Kawasaki Ninja H2 – By Trevor Hedge
Kawasaki have finally pulled the wraps of one of the most anticipated new street bike models to ever come out of Japan, the 2015 Kawasaki Ninja H2.
Unlike the 310 horsepower at 14,000rpm track only Kawasaki Ninja H2R, the road going Ninja H2 boasts a much lower, yet still considerable 200 horsepower at 11,000rpm.
While that 200 horsepower figures is also equalled by other newcomers such as Yamaha’s YZF-R1 and Ducati’s 1299 Panigale, the supercharged Kawasaki makes its power with much fewer RPM ,and with a lot more torque than the equal capacity Yamaha, and almost matches the 300cc larger Panigale for torque with 140.4Nm at 10,000rpm to the Ducati’s 144Nm at 8750rpm. Thus essentially what the supercharger has allowed Kawasaki to do is give four-cylinder smoothness matched with the grunt of a much larger capacity v-twin.
In road trim however the Ninja H2 is listed as tipping the scales at a ready to ride 238kg compared to the 190kg of the Ducati 1299 Panigale and the 199kg of the 2015 Yamaha YZF-R1. While some may scoff at the Ninja H2 at mention of that mass it is highly likely that the Kawasaki will prove the much more enjoyable bike away from the confines of the racetrack, where it is more than about just the numbers.
Kawasaki have always made machines with huge power and torque, such as the current ZX14, the H2 is just about doing something different. And after the recent years of bland coming from Japan huge kudos have to go Team Green for actually doing something different, and different the Ninja H2 most certainly is.
