Kawasaki's H2 Is An Exercise In SUPERCHARGED Excess!

Motorcyclist

Kawasaki's H2 in all of it's variants is a supercharged fever dream that was designed to show off the Japanese company's engineering prowess. Did it succeed? In this episode of The Motorcyclist Podcast we talk about what it's like to ride a motorcycle with 333 horsepower.  Become a Channel Partner: https://octanemedia.co/home/become-an-advertiser/  Looking to buy? Get prequalified https://octane.co/vehicle-selection/?partner=jAYmx9P&a=303&flow=long-prequal&appTheme=3a49337c5724d18079602a4ca5a91626  Read the best motorcycle news and reviews: http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/  Motorcyclist Shirts: https://teespring.com/stores/motorcyclist Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/motorcyclistonline/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/motorcyclistmag/

Transcript

00:00Hey, welcome back to the Motorcycles Podcast. This is where we talk about motorcycles

00:03and we'll make some great. Every episode changes a little bit, but one thing that always remains

00:08is two-wheeled fun. In this episode, we are going to talk about a motorcycle that is

00:13pretty fun, and that is Kawasaki's H2 and all of its variants. But before we get into that,

00:19let's do some introductions. We've got Adam Waheed, editor, Jeff Allen, photo director,

00:24and me, Justin Dawes, executive editor. So let's get into what we're going to talk about on the H2

00:31here. It's a legendary or a nod to the legendary two-stroke triples of the 70s. That H2 name

00:39was used back in the day for that bike. And, you know, when that bike, when the H2,

00:49modern H2 came out, it shocked the world by resurrecting the name, but also adding super

00:56charging to a modern motorcycle. So this thing represents one of the fastest, one of the most

01:04advanced motorcycles ever so to the public, and it's a serious flexing of Kawasaki's engineering

01:11prowess. Yeah, sure it is. And it's just, it's, if you're an influencer, you have to own one,

01:21I think, if you're a motorcycle influencer. Is that the deal? That's the deal. You want to

01:26get your influencer license or your club? Yeah. You want views, you got to have an H2 in there

01:32somewhere. So before we get into talking about what it's like to ride, what we think of the bike,

01:37influencer lifestyles, let's, let's get through the history. So Adam's the historian for this one.

01:44He did the research. So we're going to let him run it down for us. Okay. Well, as Justin mentioned,

01:50you know, this bike is the names echoed after the 1972 Kawasaki 750 H2 Mach 4. It's a mouthful,

01:57but this was an infamous two-stroke triple known as the Widowmaker. And it was known as the Widowmaker.

02:03I think you guys can figure out why. Yeah, for sure. For sure. That thing. Yeah. Gnarly. You're

02:10talking. Terrifying light switch. Bias ply tires still on the thing. A frame that was probably made of

02:17very thin wall. Jello. Tubing. Yeah. Hinged. Yeah. Hinged frame. Hinged feeling wouldn't even describe

02:28what that thing probably did when that thing came on the pipe. So I had a, I had a, I'm sorry. Go

02:33ahead, Justin. I had my dad's buddy had, uh, an H2, uh, that he wrote around a bunch and then he

02:41decided that he wanted to make it more of a Widowmaker and he took the engine out and put

02:45it inside of an, uh, a four-wheeler sport four-wheeler frame. Then it became the ultimate

02:51Widowmaker, I guess. Yeah. Just imagine how like that. Yeah. He was single at a time. So there was no,

02:58Widow's to be made. So. Yeah. I wonder why Kawasaki didn't carry that name forward, uh, for the 2025

03:05Ninja H2s. That might be a bit of a marketing challenge, you know, for a Widowmaker. Yeah.

03:12So anyways. I'm going to buy a new bike, honey. What's, what, what's the name of it? The Widowmaker.

03:18I don't know. Call the insurance company real quick. Yeah. I was going to say maybe,

03:21maybe some wives would be like, yeah, go get it. Go get it. Yeah.

03:24Yeah. Well, fast forward to 2015 and Kawasaki revived that name with the H2 model. And that

03:32was the Kawasaki's first supercharged mass-produced sport bike. So they had the Ninja H2, which was

03:39more of a sport bike, naked bike, because it didn't have the lower cowling. Then they had the big dog

03:44from all the H2R, which had the lower fairing. And that was the real deal. I think 300 horsepower is

03:50what the H2R made and the naked H2 version made right around 180, 190. So both very, very fast

03:56motorcycles. It's also worth noting that the H2R, that was a track only closed course model. So you

04:03couldn't, you couldn't legally register that on the street. You only could ride that closed course.

04:08The, the Ninja H2 variant, that was a street legal vehicle. So you could ride that on the street and

04:14get a license for that thing. And, uh, you know, what a way to make a statement to ride around on your,

04:19on your supercharged motorcycle on the road. Yeah. The, um, the H2R had like a carbon fiber

04:26wings on it or has carbon fiber wings where the mirrors usually go, you know, um, which is

04:32interesting, but it's not, it's not the first Kawasaki with winglets. Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned

04:37that. Yeah. That honor goes to the, uh, ZX 12, uh, are back in the day, but those winglets were down

04:43on the lower cow and they were meant to separate the air coming around the body work, uh, to get

04:50the air off of the rider and then join in to the flow after the rider for better aerodynamics.

