'm not sure that you'd want to take suspension travel out of the bike. You may want to look into aftermarket seats that give you a lower seat height and a different shape to help get your legs to the ground a little easier. Those are just my thoughts off the top of my head.
@@PeterLoweOne thank you so much. This helps.
what is the price of the motorcycle?
How is the seat height for a 5'8" rider?
Should be fine. I'm 6 feet for reference, but the seat is low and manageable.
Does it have reverse or if not, can you get it?
For those people still wondering, there is no reverse option on the Voyager or Vaquero.
I found the seat to be small front to back with a steep nose that gets into your junk. I like the Victory XC position way better.
Everyone is different, this actually feels REALLY comfortable to me. But yeah, you should always try to sit on a motorcycle first.
Hmmm I’m between the Vaquero or the Voyager… difficult choicez
Jim Gilbert's PowerSports just received a few more or each! I'll have more videos soon!
It depends largely on how far you wish to travel, what you're willing to leave at home 😉
Time to revamp this bike,
I want to agree with you from a technical standpoint... But these still sell well to a crowd that doesn't want a lot of high tech features, and they're not that expensive for what you get. Right now Kawasaki continues to sell them in volume making a profit at a low MSRP. A redesign would raise the price, change the market, and likely put it right in the heart of the competition. Would Kawasaki make money? That's a tough guess.
That’s true, then just get a used one because all you are getting is a paint scheme.
If anything update the audio with modern tech. That won’t break the bank. Also a slight reshaping to that fairing and LED lighting .
Eventually they will but the price will show this then.
Hi
Beautiful bike. I'm a fan of big Japanese touring bikes. But! I wish all the Japanese company's would hire the guy who picks out HD colours for motorcycles. Except for a few model yrs Japanese bikes r dull. I have a 2006 venture which was 1 of those excetions
1st
price range
Up to date pricing can always be found at www.kawasaki.ca
It is a real pain in the a**.that they don‘t sell these bikes in Germany anymore. They even stopped selling the VN900. The Vulcan S is the only Vulcan left here. I hav3 been told Kawasaki didn‘t want to put in the effort of developing a new engine, that folllows European laws. They want to ban all new combustion vehicles by 2030…
Very dated bike that needs a refresh. Trunk is very boxy giving it an ofd profile. Dash is way outdated. The Ultra Limited looks much better IMO with better technology. From a Harley no less…gasp! Lol. I prefer full dressers but with Kawi I like the looks of the Vaquero better.
I agree it's dated, but does it need a refresh? I've debated this with people in the comments section before. While you and I might wish for newer technology, I can tell you that at Jim Gilbert's PowerSports, where I film,
(Canada's number one volume Kawasaki dealer) that every time we have one of these in stock, it sells almost immediately if it's not already sold before it arrives. So from Kawasaki's perspective, they seem to be selling these just about as quickly as they are supplying them, and from a business perspective, that's a great thing. Updating the model would bring a higher price, and it may mean alienating a market that is being well served by this bike. Just some food for thought, because sometimes I think that everything should be the latest and the greatest too, but what you and I want doesn't always fit what's actually happening in the marketplace.
@@PeterLoweOne
I have a 2013 Voyager that runs like a top. The radio is the only issue, i.e. doesn't hold stations well. But,.... I paid $11,000 three years ago when it had 10,000 miles on it. Guess what, I'd had a 2017 Ultra Limited and while riding it I'd say this to myself...
"is this bike giving me enough for what I have invested? Answer, ...Not much for the Harley price.
After two years I sold it back to the dealer (lost 2K) and he sold it for about $3,000 more. The Ultra Limited now go for about $25,000, up from the $18,000 I paid. Actually I think the Voyager is easier to ride. The Ultra was hotter and top heavy, especially with a passenger. With my legs the Ultra was sitting to low for any off camber gas stations, especially with a passenger on board. The Harley didn't give me any real problem (wouldn't start once and had to call for a tow-... good warranty)
In short, I put several thousand back in my pocket and this Voyager does just about everything it did and it runs cooler than that "cooled" Millwalkee Eight. That was a joke.
Without GPS? Trash!
So keep in mind that this bike is set up like a traditional cruiser, and this allows you to choose any GPS unit that you want. These aren't trying to be something they're not. They're not aiming to be high tech in any way, but they priced extremely well, and owners will have room to customize these up in any way they want.
Get a map or use your phone!
If they’re so “trash” why does he sell out of them almost immediately?
Kawasaki $19k
Harley $32
I’ll take the Kawasaki!