engine that displaces (would you believe) 535cc through a bore and stroke of 76 x 59mm. Compression ratio is 9:1, carburation is handled by a pair of 32mm Mikuni carbs and forward motion is supplied by a five-speed gearbox and a shaft drive. Being a fairly basic two-valve-per-cylinder motor the XV535 isn't the most powerful thing in the world, but 46hp at 7500rpm isn't too bad and 35ftlb of torque at 6000rpm is just about enough to give is some grunt.
The EN500 takes the water-cooled double overhead cam parallel twin approach. With a capacity of 498cc from a bore and stroke of 74 x 58mm the motor breathes" through a pair of 34mm Keihin CV carbs, the gearbox is a six-speed item and final drive is via a toothed belt. Because the EN has four valves per cylinder it produces a fairly healthy 50hp at 8500rpm but torque is only 32.5ftlb at 7300 revs.
On the road the XV and the EN display their two very different natures. The XV is an altogether lower revving unit that feels happier chugging along in a high gear, using all its torque to avoid more use of the gearbox than is necessary. Because neither of these bikes have a rev counter you never know what revs you're doing, but that doesn't really matter on the XV because revving it hard doesn't reap much in the way of reward. The XV is a bike that prefers the leisurely approach and an early change-up. Not so the EN500, which thrives on revs and goes astoundingly quickly if you thrash it. But thrashing the EN is a bit scary because without the benefit of a tacho or a rev limiter you have no idea how high to rev it before it starts bouncing valves. The off ice-policy was to rev it until the little red light with 'OIL'

Davidson as possible. The Yamaha XV535 actually looks quite tasteful considering it's styled for Americans. It's long, low and small, with pleasing lines and moderately understated for this type of thing. For a start it's a V-twin, which helps, and it has flatter handlebars than is usual for custom bikes. The only really naff bits are the twin chrome air filters and the really ugly mirrors. The rest of it looks neat, lean and mercifully free of tacky custom accoutrements. The Kawasaki has no saving graces at all in this department. It's a water-cooled parallel twin, which looks wrong, it's got high handlebars and a silly seat with a sissy bar. No matter which way you look at it, the EN500 is pig ugly. I suppose I can kiss goodbye to my monthly free copy of Back Street Heroes, but there's no denying that as a styling exercise the EN500 is a carbuncle on the backside of motorcycling. I pondered for some time what EN stands for, before coming to the conclusion that it's short for Extremely Nasty.
However, there's more to these two bikes than just an ugly face - there's awful handling, a gutless motor and nasty brakes too. Okay, so maybe I'm being a trifle harsh, but these bikes bring out the worst in me. If you can ignore the riding position and styling, neither of these two are bad machines for middleweight twins even though they take two completely different approaches to the same thing. The Yamaha approach is to go for a V-twin with shaft drive, while Kawasaki have gone for a parallel twin and belt drive. Either way, the American market demands ease of maintenance and no messy chains to deal with. Getting a bit more specific, the Yamaha uses an air-cooled single overhead cam V- twin

The EN's rear suspension is very soft, exhaust note is feeble and the rear brake ineffectual

At the back the XV's suspension just about copes, even if the drum brake isn't up to much