Kawasaki W230 vs Yamaha XSR155: Image Comparison

The Kawasaki W230 and the Yamaha XSR155 are two sides of the same coin, which is the neo-retro roadster segment. While both bikes have old-school elements with modern tech neatly integrated, they look quite different. Here’s how: 

Front Design: Analogue Retro vs Digital Retro

The W230's round headlight has two separate chambers for low and high beam. It's built to look like an old bulb headlamp, even though it's all LED underneath. That said, Kawasaki has kept the rest of the lights a bit more old school, so the round indicators and the boxy tail light are of bulb type. 

More than this, our most favourite aspect of the bike is the twin-pod instrument console. In the age of connected tech, this one’s properly retro with just the right amount of modernity. It houses an analogue speedometer, an analogue tachometer with retro-style numerical fonts, along with a small digital inset for odometer and tripmeter readings.

The XSR155 also gets a round LED headlight, but it looks a little fancier thanks to the XSR logo right at the center. We wish it had a chrome ring, just like the Kawasaki W230, though. Also, as for the console, it has a single-pod round unit, but it’s all digital. There’s a tachometer, speedometer, mileage and gear position indicator, and even basic smartphone connectivity with call & SMS alerts. Sure, it’s got a lot more useful information, but nothing beats the aura of a twin-pod analogue instrument console. 

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Side Profile: Vintage Curves vs Muscular Stance

The W230 stays slim and low. You get to see a 37mm telescopic fork up front, twin shocks with 5-step preload adjustment at the rear. The header pipe flows into a peashooter-style silencer. We like the fact that Kawasaki has used a mix of shiny and blacked-out elements. The engine has a metallic finish, along with a chromed-out exhaust, whereas the frame as well as the underpinnings are all in black. 

The XSR155, on the other hand, goes bigger and bolder. The fuel tank looks more muscular than the W230’s 11.7-litre tank, but it holds only 10 litres of fuel. The side panels are simple, but the visual highlight is the beefy deltabox beams on the sides. 

The engine doesn’t look as neat as the W230’s thanks to liquid cooling, so it’s good that Yamaha offered it a blacked-out treatment on the cases. The exhaust is also blacked-out, but we’d have liked to see a better design here. It’s too chunky for our liking. Another highlight is the gold-finished inverted fork, aluminium swingarm with monoshock - all of which scream modernity.  

Rear Design: Understated vs Attention-Grabbing

The W230 stays true to form at the back. The boxy taillight, the contoured single-piece seat, and the chromed-out rear fender look reminiscent of that of the original Kawasaki W1 from the 1960s. 

The XSR155 goes for a bit more modern look instead. The taillight is round, but it is sleek and has LEDs. Even the indicators are slender and are LEDs. We’d have liked them to be round LEDs instead, though. 

Which One For Whom?

Both bikes chase the same idea: retro looks, modern engineering, same idea but executed in different ways. The W230 goes all in on vintage, round dials, peashooter exhaust, and details straight out of 1965. The XSR155 keeps the retro shape but wraps it in tech, right down to Bluetooth connectivity via Yamaha's Y-Connect app. Want old-school through and through? Go W230, provided you’re okay with the bike’s chilled-out performance. 

Want that retro look with modern touches? XSR155 makes more sense, and performance enthusiasts will be glad to know it feels as peppy as the Yamaha R15. While the Kawasaki W230 isn’t available in India, the closest air-cooled retro alternative you could buy is the Royal Enfield Bullet 350.