The Kawasaki Vulcan 800 Drifter is a 1940s-styled

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

loosely based on the lines of the c. 1940

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

produced by the Indian Manufacturing Company.

Features

The Drifter VN800 is powered by a modern, carbureted, single overhead cam, single pin, liquid cooled 805 cc 55-degree

V-twin engine A V-twin engine, also called a V2 engine, is a two-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. Although widely associated with motorcycles (installed either transversely or longi ...

. The twin cylinders have 'cooling fins', but they are almost entirely for show. The Drifter has a hidden rear mono-shock to make it appear to be a hard-tail, akin to a

Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...

Softail A softail (shortened form of ''soft tail'') motorcycle intentionally looks like vintage motorcycles with a rigid hard-tail frame that has a triangle of steel tubes at the rear axle, like on a bicycle frame, but on a Softail these tubes are ...

. The front and rear fenders cover about half of the respective wheel, and are the most striking visual cue.

Discontinued

When Kawasaki revealed its 2007 models, the 800 Drifter no longer appeared in the Vulcan line-up.

References

Vulcan 800 Drifter Cruiser motorcycles {{motorcycle-stub