Kawasaki W650 scrambler

Occasionally a bike comes along that stops me dead in my tracks. It’s usually a motorcycle that’s a little ‘different’: perhaps not 100% perfect, but with charm and style. And with that indefinable quality of begging to be ridden. This Kawasaki W650 is one of those bikes, built by French graphic artist Nicolas Barthelemy of Skuddesign. And he’s got the blend of drop-dead gorgeous looks and practicality just right. “I wanted to mix aesthetic codes—bobber, brat style and street tracker—to create a motorcycle that corresponds to my world,” he says. This W650 looks clean. To keep the front end as...