Author: Roland Brown. Photos by Double Red and Ulla Serra Posted: 12 Mar 2015
Kawasaki Ninja H2 & H2R: First Test!
Nobody could claim they hadn’t been warned about the Ninja H2 and H2R. There were all those trailer videos last year, followed by huge coverage when the supercharged fours were displayed at the shows, with talk of massive power outputs. Then Kawasaki had said that the original estimates were too low, and the street-legal H2 actually makes over 200bhp with ram-air, far exceeded by the track-only H2R’s unprecedented output of well over 300bhp.
But even after all that hype and expectation, it’s still quite shocking to wind back the Ninja H2R’s throttle and aim it onto the Losail circuit’s pit straight. There’s a maniacal shriek as the bars go light in third gear, then the sound rises and falls rapidly as I tap the quick-shifter three more times. This incredible bike keeps on pulling hard deep into top before, with the first turn rapidly approaching, I have to sit up and squeeze the front brake lever and brace myself against the braking force and sudden rush of wind on my head and shoulders. It’s a thrilling, violent experience from a production bike whose like I’ve not ridden before.
Back in the pits, a mechanic presses a button on the dashboard to reveal that the H2R recorded a maximum of 198mph. That’s just short of the double-ton mark that a couple of braver or smaller journos managed, and what’s even more impressive is that the bike was nowhere near its top speed. And the standard Ninja H2 had been seriously rapid at the same point in the previous session, revving high in top gear to get close to its electronically limited maximum of 186mph.
If you’re looking for speed and excitement, you’ve come to the right place with the Ninjas. Kawasaki has long prided itself as a brand that delivers high performance, dating right back to the original H2 two-stroke triple of 1972. And it’s absolutely no coincidence that the firm revived the H2 name for this pair of supercharged bikes that are the most outrageous and hardest-accelerating yet from a major manufacturer.
They’re certainly among the most visually stunning, combining an array of dramatic, distinctive shapes with a quality of finish rarely seen on production bikes. The H2R is unique in that its carbon-fibre half-fairing is equipped with pairs of aerodynamic fins on either side, shaped to provide downforce at high speed.
And even the standard H2, whose bodywork is in conventional plastic, has a literally brilliant finish from mirror-like paintwork that contains genuine silver, is applied by hand and is unique in the automotive industry. The roadgoing Ninja too has a host of neat details, from its LED lights and neatly machined top yoke to the sculpted tailpiece. And in the UK, at least, the contrastingly huge and ugly silencer will be replaced by a much smaller and neater (and doubtless more tuneful) carbon-fibre Akrapovic can.
Of course the powerplant, almost all of which is common to both models, is special too: a 998cc, 16-valve four like that of the ZX-10R, but an all new design created to be boosted by a supercharger, which was also purpose-designed and produced in-house by Kawasaki. It’s the firm’s proud boast that the Ninjas were created to showcase the giant corporation’s numerous divisions including Aerospace, and that no other firm could have built them – and it’s hard to argue with that.
Even the chassis is like nothing Kawasaki has ever built before, based on a tubular steel trellis frame that would be Ducati-like if it wasn’t painted metalflake green instead of red, and didn’t employ a four-cylinder engine as the pivot for the single-sided aluminum swing-arm. Both bikes have KYB suspension at front and rear, with the 43mm forks’ adjusters set into the green tops that poke through the immaculately machined top yoke.
Author: Roland Brown. Photos by Double Red and Ulla Serra Posted: 12 Mar 2015
Kawasaki Ninja H2 & H2R: First Test!
Nobody could claim they hadn’t been warned about the Ninja H2 and H2R. There were all those trailer videos last year, followed by huge coverage when the supercharged fours were displayed at the shows, with talk of massive power outputs. Then Kawasaki had said that the original estimates were too low, and the street-legal H2 actually makes over 200bhp with ram-air, far exceeded by the track-only H2R’s unprecedented output of well over 300bhp.
But even after all that hype and expectation, it’s still quite shocking to wind back the Ninja H2R’s throttle and aim it onto the Losail circuit’s pit straight. There’s a maniacal shriek as the bars go light in third gear, then the sound rises and falls rapidly as I tap the quick-shifter three more times. This incredible bike keeps on pulling hard deep into top before, with the first turn rapidly approaching, I have to sit up and squeeze the front brake lever and brace myself against the braking force and sudden rush of wind on my head and shoulders. It’s a thrilling, violent experience from a production bike whose like I’ve not ridden before.
Back in the pits, a mechanic presses a button on the dashboard to reveal that the H2R recorded a maximum of 198mph. That’s just short of the double-ton mark that a couple of braver or smaller journos managed, and what’s even more impressive is that the bike was nowhere near its top speed. And the standard Ninja H2 had been seriously rapid at the same point in the previous session, revving high in top gear to get close to its electronically limited maximum of 186mph.
If you’re looking for speed and excitement, you’ve come to the right place with the Ninjas. Kawasaki has long prided itself as a brand that delivers high performance, dating right back to the original H2 two-stroke triple of 1972. And it’s absolutely no coincidence that the firm revived the H2 name for this pair of supercharged bikes that are the most outrageous and hardest-accelerating yet from a major manufacturer.
They’re certainly among the most visually stunning, combining an array of dramatic, distinctive shapes with a quality of finish rarely seen on production bikes. The H2R is unique in that its carbon-fibre half-fairing is equipped with pairs of aerodynamic fins on either side, shaped to provide downforce at high speed.
And even the standard H2, whose bodywork is in conventional plastic, has a literally brilliant finish from mirror-like paintwork that contains genuine silver, is applied by hand and is unique in the automotive industry. The roadgoing Ninja too has a host of neat details, from its LED lights and neatly machined top yoke to the sculpted tailpiece. And in the UK, at least, the contrastingly huge and ugly silencer will be replaced by a much smaller and neater (and doubtless more tuneful) carbon-fibre Akrapovic can.
Of course the powerplant, almost all of which is common to both models, is special too: a 998cc, 16-valve four like that of the ZX-10R, but an all new design created to be boosted by a supercharger, which was also purpose-designed and produced in-house by Kawasaki. It’s the firm’s proud boast that the Ninjas were created to showcase the giant corporation’s numerous divisions including Aerospace, and that no other firm could have built them – and it’s hard to argue with that.
Even the chassis is like nothing Kawasaki has ever built before, based on a tubular steel trellis frame that would be Ducati-like if it wasn’t painted metalflake green instead of red, and didn’t employ a four-cylinder engine as the pivot for the single-sided aluminum swing-arm. Both bikes have KYB suspension at front and rear, with the 43mm forks’ adjusters set into the green tops that poke through the immaculately machined top yoke.
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