Tag

2015 Kawasaki Ninja H2

Browsing

Did you miss your chance to reserve a Kawasaki Ninja H2 late last year? Don’t worry, Kawasaki is giving riders a second-chance at ordering the supercharged street bike.

According to the Kawasaki, the first-run of the H2 sold out, but since the H2 has since made the rounds on the motorcycle shows, and the press (not us) has had a go at them, there has been more interest coming out of the woodwork for the 200hp machine.

If you are one of the few people that pre-ordered a Kawasaki Ninja H2 street bike or Kawasaki Ninja H2R track bike, your wait is just about over as Kawasaki is ready to deliver its supercharged monsters to customers.

Built-to-order in a special facility at Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan, the H2 and H2R bikes have now been delivered to over 1,000 dealers in the USA.

As such, Ninja H2 customers can expect their bikes this week, while H2R owners will get their bikes later in April, once dealers have collected the necessary accessories (namely paddock stands) for the track-only machine.

With the track-only Kawasaki Ninja H2R putting out 300hp from its supercharged 998cc displacement, the 200hp Kawasaki Nina H2 street bike seems positively demure, by comparison.

Of course, any 200hp machine is more than a handful, and we doubt many H2 owners will keep their machines street legal for very long — it’s been explained to A&R that it doesn’t take much work to uncork the H2…we’re just not sure if that’s a good or bad thing though.

Ostentatious might be the best way to describe the new H2. Bringing back forced induction to the sport bike scene is a pretty bold move from Kawasaki, and something we will likely see more of from the Japanese manufacturers. The styling of the H2R was certainly…eye-catching…with all the winglets and dramatic lines, the H2 street bike is only slightly watered-down from that lurid design.

The Kawasaki Ninja H2 street bike has finally debuted at the EICMA show, giving motorcycle fans a glimpse at the road-going counterpart to the Kawasaki Ninja H2R track-only machine. Based around the same 998cc supercharged inline-four engine, the Kawasaki Ninja H2 makes an astonishing 207 hp with ram air, 197hp without. For reference, the Ninja H2R makes 305hp, without ram-air.

Kawasaki has designed its supercharger system to have two-step gear-ratio, allowing for maximum boost and low and high engine speeds, and the supercharger impeller reaches 130,000 rpm when the Kawasaki Ninja H2 is at its 14,000 rpm redline. Peak torque is 98 lbs•ft, at 10,500 rpm, with the supercharger primarily helping to broaden the powerband for better street riding.

It has certainly been interesting to see the buzz around the Kawasaki Ninja H2 these past few weeks, especially as everyone tries to cash in on the supercharged hype-machine that Kawasaki has been running.

First we saw Motorcycle.com just create a story out of thin air, to help its owner VerticalScope promote a new web property. That was…uhh…the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen while in this industry, not to mention just sloppy journalism. Now lately we have seen a supposed dealer invoice for the track-only Kawasaki Ninja H2R, with a price tag just north of $60,000.

Many publications have latched onto that price point — which isn’t the craziest conclusion to come to, considering that the H2R is Kawasaki’s halo-bike project, and will likely cost a pretty penny — though with just a quick glance, we can see that the alleged paperwork has clearly been a work of Photoshop, and not inside information.

Just last week the Kawasaki Ninja H2R, KHI’s supercharged track-only 300hp beast of a hyperbike, debuted at INTERMOT. The reception of the H2R was astounding, and Kawasaki has certainly laid down the gauntlet with the design, philosophy, and execution of its latest Ninja.

Kawasaki’s test riders are already reporting on social media speeds over 210 mph, and we eagerly await Kawasaki’s street-legal Ninja H2.

Set to debut at the AIMExpo in two weeks’ time, it seems the first image of the machine has leaked ahead of schedule. Caught in what looks like an early release of Kawasaki’s next teaser video, we can make out the lines of the Ninja H2 street bike.

It is finally time for the Kawasaki Ninja H2R to become officially official. No more teaser videos with weird chirps, no more fake news stories for pageviews, no more leaked photos (x2)…now we finally get to see what all the hype is about with this hyperbike.

Though now that the time is here, it is hard to say something new about the 2015 Kawasaki Ninja H2R that hasn’t already been said. Rebirthing a name that is synonymous with the original superbike war between the Japanese manufactures, Kawasaki has reinstated an old game, and made a bold first move.

At the heart of the new Ninja H2R is a supercharged 998cc inline-four engine which produces 300hp horsepower. You did not read that figure incorrectly. Wrapped around it is a fetching steel-tube trellis frame.

Building a machine that conformed only to Kawasaki’s own desires to make the ultimate motorcycle, it is perhaps refreshing to see a sport bike that isn’t constrained by the rules of a racing series — though Kawasaki has some racing in mind with its carbon-fiber dripping Ninja H2R model.

Essentially a rolling showcase for Kawasaki Heavy Industries, the Japanese OEM hopes that the H2R will serve as a halo product for the rest of the company’s motorcycles, similar to what the Ducati 1199 Superleggera does for the Italian brand, as well as the Japanese firm’s work with its other subsidiaries.