Kawasaki 2025 Colors
Kawasaki announced a whole bunch of new paint jobs for their 2025 model year.
we’ll go through all of them, I’ll tell you what I think of each.
Now, we’ll start with the naked bikes.
Naked
Z650
First up, we got the Z650, which is their reliable middleweight naked that comes in at a really affordable price point.
And for this year, we’ve got a couple of new options, one being metallic spark, black and red, and the other, metallic spark, black and green.
So yeah, a little bit of a pop on the frame and on some of the graphics, but I will say, overall, they are quite similar.
ZH2
we move swiftly on to their supercharged super naked, the ZH2.
Now, this bike comes in either a standard model or an SE edition, which gets you a few accessories thrown in.
For 2025, the standard ZH2 comes in an emerald blaze green, metallic, matte graffing steel gray, metallic Diablo black.
And for me, I actually really like this update because of the graphics with the green on the tank there.
Definitely a fresh new look. And then also for the SE edition, you’ve got metallic matte, graffing steel gray and mirror-coated black.
Now this one, of course, they’ve tried to make it look a little bit more special than the standard bike.
And so while it is a little more plain on the bodywork, it’s more so black.
I do appreciate that pop of green on the frame and also on that belly pan, which I think is one of the accessories you get.
And so, yeah, both of these I like a lot.
Retros
Now onto the retro, some of the best-looking bikes on the market, it has to be said.
These Z-inspired bikes definitely capture some of the original look and soul of the bikes that inspired them.
Z650 RS
And for 2025, well, we’ve got new colors for the Z650 RS.
So this is effectively the same bike as the Z650 we just looked at with the parallel twin-powered engine.
And this one comes in either Ebony, Ebony green, or Ebony and Yellow.
Now, they say these are specifically a hat tip to the original bike.
So the green is a reference back to the first Z1 in the ’70s. And then also the yellow is a reference back to the Z1 B.
And look, I’m a little bit different to the flat Ebony version, but I will say I really do like the look of the green.
I think it’s great to have a green option on these retro bikes. And then also the yellow is a great option, too.
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It reminds me quite a bit of the yellow ball version of the Z900 RS&SE from last year. And that was a brilliant looking bike.
So nice to have a similar visual option, but a slightly more affordable price point.
The only thing I will say is a bike that I’ll miss from this year’s lineup is the red with the gold wheels, which look fantastic.
But yeah, I do understand things are going to move on and they’ve got to introduce some new options.
Z900 RS & SE
Now, the bigger sibling to this bike is the Z900 RS and SE.
This has got an inline 4, much more powerful instead of about 65 horsepower, way up over 100.
I just mentioned the SE version absolutely fantastic. Great handling, great sound to it. Love the inline 4 engine.
And we got a couple of fresh new looks for the new model year with the standard bike coming in, metallic Diablo black.
I think that’s with the green highlights as well, or a new Eino red option.
Now, the SE version, instead of the yellow ball for the previous model year, now comes in metallic flat spark, black, and metallic matte carbon gray.
Although, unfortunately, we don’t have any pictures of this one, so we’ll have to wait and see what that one looks like.
But still for the standard bike, the green looks fantastic.
Also, if you want something a little bit more subdued but classy-looking, then I think the Eino red does that job, especially with the gold accents along the bottom of the tank there.
Sports
Next up, we got the sports lineup, and you probably know what to expect here, but there are a couple of surprises.
Ninja 650
And their entry-level middleweight bike is the Ninja 650. And for 2025, we got three color schemes here.
So one is metallic spark black, metallic flat spark black, and there’s also a metallic matte carbon gray and flat ebony.
These are so similar. It’s hard to distinguish them, I’d imagine, at a distance.
And so I don’t really get it. If you’re going to offer three paint options, why would you not give three completely different options to suit a wider range of tastes.
Still, I do like the new Lime Green and Pearl Blazer white.
This is something you’ll see across a lot of their sports bikes for 2025.
And the thing I really do like about them is whereas you normally get a red accent on these bikes to reference the Kawasaki racing team.
They’ve now introduced this yellowy or gold highlight, which just keeps it fresh, and I actually think it looks pretty good.
ZX-4RR & ZX-6R
Now, the ZX4 RR is operating in a similar market to the Ninja 650, but it’s just a bit more aggressive in the riding position.
