There’s something strangely appealing to me about metric cruisers from the 1980s to 2000s. On one hand, you might argue that they were lazy attempts to cut into Harley’s dominance of the US market. On the other hand, they may have helped push the game along when Harley didn’t have much competition.
Without anyone to threaten its top-dog position, the MoCo, arguably, didn’t have a whole lot of incentive to innovate. Bikes like the Kawasaki VN1500 weren’t mindblowing, but they did, at least, help to keep time from standing still. Appropriately, this particular variation recalled a time when Harley did face serious competition, mimicking a 1948 Indian Chief.
The Drifter was born of a custom build by Danny Berg, who overhauled a 1995 Kawasaki VN1500 Classic and called it the “Super Chief.” Kawasaki displayed it at a handful of shows in 1996-1997 and rider response was so positive that Team Green decided to recreate the custom bike in a production model. The 1500cc Drifter launched in 1999 and ran until 2005 (An 800cc version was also produced – from 1999 to 2006).
Powered by a 1470cc liquid-cooled V-twin, the Drifter was effectively nothing more than a VN1500 – aka Vulcan 1500, aka Vulcan 88 – in old-school clothing. That means a five-speed engine delivering roughly 69 hp and 85 lb-ft of torque, shaft drive, and disc brakes front and rear. The end result was a motorcycle that the venerable John Burns called “a bike that isn’t what you thought it was, but is everything you would want the real thing to be.”
This particular example isn’t in perfect condition but could be cleaned up relatively easily. First thing to do is remove those ugly saddlebags and their mounts. The bracket on the right-hand side is damaged anyway, but, more importantly, the Drifter didn’t originally come with saddlebags. Next, ditch that old-man two-up seat for the original single-rider seat, or, at least a reasonable facsimile. Why would you want to share the glory of this much old-school cool? To each his own on whether it’s worth adding the leather fringe that originally came with some (but seemingly not all) models.
The seller says the bike “runs and drives great” and certainly it’s the case that these bikes have a reputation for reliability. With 30,401 miles on the clock, you can find this example being sold for just $3,950 in Schenectady, New York, here on eBay.