• The Kawasaki Drifter 1500 is part of the Vulcan series of motorcycles. The Vulcan is one of the company's cruiser lines of motorcycles, along with the Eliminator. The Vulcan is styled after the classic old Indian and Harley-Davidson motorcycles of the 1930s and 1940s. The Drifter's look is especially meant to evoke the Indian cruisers of the late 1940s. The bike was introduced to the United States in 1999 and was offered as an 800 cc bike as well as a 1500. Kawasaki stopped offering the Drifter in 2005.
  
  

Engine

• The Drifter 1500 had a 1470 cc, four-stroke, two-cylinder engine. The Drifter used the famous V-twin engine, where the two cylinders were arranged in a V configuration. Other bikes that used the V-twin were the Indian Chief, Scout and Powerplus; the Suzuki Boulevard; the Honda Shadow, Deauville and Transalp and the Yamaha Virago. It was an eight-valve, water-cooled, 90 cubic inch engine, with a bore and stroke of 4 inches by 3.5 inches. Torque was 83.1 foot-pounds at 2,800 rpm, and it had a compression ratio of 9:1. The Drifter 1500 carburetor was digitally fuel-injected, the first ever offered by Kawasaki for one of their V-twin engines. Gas tank capacity for the 1999 and 2000 Drifters was 4.23 gallons. Fuel capacity rose slightly for the 2001 through 2005 Drifter 1500s, to 5 gallons. A five-speed manual transmission was standard, with not one but two overdrives. Engine specifications stayed the same throughout the motorcycle's run in 2005.
  
  

Body

• The Drifter 1500 had a long, curvy look. The bike came with large fenders, deep wheel wells and chrome accents. Wheelbase for the Drifter 1500 was 65.2 inches. The bike had single disc brakes front and rear. There was no reserve gas tank for the 1999 Drifters, so the motorcycle came with a low-gas idiot light. The Drifter had a soft, smooth suspension and air-assisted rear shocks. "Almost no vibration gets through the handlebar or floorboards," said an article about the 1999 Drifters on Motorcycle.Com. The 1500 did not offer hidden rear suspension, although the smaller 800s sold in Japan and Europe did. Like the engine, body specifications for the Drifter remained more or less the same until 2005.
  
  

Options

• Many cruiser bike riders like their bikes painted basic black the best, but the 1500 Drifters came with more than one color choice. In addition to "ebony," buyers also had a choice of deep gooseberry (1999), deep turquoise green and pearl burnish beige (2000), oxblood (2001-2002), pearl ivory (2001), metallic ruby red (2003) and Galaxy Silver Type 2 (2004-2005). The Drifter 1500 also had options such as a windshield, racks, leather trim, leather bags and back rests.