Arrived at Santa Pod today to do some quarter mile action and in the line of bikes running was the new Kawasaki H2R, £40k worth.
The bike was being tested by one of the journalists from Fast Bikes magazine.
The bike pumps out over 300 bhp and the sound of the thing is awesome.
The best time he managed considering he is a pro rider was a disappointing 10.4 quarter.
Speaking to him he said the thing was unmanageable even with all the electronic aids trying to tame it.
It was a nice feeling coming away from the track today knowing that on the day my King would have beaten it hands down Very Happy Very Happy.
Goes to show that there is a limit to how much power a bike will be able to handle before the returns become diminishable.
Today’s crop of 200bhp monsters are cutting edge. The H2R is far too powerful for a quick takeoff. No doubt that once you get into third gear you can use more of the power but by then its game over anyway.
I still think 190-200kg and 140-150rwhp is the most useable vs fun power to weight. Anything over 150rwhp becomes boring as you can’t put the power down in most places
Probably true, however, I think this bike is not so much about the BHP. It’s more of a technological test, a preparation for using the same technologies in smaller bikes. They couldn’t come out with supercharged 300cc bike. That would be silly so hence the most powerful bike in the world, to draw everyone’s attention so that they can later say that all these new models are derived from H2 and not vice versa.
I don’t agree with the statement that there’s a limit to how much power you can use to full effect. If that were the case then MotoGP wouldn’t have gone back to 990cc from 800 and certainly wouldn’t be able to accelerate in the times they can, which would beat the 10 second quarter mile with ease. Perhaps what you mean is that there’s a limit to what can be achieved with commercial motorcycle development timescales when making such big power jumps! Given time they’ll improve the traction control and power delivery mechanisms but for a first release of a bike with such a big jump in power, it seems quite impressive.
Maybe what they should have done is either spend more time perfecting it, or put more emphasis on usability that power, but I doubt that would have kept the marketeers happy
I’m not talking MotoGP. Not regular bike sales, where the h2r falls into. And yes, there will be a limit where lift becomes a problem for a bike. Traction cuts power, so there is that limit already. Longer swingarm? Lose handling then. I think it’s finding a balance. Technology is so far ahead of the motorcycle. It’s the actual,bike design that’s letting progress down. You can have power but at a loss of cornering. Bikes are all about twisties. Straight line speed is second.
What we need is a 14k Rev sport or naked that has 140/150 bhp and handles the socks off anything whilst still being a real world bike with reliability.
All hail the fazer (fcuk!) ((with an r1 front end))
Physics will always dictate the balance of behaviours but technology helps making the balance more precise. I was referring to MotoGP by way of example, i.e. those bikes have the same wheelbase as a road bike more or less but they accelerate an order of magnitude faster, due to better chassis, suspension, torque/power and electronics to limit lift and to smooth power delivery. If you could translate that to the Kawasaki then it’d be a great bike, but the bike can’t be as good as obviously it costs a lot less to develop, build and produce
Personally I prefer something with less power that handles magnificently. The RSV4 for me was the pinnacle of superbikes. I might well get another!
There is definitely a limit but we haven’t reached it yet. The miracle of computers allows us pre programming how that power is going to be used and under what conditions. And you don’t have to go to motogp. It’s already started trickling down (new R1, panigale1299) Traction control and ABS working with lean angle sensors(amongst the other sensors), allowing to put down power which tyre would handle under certain circumstances. On top of that having 300hp doesnt mean it has to be there all the time in all the gears. Same with modern hypercars they have preprogrammed how much hp and torque will be allowed under certain gear/RPM’s and pressure applied to the throttle pedal. That allows say in 1st gear using 50-60% of power.
The H2R isn’t road legal anyway it was designed for racing. Given that there are drag bikes with far more power I’d say the argument is invalid, just because the H2R has 300 bhp doesn’t mean that it is designed to put in down on the road in a straight line it wasn’t. Horses for courses.
