Kawasaki Motors Australia is joining the new small-bore adventure market with their 2017 Baby Versys X-300 now confirmed for Australia.
The bike is one of several new and improved models Kawasaki Motors Australia will show at the Melbourne Moto Expo from November 25.
The other new models Kwaka will show include the Z900 and Z650L. The “L” indicates it will be learner-approved.
Updated models they will show include the Ninja 650/ Ninja 650L and Ninja 1000.
Kawasaki Australia marketing assistant Milo Dokmanovic confirms that all models unveiled at the expo will be available in the Australian market.
“During the media presentation I will simply be officially unveiling the models. I won’t be disclosing release dates or prices,” he says.
However, there is no mention of the Z1000R with exotic extra features, better brakes, improved handling, updated instruments and some bright new colours.
2017 Kawasaki Z1000R
Baby adventurers
We suspect that the new baby adventurer market will become the next big thing.
Kawasaki is not alone in this nascent sector with new offerings.
They include the BMW G 310 GS, 400cc Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda 190cc Night Hawk and Suzuki “Baby-Strom” DL250.
To some extent, you could also throw in the Ducati 400 Scrambler and small-bore scramblers from companies such as Husqvarna and Benelli.
It will be interesting to see if Honda and Suzuki have those models on display in Melbourne.
Honda also has a small-bore adventure scooter in their X-ADV. However, Honda Australia doesn’t yet believe it would sell here and has chosen not to import it.