Saturday, October 11, 2014

Kawasaki's newest weapon

Like the rest of you, we've been chomping at the bit for any new information about Kawasaki's newest weapon, the Ninja H2 and H2R. We've seen the dramatic photos, we've heard the chirping dyno pulls, but today, we get to see it in motion.
Kawasaki has released volume 11 of their viral marketing campaign for the H2 , showing the track-only H2R being put through its paces, tested and tuned at Autopolis, their test track in Japan. The sound of the Ninja H2R at full song is impressive even over computer speakers, and while the test rider handles the bike somewhat gingerly, you have to wonder what sort of systems are keeping all 300 of the hyperbike's horses in check while accelerating out of the corners.

hr2photo1
There are so many questions yet to answer about the Baddest Ninja Ever. What will it cost? What power figures will the street version make? How many minutes will it be until somebody tunes the street version up into a track version with lights? What will the bike be capable of, in the right hands? What the heck does Kawasaki plan to do with it?
But one thing's for sure. Big Green knows how to get our attention, and they're doing a good job keeping it.
Here we go again, it looks like Kawasaki will start again with its teasers of the H2. The first set of teasers led up to the unveiling of the 2015 Kawasaki H2R last week at Intermot. Now, we have the wait all over again, as we see the first teaser for the 2015 Kawasaki H2 street version.
Said to be detuned and far less expensive, the H2 will be built for the street where the H2R is a track-only bike. Now the pair of bikes have been seen together for what will likely be another long list of teaser videos leaving us wanting more.

The 2015 Kawasaki H2 Street

2015-Kawasaki-Ninja-H2-dark
What do you think will be different with the H2 compared to the H2R? Comment below. Our best guess is it'll receive a detuned drivetrain that's (hopefully) identical to the H2R, but with around 225hp. From the images it looks like it might have a carbon-fiber body work as well, but the top wings were replaced with mirrors. The front fairing, might be different as the windscreen could possibly be at a less steep angle, but again, it's hard to tell. We can definitely spot two huge exhaust canisters with probably a 4-to-2-to-1-to-2 exhaust configuration. It looks as though the street-version will retain the single-sided swing arm, like so many of us were hoping for.


Through the power of Photoshop we can see this from the video.

Through the power of Photoshop we can see this from the video.
The rumor is the street version will be unveiling sooner than you think (so stay tuned to RideApart, this month) meaning fewer teaser videos then before.


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