And also it gets that fantastic 400 inline 4 engine, which is just bags of fun to rev the nuts off absolutely everywhere you go.
And yeah, this one for the next model year is, well, it only gets the one paint job, but it is the lime green, ebony, and pale blizzard white, thankfully.
And I think this is a brilliant-looking bike. In fact, in that middleweight sports market, it has to be said it is one of the best.
On top of that, we got the ZX 6R, so a 600 version, essentially, again, even more aggressive.
it’s great to see this bike back and sustaining itself in that 600 SuperSport segment, which was flagging a bit in the UK and looking a bit thin on options.
And again, you’ve got the lime green, ebony, and pale white blizzard, or you’ve got an ebony, metallic flat, spark black.
ZX-10R & ZX-10RR
So nice to have a couple of options with that bike. You’ll get similar color options as well this year for their Lita Superbike, the ZX-10R.
So you’ve got metallic graphite gray and metallic Diablo black Ninja, along with the lime green, Ebony, and pearl blizzard white.
And then perhaps one of the bigger surprises is the more premium version of that bike, the ZX-10RR, which it has to be said is one of the… Well, it’s the raciest option in their entire lineup.
And so previously it did come in the lime green, which gave it a bit of the look of their actual race bikes.
But for this year, they’ve gone for a much more subdued and stealthy option with the metallic matte graphine steel gray.
It’s pretty much gray across the board with some little pops of green. I see, I am a little bit surprised by that one.
And I thought they’d have stuck with that KRT paint job to give it the real racing vibes. But I also quite like it.
so let me know what you think of it down in the comments.
Cruisers
Number four, let’s move on to their cruiser lineup.
Eliminator 500
And they’ve got the Eliminator 500, which is a parallel twin part bike, probably a good competitor for something like the Honda Rebel 500 or the Royal Enfield Supermeteor 650.
And yeah, it’s at a fairly affordable price point, a nice low seat height, so beginner-friendly, or probably a good little workhorse as well, like a great commuter.
Now, the standard bike for this one comes in metallic flat spark black or Pearl Robotic white.
That’s a very fancy name for what is effectively just a white bike, but then And that’s Kawasaki’s MO.
this is one of the few white bikes in the lineup.
But I think it would be my pick of those two just because it’s a little bit more interesting, perhaps.
There’s a lot of black in the Kawasaki lineup.
Now, the SE version of this bike, again, gets a few extra accessories bundled in.
You can see it gets stuff like a headlight nacelle.
this one only comes in, metallic carbon gray and flat ebony, which is a different name to the other black version of the standard bike, but it looks almost entirely the same.
Now, for For me, if I was paying a little bit extra for that SE version, I’d possibly want something that looked a little more special.
And so, yeah, maybe a little bit of a disappointment because it just looks basically identical and the changes are really quite subtle, like some of the hardware is blacked out, but that’s about it.
Vulcan S
It, thankfully, though, the Vulcan S, so this is the slightly bigger sibling with the 650 parallel twin, does get a new option.
So they’ve carried over the very plain-looking metallic flat spark black. But for 2025, you’ve now got metallic flat spark black with metallic flat raw Greystone.
And while that name would suggest it is basically black and gray, it does get some pops of an orangey red, I guess, on the rim tape and on the fuel tank.
I will say I really do like, actually, the fuel tank on this bike. It’s split with black at the top and the gray at the bottom.
But then it’s also got this intertwining ready Orange graphic that runs along the middle that I think looks really good.
It’s probably one of the most exciting things they’ve done this year.
Tourer
Versys 650
Now on the same engine in the adventure touring segment, we’ve got their Versys 650.
Again, in this middle weight part of their lineup, it’s another solid workhorse at a really decent price point.
this one’s still offered in black with a little bit of green on the side panels there.
But you’ve also got, new for this year, metallic graphene steel, gray and metallic spark black.
Man, that is another pair of bikes that do look very similar, especially from a distance.
But you do have a Pearl Robotic white and metallic spark black with a little bit of blue on the bodywork.
Maybe for this one, I would like to see something like red thrown in there instead of two very similar-looking black bikes.
But ultimately, Kawasaki probably know what sells best, and it’s possibly similar to what Triumph used to say, where people used to ask for customers or people on social media used to ask for all these vibrant colors.