version and it looks particularly smart, yes, it has retro styling, but it is also just a damn good-looking motorcycle. The 15-litre satin black fuel tank, while capacious, sits just as it should, and the seat is a dark brown, narrow in profile, but very comfortable. Ergonomically, the ride position is pretty square with pegs barely behind the knee, a comfortable reach to easy bars, and a single analogue clock displaying speed, albeit without a rev counter – it seemed superfluous anyway- and a small LCD dash with gear position, fuel use, odometer, clock, voltage, and trips A & B. The engine is delivered in hard glossy black, and it’ s the making of the bike, with chrome side covers and beautiful finish, it oozes great Japanese manufacturing standards while adding to the retro stylishness.
THE HARDWARE Wheels are standard 19-inch front and 17-inch rear with single discs, which provide highly adequate braking from Nissin on 310 disc with dual piston caliper up front, and 240mm at the rear with a single pot. Suspension is firm but subtle and was very good at taking the edge off bumpy broken roads while maintaining decent tracking. Twin shocks at the rear with 120mm of movement are, again, more than adequate for the job. Equipped with a slipper clutch, the ride is both engaging and predictable, nothing really stands out, but in saying that, nothing stands out as being wrong either, it’ s simply very well made.
ENGINE So, we come to the specs of the engine, and on paper the numbers don’ t look like much to write home about. The single engine produces 20.7hp, but it certainly doesn’ t perform like that, and I think it’ s because it has quite a long stroke and delivers a decent 29Nm of torque at 3000rpm. It pulls very nicely from still and rocks to highway speeds considerably quicker than any other 350 single I’ ve ridden in many years. With a five-speed box, highways present no real bother, but while the GB350 can reach speeds
38 KIWI RIDER