Tamed by Kawasaki’s civilized beast
It’s a magical monster that’s clean, quiet and powerful
Iremember vividly my introduction to Kawasaki’s supercharged H2. It was only a video, but it was positively frightening. Fivetime World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu is doing a rolling burnout somewhere in downtown Turkey, revving the heck out of his H2R.
Now it’s not just what he’s doing, but also the fact he’s wearing what look like penny loafers — and does
Abercrombie & Fitch sell capri pants in the Middle East? It’s not even that he’s spinning up the rear tire — while simultaneously dragging the front Brembos — in what appears to be latenight weekend traffic. From the looks of things, he does crazy things on a regular basis. Just the month before, he hit 400 kilometres an hour on the Osman Gazi bridge (that time he wasn’t wearing loafers, however).
Nope, what got my attention is that the H2R’s open exhaust pipe is literally spitting flames. Big plumes of it. Bright blue licks, as if what passes for a muffler on an
H2R had turned into an oxy acetylene torch.
And believe it or not, that wasn’t even the scariest part. No, what mesmerized me was that the entire exhaust system — headers and collector — were burning cherry red. Not mildly warm, but full on, puta-maraschino-on-top red.
I’ve seen this sort of thing on dynos before, the combination of incredible load and not enough cooling air threatening to anneal exhaust pipes. But on a street bike? Never. What sort of animal is this thing? Stay away, said my then 60-year-old flight-to-safety instinct.
And yet, here I am four years later, ready to nominate the Z H2 — in its “only” 197 horsepower guise, not the 310-hp H2R — as the best motorcycle engine of the last 10 years. And get this; it’s not just because of all that power. It’s also so damned civilized.
It idles like a pussycat, would pass any noise test on the planet, and is clean enough to meet the frightfully stringent Euro 5 emissions standard. And not once during my week aboard did it spit any flames at unsuspecting passersby. In fact, 998-cc four is so well mannered that, were it not supercharged, it would still be the best engine Kawasaki makes.
Of course, it’s supercharged and it does pump out 197 horses and something like 101 pound-feet of torque, says Kawasaki. Actually, even at those numbers, it’s probably underrated.
Under the not-so-gentle ministrations of Matthew Mcbride from Riders Choice, the Z H2 — and remember this is the least endowed of all Kawasaki’s supercharged H2s — actually dyno’d out at 182 horsepower and just a tad under 100 pound-feet of torque. Because motorcycles typically lose 15 per cent of their power between the crankshaft (where motorcycle manufacturers measure power) and the rear wheel (where Riders Choice’s Bazzaz dynamometer takes its reading), either the Z H2 is incredibly efficient or Kawasaki is hiding something from the insurers.
So what’s it like to ride a motorcycle with 197 supercharged horsepower? Kind of disconcerting, actually. Not in the “Oh My God!” way it accelerates, but rather in the nonchalance in which it generates those OMG speeds. Like I said, the darned thing is so civilized it actually feels easygoing. It’s sort of like being right in the same phone booth as Clark Kent when he’s transforming into Superman; it’s shocking how quickly milquetoast is transformed into superhero.
It’s the way the big lump produces power. If you’re a biker, you know there are a few other bikes that pump out about the same power as the Z H2. But they’re all high-revving superbikes, a compendium of high-revving skittishness and twitchy powerbands.
Not the H2. By 2,000 rpm, the Z H2’s big four already feels “healthy.” Somewhere around 3,500 rpm, it transitions to decidedly muscular. And by five grand, it’s seriously steroidal.
Indeed, the top-end is so gawdawfully silly that one might label its 998-cc as torquey. You know, like a Harley. Only somewhere around 6,000 rpm, it feels like you’re trying to hold on to Superman’s cape.
This is all made worse — or better, depending on your view — by the Z’s relatively high handlebar, which makes it decidedly hard to keep the front wheel on the ground.
The Z is, of course, a naked bike, and wheelies are intended to be in its portfolio. Indeed, those looking for fifth-gear wheelies, your bike has arrived. Roll on the throttle, the bike points skyward.
Riding the Z H2 is to know almost MotoGP silliness mated with Harley-Davidson gruntiness. It truly is a marvel of internal combustion.
As for the rest of the bike, well, it’s a classic Kawi naked. The brakes are decent, the suspension more than a little stiff (the rear especially) and the seat way firmer than it needs to be. Nothing a little suspension tweaking and a few hundred bucks tossed at Luimoto (Canada’s leading motorcycle seat upholsterer) can’t fix.
Even with those foibles, it’s still a magical monster. And the best motor in motorcycling.