Kawasaki is emerging as a world leader of bikes

Bumblebee

Bumblebee

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In my estimate, just by looking at what Kawasaki is delivering to the world of motorcycling, it is emerging as the world leader...
Their H2 line isn't cheap and there is very little room for any mods but out of the box they are ready to go against any other bike. Suzuki and the other companies are literally getting left in the dust.

If other companies want to catch up, they had better get their arses in gear.

This video is a little long but sure shows where Kawasaki is going with their bikes.

Note they don't even talk about the ZX14R anymore-it's reign as a world leader has passed onto the H2 lineup.

2021 Kawasaki Models | Model Launch - YouTube
 
Play back my ride?
Color me old school, but I prefer to keep motorcycle riding and video gaming as 2 separate activities. Perfectly happy with the light blinking on when I'm over 9k RPMs, although it would be cool if an OEM module shouted out my AFR once in a while.
 
No sportbike needs mods. They're all fast out of the box. All Japanese 1000s are around $16-17k including the H2. People who are into any modding at all seem to go for a pipe and a flash, same as every Japanese sportbike. I'm not sure those basic mods make a huge leap in performance but people do them. I have a forum buddy who's on his second H2 now. He loves it. He got the new one for the electronics upgrades. I like his original H2 with black chrome paint and green trellis frame better plus he had CF bodywork and wheels that looked awesome. I think he should have kept what he had. He also paid $25k for it 8 years ago. What a slap in the face that was. I'm sure you've seen the videos of the supercharged H2 getting beat by NA liter bikes. There's another slap in the face. The H2 is a great looking bike and I'm sure a blast to ride but when it comes to outright speed, a supercharge 1000 should beat any NA 1000 hands down with or without mods. I'd rather have a faster, lighter NA liter bike that also handles better than the H2. Another forum buddy who is a noted tuner in the ZX-14 world owned an H2 and had plans for developing a flash for it. He rode it a few times in two years and sold it. For performance, I'd take a turbo busa or ZX-14 over an H2 or even an H2R. The H2s are cool bikes but they're playing the hype game still. Yes, I think Kaw may go supercharged but the old ZX-14 still looks like a much better platform than the H2 for a high speed machine. The ZX-10 is a much more capable road racing bike and it's about as fast or faster than the H2.

As far as world leaders, that has been the European bikes for the last eight years. Now there's some bikes you don't need or want to mod a whole lot but I know at least S1000rr has a lot of flash improvements. I'd say Kaw is looking like the hopes and dreams for people who can't afford Eurobikes but right now, it's mostly dreams.
 
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I agree, bikes do not NEED to be modified but it is human nature to do this...we modify everything and anything-that's just the way it is.

Kawasaki's ZX10R is a world leader in the liter bike world and the H2 will only get better and better as time goes by-a mild tune is netting 240 RWHP on those things...

Kawasaki led the world in the hyperbike scene with the ZX14R and now it (like the Hayabusa) is being left behind as technology goes forward and they are regaled to dinosaur status. Turboing them is an expensive and major modification as many on here are very much aware.

I cut my teeth on old school bikes and in many ways prefer those however, it isn't a guy like me who the bike manufacturers are targeting, they are after the video game generation and Kawasaki is on the money.

The S1000RR is a great bike too and is on par with anything out there as well, I wouldn't want to live on the edge between all the liter bike performance gaps these days.

I'm not real happy about the surge of technology either but there isn't a whole lot I can do about it.
 
Red05 said:
In a straight line :)
Click to expand...
The 2021 version will handle pretty well so it seems, they have a brand new suspension system.

They will certainly outhandle a ZX14R or Hayabusa in their latest rendition.

And probably not too far behind liter bikes

Competition is fierce out there....
 
Mythos said:
As far as world leaders, that has been the European bikes for the last eight years. Now there's some bikes you don't need or want to mod a whole lot but I know at least S1000rr has a lot of flash improvements. I'd say Kaw is looking like the hopes and dreams for people who can't afford Eurobikes but right now, it's mostly dreams.
Click to expand...

Apparently my neighbor from a few houses down agrees with you, I was just talking to him while out shoveling and he was walking by going to check his mail.

He put his name on the list for a BMW M1000RR and should have it by the New Year, he said it isn't cheap but they gave him a good trade in number for his old S1000RR so that took a bit of the bite out of the cost.

He said we can go for a ride together this summer so I can see how bright his tail light is....(with a big smile of course).......
 
Bumblebee said:
The 2021 version will handle pretty well so it seems, they have a brand new suspension system.

They will certainly outhandle a ZX14R or Hayabusa in their latest rendition.

And probably not too far behind liter bikes

Competition is fierce out there....
Click to expand...
I'd say the H2 has a ways to go, especially at the track, to approach the better bikes handling wise because of weight and geometry.
It's apparently a decent sports tourer though.
 
Red05 said:
I'd say the H2 has a ways to go, especially at the track, to approach the better bikes handling wise because of weight and geometry.
It's apparently a decent sports tourer though.
Click to expand...
I would say an H2 isn't allowed to race against N/A bikes on a track right? On the street it would come down to a rider in the twisties I think...

It looks as though Kawasaki is expanding it's use of the platform though.
 
Bumblebee said:
I would say an H2 isn't allowed to race against N/A bikes on a track right? On the street it would come down to a rider in the twisties I think...

It looks as though Kawasaki is expanding it's use of the platform though.
Click to expand...
I wasn't clear. I meant when doing track days, not professional racing. My Tuono isn't light but I'm light years faster on it than the Busa on a track. Believe me, the bike matters in the twisties too. A total creature of habit, I've ridden the same road for years. It's almost ridiculous how much faster corner speed I maintain on the Tuono, and it feels effortless. I average 10 minutes less in my favorite 60 mile span.,
 
Red05 said:
I wasn't clear. I meant when doing track days, not professional racing. My Tuono isn't light but I'm light years faster on it than the Busa on a track. Believe me, the bike matters in the twisties too. A total creature of habit, I've ridden the same road for years. It's almost ridiculous how much faster corner speed I maintain on the Tuono, and it feels effortless. I average 10 minutes less in my favorite 60 mile span.,
Click to expand...
Your bike is around 450 wet right? That's 100lbs lighter than a Hayabusa so it should be able to outhandle one.

Put it up against a similar weight of a super sport liter bike and all bets would be off.

The torque of the ZX14R and Hayabusa give them the ability to catch up on the straightaways after they fall behind in the twisties-gotta love that torque...!
 
Red05 said:
You'd be surprised :) My bike wouldn't beat a super sport litre bike but it beat all the other super nakeds!
Besides, that's where the new RSV4 1100 would take care of the light work lol
Click to expand...
Oh is yours a naked bike? I was thinking it was a faired bike.

Some of the naked bikes are pretty serious too.

Don't know how accurate this list is but there are some heavy hitters on it..

Top 5 Fastest 1000CC Naked Bikes 2020 : ZH2 vs MT-10 vs Bmw S1000r vs Gsx-S1000 vs brutale 1000rr - YouTube
 
Tached1300 said:
I also think Kawasaki is the leader of the pack right when looking at the variety within their line up as well as the tech per price aspect
Click to expand...
They are dumping some serious money into their R&D-more so than the other companies it seems. The latest ZX10R is a world class bike pretty much on top of the heap. What's good about this is it's making the other companies step up their game.

I really don't know if the other companies will follow with any supercharged bikes..I kind of think they won't.
 
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