Dirty Girl's Vulcan Page
Photo credit: Owen Sinnott
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These two photos of my Vulcan were taken in the fall of 1993, the 'baby pictures' of the Vulcan, when it had less than 10,000 km's on the odometer. These are about the only photos I have of the stock seat, which was replaced with a custom seat early in 1994.
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August 2022
Vulcan's Zero-Odo day!
Not quite thirty years later, the Vulcan and I have enjoyed a special milestone, seeing the odo roll back to zero!
August 17, 2022 is the Vulcan's first zero-odo day
This is an uncommon event for a smaller displacement motorcycle, Goldwings and Concourse and other touring bikes frequently see their odo back to a row of zeros, but bikes with smaller engines may not have the same experience. This Vulcan, however, has had a bit of an unusual life, travelling widely as a touring bike, doing trackdays like a sport bike, and generally living it's best bike life.
Read more about the adventure of Vulcan's Zero-odo day here: Vulcan goes back to zero
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Kawasaki's EN 500 Vulcan cruiser is powered by a sturdy and reliable liquid cooled parallel twin cylinder motor, very similar to the motor used in the EX500/500 Ninja sportbike. A smooth running twin with lots of power, driven by a clean, quiet and maintenace free belt drive. I've put nearly 100,000 on my Vulcan, and the original belt is in excellent condition.
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Original 1991 Kawasaki brochures for the 500 Vulcan
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Higher resolution JPG files of both sides of this brochure are available on the Vulcan Brochure page
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Vulcan Maintenance
The Vulcan has proven to be a very reliable bike over the 100,000+ km's I've ridden it so far. Basic maintenance involves oil changes, cleaning the air filter, lubing the cables, checking brake and tire wear, and maintaining the battery, particularly in hot weather. Some more involved engine work was needed around 70,000 km, but I expect the motor will now go another 70,000 without much more than the above mentioned maintenace.
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Thumbnails in this table link to larger images
Visit the VULCAN DIAGRAMS page to see all diagrams as full-size GIF images
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Touring on a 500 Vulcan
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While perhaps not every rider would consider the 500 Vulcan a perfect touring bike, it's ideal for me. I can manage to pack 140lb. of camping gear and still haul it off the sidestand.
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Vulcan on the track
As track-day bikes go, the 500 Vulcan isn't a great choice, although it's as capable as almost any cruiser, it remains a cruiser with a flexy tube chassis and a limited cornering clearance. Still, the track is a great safe enviroment in which to test the limitations of your bike, so the Vulcan and I went to Mosport.
Yes, I had to replace the pegs after this trackday.
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Do you ride an EN 500 Vulcan? If you would like to contribute a review of the bike, please E-mail me.
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