What Year Did Kawasaki Stop Making The Vulcan 2000 And What Was Its Top Speed?

Kawasaki's fastest motorcycles have a history of racing into victory lane adorned in the brand's iconic green livery. So much so that when one thinks of Kawasaki motorcycles, the first thing that comes to mind is the speed provided by iconic builds such as the Ninja. It's likely that Kawasaki's cruiser class Vulcan would not even register or come to mind.

Kawasaki's cruiser builds are designed more for power and cruising comfort than full throttle speed. That spirit was, perhaps, best embodied in Kawasaki's big time displacement cruiser, The Vulcan 2000. The build debuted in the Vulcan lineup in 2004, doing so equipped with a 2,053cc V-Twin engine, which at the time was not only the biggest that had ever powered a Kawasaki cruiser, but the biggest V-twin in the game. In fact, The Vulcan 2000 was the first bike to push past the 2,000cc mark.

The massive Kawasaki also boasted lines and design features closer to Harley-Davidson cruisers of the day — a fact that likely helped it find favor with serious riders who might otherwise not have looked at the Japanese brand in their search for a power-hungry cruiser. Though The Vulcan 2000 provided enough style and muscle to compete with cruisers from major manufacturers, it still did not last long in the Vulcan lineup, with Kawasaki pulling the plug on its big displacement bike in 2010. Nonetheless, the build has not been forgotten, and is regarded by some as one of the best Japanese cruisers ever built.

Kawasaki did not kill the entire Vulcan lineup when it ceased production on the Vulcan 2000. The manufacturer is, in fact, still making Vulcans today. However, none of the more recent builds boast power output like the 116 horsepower 141 lb-ft of torque provided by the 2,053cc engine. For now, the Vulcan 1700 Vaquero's 1,700cc engine being the biggest Kawasaki makes for its cruisers these days.

Given the size and power of The Vulcan 2000s engine, you'd be right in assuming it was also one of the fastest Vulcans in the fleet. Though official numbers from Kawasaki are hard to come by so many years after The Vulcan 2000 was eliminated from its lineup, some tested the bike's capability. Top Speed claimed in a 2007 feature that the build could easily ramp up to anywhere between 120 mph and 150 mph if you were inclined to really open it up, and they are not the only publication to make that claim. 

Though the bike was faster than many other cruisers on the road, one has to wonder just how comfortable a ride you'd be getting astride a Kawasaki Vulcan 2000 at those speeds. After all, speed was not exactly the point of the build. However, some reviewers claimed the bike accelerated with such ease, and was so comfortable at high speeds, they'd barely registered that they were traveling at triple-digits speeds. That mix of power, speed, and relative comfort is a big reason The Vulcan 2000 continues to earn revere amongst riders even more than a decade after Kawasaki stopped making it.