If anything, the air around the upcoming Kawasaki Ninja H2 is getting heavier and heavier. In the absence of anything but some teasers which offer the customers a really sweet turbo sound and the sight of a blazing fly-by bike nobody can tell anything about, things are running amok.
I’ve got the same two emails Jensen Beeler from A&R got yesterday, with the difference than on my side of the pond it was already the dead of the night when they arrived. While I was planning to do some research first thing in the morning, I was surprised to read his most recent article on the Kawasaki Ninja H2.
It looks like the story many other motorcycle journalists got the very same two emails from “Mark” and his “friend”. Jensen got tipped by “Michael”, while “juicy information” was sent to me by “Taylor”. Wonder what other names have been used to spread the info… However, if you want to read a more detailed explanation of the results A&R’s research produced, please read their entire story.
A story which, in fewer words, says that there is something very fishy to the whole “inside connections” business, especially as everything looks rather vague.
All new engine, 222 HP, breaking the 300 km/h gentlemen’s agreement
The “friend of a friend with inside connections at KHI” (funny thing to name the whole corporation instead of Kawasaki) apparently indicated that the H2 will be a 222 horsepower bike equipped with a completely new, in-line 4, 1,000cc engine, with a centrifugal supercharger. Even more, the “leaked info” also mentioned that the H2 will be the “quickest and most powerful Kawasaki motorcycle of all time.”
While the latter might very well be a true claim, given the premises we’ve got so far, and the H2 could indeed beat the ZX-14R in a straight line or a race, the rest of the data must be still regarded with skepticism.
Truth is, one of my pals who is also a journalist with close connections with the industry told me that rumors in his area are mentioning a ZX-10R supercharged engine, but again, without anything to back this up. He also mentioned about raising the bar as far as the speed limit was concerned, with 299 km/h (186 mph) being too low a figure for the upcoming bike. The same source also spoke about a special paint used for the bike, and the fact that the front end of the machine will be exceedingly aggressive and “crazy,” to use his own word.
Until then, Kawasaki prefers to dish out another funny teaser showing us some retro and contemporary footage of KHI workers assembling gas turbines. Clearly an effort to link the modern upcoming bike to the heavy industry heritage which comes with the Kawasaki badge, but once more, offering nowhere near enough info as to what the H2 is going to be like. The next teaser, and possibly the last one will surface on 24 September, ahead of the launch.
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