[h2rcx]

Top Uk press rider Chad...Official first words from Motorcycle News.

 

[pebble35]

Bike magazine said

'Just been first journalists on H2. Ruddy heck. Can't imagine what H2R like this afternoon...'

 

[OOgnirts]

Ahhhh, I cannot tell if this helps the wait or makes the wait more painful. Great to hear such positive experiences for sure, which lessens the pain of the wait for the last couple of months, but now just makes me want mine more.


Be merciful, deliveries on or before end of next week pllleeeaasse.

 

[Bazza]

MCN:

"After months of hype and build-up the H2 matches and maybe even surpasses all of it" says Adam. "It’s truly immense, and in third and fourth gear the bike just wants to take off. It’s incredible in terms of acceleration but it also stops and handles way better than you might expect.

“The traction control works really well and I have been riding with it set quite low and this has meant the bike has been several inches out of line all the way through three gears with the rear wheel spinning. In top gear it slows down a little bit but it’s still as fast as a Kawasaki ZX-10R and is pulling 180mph at the end of the straight.

“And that's just the road bike version – I’m riding the H2R in two hours!”

 

[Brig10r]

MCN:

After all this talk about how fast it might go at the top end this is what I've been waiting to see ... someone ringing it's neck on a track and cranking it over in the corners with their knee scraping. Someone to tell me it handles well when throwing it around.

Oh it's going to be fun ... NOW I CANNOT WAIT

 

[GoFaster]

Somewhere out there, is a photo showing an H2R instrument cluster displaying "MAX SPEED 357 km/h" but I haven't found where this photo originated - I've only found it posted by others in a couple of private groups.

Holy crap.

 

[pebble35]

Somewhere out there, is a photo showing an H2R instrument cluster displaying "MAX SPEED 357 km/h" but I haven't found where this photo originated - I've only found it posted by others in a couple of private groups.

Holy crap.

From Motor Cycle News FB page

 

[Titan]

357 km/h!

That is soooooo fast. I haven't gone that fast while on the ground. Only in a plane so far. It just must be a whole other experience to get yourself moving at that pace on a motorcycle. I look forward to reading some reviews and first person accounts of how it feels to approach the bike's top speed on the track.

 

[Brig10r]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=797149640378576&set=vb.156185381141675&type=2&theater

I hope that link works. Just listen to it !!! OMG I'm nearly wetting myself .... can't stop smiling smiling smiling

 

[BobC]

"It’s truly immense and in third and fourth gear the bike just wants to take off" to take a quote from above.

This is the H2 he's talking about, not the H2R, which surprises me because it looks really restricted above 10,000 rpm (according to the map published in Don Guhl's post). I would expect it to pull well up to around 140-150 and then begin to tail right off. It wouldn't pull very well in 6th gear near the red line with the ECU backing off the throttle to 32% now would it? I'm assuming that the road-legal bikes used in the launch have stock ECU's ????

Btw: In the photo of the H2R display 357 kph is 221 mph.

 

[pebble35]

"It’s truly immense and in third and fourth gear the bike just wants to take off" to take a quote from above.

This is the H2 he's talking about, not the H2R, which surprises me because it looks really restricted above 10,000 rpm (according to the map published in Don Guhl's post). I would expect it to pull well up to around 140-150 and then begin to tail right off. It wouldn't pull very well in 6th gear near the red line with the ECU backing off the throttle to 32% now would it? I'm assuming that the road-legal bikes used in the launch have stock ECU's ????

Btw: In the photo of the H2R display 357 kph is 221 mph.

You would hope Kawasaki would not try any sneaky tricks by giving the press 'tweaked' bikes !

 

[GoFaster]

There has been mention that the H2 tails off in top gear nearing 180mph and that's to be expected from the way it's tuned.

 

[GoFaster]

"It’s truly immense and in third and fourth gear the bike just wants to take off" to take a quote from above.

This is the H2 he's talking about, not the H2R, which surprises me because it looks really restricted above 10,000 rpm (according to the map published in Don Guhl's post). I would expect it to pull well up to around 140-150 and then begin to tail right off. It wouldn't pull very well in 6th gear near the red line with the ECU backing off the throttle to 32% now would it? I'm assuming that the road-legal bikes used in the launch have stock ECU's ????

Btw: In the photo of the H2R display 357 kph is 221 mph.

Don't forget that because of the way the H2 has been restricted (!), it makes the same peak power as ZX10R, S1000RR, etc but those bikes all make that power at one particular RPM and the H2 makes that power everywhere above 10,000 rpm and has stonking midrange. That's where the acceleration is coming from. A centrifugal supercharger doesn't make much boost down low, but these guys aren't puttering around at 2500 rpm.

Also, for the H2R, remember that the 357 km/h display was "found on the bike" (no one knows when or where it may have happened) and isn't representative of actual speeds being seen at Losail. I'm hearing the actual speeds are in the 313 - 322 km/h range as shown on the display. It's pretty likely that all of these numbers include Kawasaki's usual intentional 7% speedometer error. But still ...

 

[OKH2]

A centrifugal supercharger doesn't make much boost down low, but these guys aren't puttering around at 2500 rpm.

It's because centrifugal SC's don't typically make much boost at lower rpm's that Kawasaki used a step up gear and designed the SC the way they did in order to spin it faster at lower rpms (to produce boost). The SC is making decent boost at lower rpm's allowing them to still use a cam, probably similar to the 10R. This way they have decent low end, mad mid-range and a stout top end to match. The Pwr/Tq chart as shown in the pics from Losail shows very robust HP/torque across the rpm range which is not typical of an inline four.
Panigale :xmy arse!

 

[SilverbirdH2]

"It's pretty likely that all of these numbers include Kawasaki's usual intentional 7% speedometer error. But still" ...I would imagine THIS bike has a calibrated speedo already in there.The 14R is only off by 3 mph.Throughout the whole rpm range.I do think(can't prove it)the newest Kawasaki bikes have a calibration program already in the ECU...my 07 14 WAS off by at least 5%...but not the 14R.From 2012 on up to now.

 

[BobC]

There has been mention that the H2 tails off in top gear nearing 180mph and that's to be expected from the way it's tuned.

That's exactly what I'm getting at. You would expect it to tail off when the ECU is progressively shutting the throttle from 100% to 32% between 10,000 and 13,000 rpm. It will be enlightening to read the full reports from the journalists. I'll be using mine for standing start miles.