Kawasaki Ninja H2...750 cc supercharged. | GTAMotorcycle.com

Kawasaki Ninja H2...750 cc supercharged.

I think it's just gonna fill the gap between the Ninja 650 and Ninja 1000. Something like 800cc.

650, 800, 1000cc

2, 3, 4 cylinders

But then they didn't need to bring back the H2 moniker for that, so I dunno.
 
I doubt if they would go to the trouble and extra cost of supercharging to make this a mid-range model. It is going to be a premium model of some sort. Superbike rules worldwide would have to change in order to make this viable as a ZX10R replacement, but it could very well be a ZX14 replacement. If a big-bore bike can make "sense" then that's the segment where it would ... massive power, but less weight and bulk in the engine compared to the 14, and the bike is physically a bit bigger than a 10 so it could have a bit of space behind the engine where the supercharger lives (the existing ZX10R is jam packed back there). The smaller displacement engine in that segment should have better fuel consumption and pump out less heat when stuck in traffic; these are all good things.
 
Oh, I thought the "supercharged" bit was just part of the speculation. Never mind me then.
 
Honestly, there are many reasons why the super sports are not selling as they used to.

Basically, we don't need one more bike that has 'massive power'. There are too many of those already for sale.

We don't need turbos or superchargers or 200 HP. I think the big opportunity for the manufacturers to sell many bikes is the middle weight market, 300 cc to 800 cc...
 
No kidding; the bike manufacturers are trying to shake up the market because the normal sport-bike 600 and 1000 markets have been stagnating. All of the current 600 and 1000 sport bikes are within millimeters of identical dimensions and within tiny fractions of identical performance, and they haven't been changed in years other than bold new graphics and minor electronics tweaks. Anyone who owns a sport bike less than about 4 or 5 years old doesn't have a pressing reason to buy a new one unless they actually break theirs, because the new one is the same as the old one.

We're only hearing speculation and educated guesses so far about this bike. Kawasaki has a patent concerning their supercharging system and they showed a 4-cylinder engine with supercharging that appeared to be similar in size to the 600/636 in public about a year ago but gave no details about the internals. The press release stated something about involvement of Kawasaki's gas turbine division in this project (Kawasaki is an enormous company) and that would suggest that turbomachinery is involved in some way. The patent suggested the use of an engine-driven centrifugal supercharger (as opposed to a turbocharger).

I'm not convinced that this is the answer to lagging sport-bike sales, either ... but we'll find out more details over the next month, so who knows ...
 
Kawi must be rolling in it, somehow, if they're able to gamble on something like that.

I want my 800cc triple that sounds just like a vintage H2.
 
I loved my H2.....mind I always thought it was actively trying to kill me. I don't know why they would bring the H2 badge back except for nostalgia. Displacements may be the same but it sure won`t be a 2 stroke.
 
Kawi must be rolling in it, somehow, if they're able to gamble on something like that.

I want my 800cc triple that sounds just like a vintage H2.

They have had good sales worldwide and haven't been wasting money on MotoGP. Honda seems to want to turn its motorcycles to two-wheeled cars, Suzuki and Triumph have been pretty stagnant and Yamaha sees the future outside of SS bikes.
The speculation is supercharging...but then why use the H2 brand? The past 750 turbo was a GPz.

I see the most interesting bikes coming from Kawasaki and KTM.
 
Somewhat related, I visited a suzuki dealer in Florida this year and the sales guy told me that sales completely died after the 2008 economic dump. When young guys could no longer walk in with 0 credit and 0 down and leave with a new bike. I think the lack of disposable income with the target demographic is why they aren't selling. It's definetely not the lack of exciting bikes out there.
 
Somewhat related, I visited a suzuki dealer in Florida this year and the sales guy told me that sales completely died after the 2008 economic dump. When young guys could no longer walk in with 0 credit and 0 down and leave with a new bike. I think the lack of disposable income with the target demographic is why they aren't selling. It's definetely not the lack of exciting bikes out there.

US sales are all driven by credit. Ontario sales were killed by insurance, and the little fact that Canadians are tapped out on credit.
 
However, none of that explains why BMW sales are highest in history.

I expect that most BMW riders will be mature(older)/have more access to money. Most high school kids want a gixxer, not a gs. Old guys want something a little more comfortable.
 
Slightly different demographic. There will always be buyers at the high end of the market. What is the average age of hp4 owners? Quite a bit older than the cbr/r6/gsxr crowd I'd imagine.
 

Back
Top Bottom