04:55Yeah. Interesting. For another reason. That was a great looking motorcycle. Oh, great. Like I

05:02really liked it. The H2R with the car. Yeah. I think it's cool too. It's very cool. Uh, the

05:09carbon, you know, all, all that blacked out with just the green frame is pretty, pretty

05:14stunning. Yeah. So a couple of years later in 2018, Kawasaki added a Ninja H2 SX. So this

05:24is a sport touring variation. So similar supercharged engine, but you know, in a more practical sport

05:31touring type platform. Yeah. Practical for sure. Supercharger always says practical. That screams

05:39practical. Didn't you ride that model, Justin? Oh yeah. Yeah. I've written that model. We'll

05:44talk about it here. Um, after we get to the history, but we got some stories, we got stories

05:49for sure. 2019 saw some more updates and then very soon after the H2 gained self healing paint. So

05:57that had that silver paint job. I think Jeff, you shot some photos of that thing and it was really

06:02easy to shoot photos of, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. That was like a, just a mirror finish. It was,

06:07it was, uh, yeah, it was definitely a challenge. Yeah. But that pinky job somehow self healed. If you

06:13had a scratch in it, it would somehow magically blend it. So you didn't see this so much. It was

06:19like, it's like putty paint or something. It's like stuff, self leveling, even after it's, you know,

06:25been around for a while, which is good because do we know that it actually worked? Do we, did anyone

06:29scratch? Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it repaired big, heavy scratches, but it, it like when you were

06:35like wiping it down, like the, the, um, ability to scratch that thing up was high, right? You have

06:43one little piece of dirt or something stuck in your rag and then you're like, Oh, then it works for

06:49that stuff. But I don't think if you, if you throw it down the road, it doesn't heal itself. It doesn't

06:53heal itself. Yeah. Or, or you get a, somebody that's jealous that keys your tank is they're walking

06:58by it. That's not gonna, I don't think it's going to save it. So not yet. Give it a couple of years.

07:04Yeah. So soon after Kawasaki added the IMU electronics to its Ninja SX models, which was

07:12really neat. And then in 2020, we got around 2020, we got the Ninja ZH, I'm sorry, no Ninja,

07:21just a ZH2SE, which was a naked bike. So a little bit less boost, but supercharged naked bike for all

07:28of you naked bike riders out there who just don't think that a normal 1000cc naked bike is quite fast

07:33enough. You can get a supercharged variant with the ZH2SE. And then in 2022, Kawasaki added the Ninja

07:40H2SXSE. So like it's other Japanese manufacturers, it loves its, its extra names and letters and things

07:50like that. And the cool thing about the Ninja H2SXSE is that added, you know, Bosch, Bosch powered

07:57electronics suite. So radar assisted adaptive cruise control, collision warning, blind spot

08:02detection, a lot of technologies that are now, you know, available in a lot of these premium

08:07motorcycles. I think you went to Japan, Dawes and got to try those things or the future generation of

08:13those things. I got to try the future generation. I actually rode an H2SXSE, but it had the upcoming

08:21electronics on it. So maybe it'll be the SXSE plus whatever, you know, it'll have another act.

08:30It'll have some more letters or symbols added to the end of the name. But yeah, it was really

08:35interesting. I mean, the modern, the stuff that everyone has now is pretty, works well, but it

08:41doesn't work perfectly. Where this newest setup really does work darn near perfectly. The arrays

08:50they had before the radar arrays were the problem, the little tiny radar on the front. It couldn't

08:55recognize more than one object at a time. And now it's able to recognize multiple objects and still

09:00keep that small space, which is important, especially for like motorcycles, because if you get offline of

09:07something, it may not pick it up anymore because the field was also more narrow. But then if you're

09:13riding in a group and you have two motorcycles in front of you and you're riding staggered, it's picking

09:19up the one now picks up the one in front of you. So you pass the person that's in the other side of

09:26the lane. So now it recognizes that you're riding information and it fixes all that. But the super

09:31exciting part was the self-breaking. It doesn't break for you. It won't apply the brakes all the way,

09:37but it'll apply the brakes to the maximum to save you if it feels that there's a collision imminent.

09:44So Bosch found out that a lot of people, most people don't actually ever get into ABS on their

09:51bikes. They underbrake all the time, even in panic. Even in a panic situation, they underbrake.

09:58Sure, there's other people that overbrake, but the majority of people underbrake. So what it does is

10:03it uses that radar. You apply the brakes and it recognizes that you're still not slowing down fast

10:10enough. It just adds brakes to the maximum. And it's pretty crazy because you just feel the lever

10:15come back in your hand and on your foot. It just applies them to the maximum and it just sits right

10:20on the edge of ABS and slows you down to the maximum it can, which is pretty rad.

