‘The blower is unbelievable’
Variety is the spice of life, or so it’s said, but when it comes to choosing a new bike there’s a certain gravity to be placed in sticking with what you know. “My mates say that if I cut myself in half, it’d say Kawasaki right through the middle,” says MCN reader Stuart Pickup. “In the past 15 years I’ve owned two ZX-10s and a couple of ZZR1400s which have all been brilliant.” That’s not to say that he hasn’t tried anything else, but those other experiences have been sadly regrettable. “My second bike was a 2005 Aprilia Mille, but I had so much trouble with it that I ended up taking it back,” he says.
Stuart then purchased his first Kawasaki and stayed loyal to the brand through his next four bikes but in 2017 he fancied a change. “I was on a trip to the Pyrenees with a pillion on my ZZR1400 and found I was getting cramp so decided to try something more upright.”
A trip to the local KTM dealer followed and he rode he rode away on a 1290 Super Adventure S but says there were so many problems that it had to go once the warranty had run out. With the KTM gone there was only one thing on Stuart’s radar Kawasaki’s flagship sports-tourer, the H2 SX SE. Here’s how the first year of ownership went.
0 miles
Kawasaki offered a fouryear warranty, so buying on PCP over the same period really made sense. I put £4.5k down, which left me with 48 monthly payments of £150 and a final settlement of £6k. At the end of the contract it’ll be out of warranty, so I’ll be looking at a new bike then anyway. It’s going to be hard keeping to the mileage though, which is only 5000 a year.
600 miles
I wanted to get the running-in period out of the way as soon as possible, so it only took a couple of weeks between shifts at work. I stuck religiously to the manufacturers’ recommendations of keeping it below 6000rpm as I think that’s really important on a new engine, though I’d gladly have paid someone else to do it as I just hated it! The dealer had to change the brake fluid at the service.
1000 miles
As soon as I got it back I thought ‘Happy days, I can start giving it the beans now!’ When the turbine on the supercharger kicks in, it’s unbelievable. It sounds like there’s a bird trapped under the fairing, especially when you get past 8000rpm – the noise is awesome. The first time I opened it up I expected to have my arms ripped off, but it delivers the power so smoothly that you don’t realise how fast you’re going.
1500 miles
Given how smooth and manageable the power of the engine is, I felt let down by the brakes. The rear is terrible. I know it’s a heavy bike, so I don’t expect it to stop on the back brake alone, but I would expect both the feel and performance to be a lot better. The front brakes aren’t short of stopping power but they also lack feel, as well as initial bite. I’ve now fitted sintered pads all round and I can already feel a difference.
2000 miles
The gearbox is so smooth it’s like going up through custard and the combination of quickshifter, slipper clutch and auto blipper makes changing gear an absolute dream. The suspension, on the other hand, never felt right and I found myself 50-pencing around bends. I took it to KAIS in Atherton for a set up, who found that the preload was far too hard on the front and too soft on the rear.
2500 miles
I’m surprised at how comfortable it is, even with the standard seat. I did a 1200-mile trip in five days that included the North Coast 500 and got off feeling as comfy as I did when I got on. I’d been wanting to ride that route for some time and it was fantastic – we even got good weather. The bike performed really well and was perfectly manageable even on the single-track roads.
3000 miles
I’ve always been a Bridgestone man, so I was a bit disappointed to find the Battlax S21 tyres were worn out in 3500 miles. I had a look on the H2 SX forum and Michelin Road 5s seemed really popular, with some people getting over 5k on the rear, so I thought I’d give them a go. I’ve only done around 400 miles on them so far, but they feel really good.
3744 miles
‘So smooth you don’t realise how fast you’re going’
It’s just been back to the dealer as the clutch fluid had dropped. I’m a big believer in loud cans, hence the Yoshimura pipe (£600) which was just a straightforward slip-on. I’ve fitted a Powerbronze double bubble (£67) and rear hugger (£99), as well as extending the lever on the side stand so that I can get my heel on it without knocking it into gear. The topbox was just £46. Kawasaki advise against fitting one as they’re not wind tunnel tested, but I’m not planning to do 200mph with it on.