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Hillier Sets 206 MPH Sulby Record on a Kawasaki H2R

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The Sulby Straight is the fastest part of the Isle of Man TT course, and when the conditions are right, it’s not uncommon for the big Superbike and Senior TT bikes to break the 200 mph mark on the nearly mile-long stretch.

It is, however, a bit uncommon for riders to reach the 200 mph mark during the TT’s parade laps, but don’t tell that to James Hillier. “Parading” the supercharged Kawasaki H2R around the Mountain Course, Hillier set an outright top speed record down the Sulby Straight, with an official speed of 206 mph.

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Bikes

2016 Kawasaki Z800 ABS – Coming to 49 States of the USA

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Back in 2012, Kawasaki debuted the Z800 naked bike, as a 2013 model. Featuring an 806cc inline-four motor, the European Z800 comes in two flavors: the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja Z800 & the 2013 Kawasaki Ninja Z800e.

In Europe, the Kawasaki Ninja Z800 makes 111hp and 61 lbs•ft of torque, while the Kawasaki Ninja Z800e gets a bit more watered down with 94hp and 56 lbs•ft of torque, though it saves 6 lbs over its more burly counterpart.

Now making the Kawasaki Z800 ABS available in the American market, of course not to the USA’s largest state for motorcycle sales (California), the middleweight streetfighter is any early look at Kawasaki’s model lineup for next year.

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News

Consumer Reports: Victory Owners the Most Happy, But Yamaha the Most Reliable

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Consumer Reports has taken another polling from motorcycle owners, a part of the publication’s continuous assessment on the value of various motorcycle brands and categories.

As usual, the Japanese brands dominated the reliability segment, though that did not automatically translate into the happiest of owners.

Victory Motorcycles takes the cake for keeping its customers happy, which stems from having fairly reliable motorcycles, coupled with good customer service and dealer interactions.

As such, 80% of Victory owners said they would buy a Victory again. Compare that figure to 72% for Harley-Davidson, and 70% for Honda (all other OEMs were below 70%).

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Bikes

Second-Chance to Order a Kawasaki Ninja H2

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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.

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News

Kawasaki Ninja H2: Coming to a Street Near You

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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.

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News

Kawasaki Applies for Electric Motorcycle Patent

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Need further proof that the future of motorcycling will include electrics? Take this recently published patent application from Kawasaki, that the Japanese OEM filed for back in 2011.

The claims are fairly rudimentary, though they do include a transmission, with Kawasaki’s lawyers mostly outlining the basics of a motorcycle powered by an electric motor, of course the news is less about the contents of the patent application, and more about the fact that it was applied for, in the first place.

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Recall

Recall: Kawasaki Concours 14 Police Bikes

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Police officers take note, your Kawasaki Concours 14 patrol bike might be up for a recall. In total, 194 units of Kawasaki’s police Concours 14 and 14ABS motorcycles may have electrical problems, as the added police accessories may cause the 30 amp main fuse to blow, and the wiring harness may chafe, leading to a short-circuit.

Because blowing the main 30 amp fuse will cause the engine to stall, and thus increase the risk of a crash, Kawasaki is recalling these units (made between May 8, 2008, to February 20, 2013), and filed a recall with NHTSA.

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MotoGP

Kawasaki To Return To MotoGP? An Unlikely Tale…

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Rather perversely, a lot of the talk at the World Superbike test at Jerez has not been about World Superbikes at all. Which is a shame, as the 2015 World Superbike championship promises to be particularly fascinating, with testing times very close indeed.

Instead, there was a real kerfuffle about the slowest bike on the track, the one being ridden by Kenny Noyes and Dominique Aegerter.

The cause of the fuss? The fact that it was a Kawasaki, a further development of the Open class bike raced by the Avintia Racing team in MotoGP last year, has generated a mountain of speculation that Team Green is preparing a comeback to MotoGP, bringing all four major Japanese factories back into the premier class.

The truth was a good deal more prosaic.

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Bikes

Kawasaki Ninja H2R Streetfighter Concept by AD Koncept

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As owners take receipt of their purchases, 2015 will be marked significantly by the arrival of the Kawasaki Ninja H2/R supercharged sport bikes.

Kawasaki has assured us that it won’t take much tinkering for the H2 street bike to meet the performance specs of the H2R, a fact many deriders of the machine seem to forget when spec-sheet racing.

We are perhaps disappointed that Kawasaki made owning a Ninja H2 and Ninja H2R such an exclusive process, as it robs us of the chance to see some extreme concepts and customizations from the motorcycling community.

Take this streetfighter concept of Kawasaki Ninja H2R by AD Koncept, for instance. Pure brawny muscle, the H2 surely has the makings of being the ultimate streetfighter.

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Bikes

Up-Close with the Kawasaki Ninja H2

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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.

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