1988 Kawasaki Vulcan 1500SE review from United States of America

Nothing; the previous owner was a shade-tree mechanic and had bought it as a basket case. He fixed everything and rode it for a year or so, and then bought another bike and sold this one.

This is one of the best bikes and deals I've ever gotten. I only paid $1100 for the bike and it looks and runs great. Of course, it has a few scratches and blemishes, and the tank and fenders are only primered, but after I detailed the bike it was really nice.

I've had four Harley's and this Vulcan 1500SE looks, sounds and runs as good as any Harley I've had at 1/10th of the price. Also, of course, it doesn't have the "mystique" of a real Harley, but fortunately I've outgrown the need.

I regard this bike a a "throw-away" bike as it was so cheap (relatively). I didn't have the money or desire for a Harley and I was actually looking for an older inexpensive BMW. However, in my price range (under $3K) all I found were old high mileage rust-buckets. I ran across this Vulcan on craigslist.com and gladly bought it.

I found that there are a lot of decent rice-burners out there if you don't need the status of a Harley or BMW. And the prices on Japanese bikes are really comparatively low.