10:26So that'll be...

10:28It was a sensation that you felt safe with.

10:33Yeah, it was super cool. Like it was actually like, I'm like, this could teach people how to

10:38actually use their brakes more effectively. So it was pretty cool. It was really nice,

10:44but there's a whole host that we could do a whole show just on what I learned in Japan,

10:48but those are the two things we'll keep it. We'll get back to the H2. So pricing. These bikes can

10:55be a little bit spendy, right? So H2R, the track only version. This is a bottle you cannot take

11:06on the street. $59,100, 60 grand. Yeah, that's pricey. But you know, any, any, when you think

11:17about any motorcycle out there, like if it's a sport bike, if it's track only, it's expensive.

11:24Sure. I mean, yeah, we can, we can talk about like the, the new Aprilia XGP thing's going to be

11:31$106,000 US dollars, but it's a very different type of thing. Right. But, uh, uh, Desmos Adichie,

11:39right? Like what was the Desmos Adichie back in whatever that was, 2010? The thing was what?

11:46$60,000 or something? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. I was going to say maybe even closer to 80.

11:52Yeah. I feel like that these bikes aren't as limited production or as collectible as those

12:00bikes are, but I mean, it is the ultimate expression of a Kawasaki. And so if you're willing

12:06to pay for that, you can get that. Right. Yeah. I think the H2R still pretty limited edition

12:12and collector a little bit, you know, a little bit, a little bit, but, um, I would say it's

12:16more like owning a McLaren rather than a Ferrari or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's

12:22where I would put it. Like, yeah, they're collector McLarens, but like almost every Ferrari when you,

12:29it's kind of coveted and it'll could appreciate in value where a lot of McLarens don't, you know,

12:36they just kind of, because maybe because they're so good and they, they do daily things better

12:41than a Ferrari. Right. It's like, they're easier to live with. So it's like a Porsche. It's like a

12:47Porsche. So, um, Ferrari has a history of, you know, uh, appreciating the cost appreciation. You

12:55know, you can buy a Ferrari and sell it for more years later. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a long

13:02history of expensive Ferraris. So I don't think that is particularly the case for the H2R, but if you

13:08have one, I'm not knocking you, that's amazing that you own one. I would probably just buy one

13:13and put it in a display somewhere because it is cool looking. So, um, let's talk about the H2,

13:19$32,700. That's, that's more, um, a, like to me, that's, that's not an outrageous price tag for what

13:27it is, right? It's, um, it's a sport bike turbocharged. It's super awesome. Um, that makes

13:34more sense. Cause I mean, uh, a Panigale done up is 30 something thousand dollars, uh, you know,

13:40an M1000RR, you know, there's plenty of bikes out there. Now this bike doesn't compare to those bikes

13:46because it's, it's a different type of chassis, but you know, it's, it's more in the, the realistic

13:52price range for sure. Well, that's still a pretty exclusive company though. Yeah, for sure. For

13:57sure. Yep. Um, then we have the H2 SX SE now, uh, which is the, um, the touring model. Uh, that one

14:10goes for $29,100. So price is going down a little bit, uh, which is kind of interesting. I thought it

14:18would go up because you, you know, you've got electronic suspension, you've got bags, you've got,

14:25um, a different body work. Um, it was the first one to come with the IMU, you know, it, it, it's

14:32impressed. It's impressive that they did it for less Mula. Um, and then probably maybe volume. Yeah,

14:40maybe volume, who knows? Um, and then we've got the Z H2 SE, uh, which is $21,700. So take off all

14:51of body work, a little less boost. Um, and you're looking at, uh, quite a bit less expensive. So

14:59that's the, that's the easiest or the least expensive way to get into the supercharged H2

15:04world is with the Z. But then you have to look at it, look at it every day. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah. Um,

15:12it's, it's the least attractive of all the H2s for sure. It's got that, uh, what do you call it,

15:18Adam? The styling was to go me, but like, yeah, to go me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So go me

15:27is like, it's, they kind of Kawasaki bases, all of their body shapes are inspired by animals.

15:35And so that's kind of the Z go me thing. And then the angular and sharp and all that stuff.

15:40And they must've modeled after some animal with an underbite, you know, cause everything's it's,

15:45you know, instead of it being tilted forward, it's like, you know, uh, the, the bottom part of

15:51the, the headlight assembly sticks out further than the top part. And it, it, it always is kind

15:57of jarring visually to look at that. Yeah. That is like, it's upside down that it reminds, it's so

16:05ugly. It reminds me of the Honda CB seven 50 Hornet, which is also an incredibly not good looking

16:11motorcycle. Yeah. Also. Yeah. I kind of got the same thing going for it. Yeah. Yep. So let's talk

16:17about like, um, there's a popularity of these bikes and it's not just, it's not a popularity

16:23in ownership as much as it is like, um, a popularity and like, it's a scene stealer. It gets people

16:31talking, people aspire to having one, um, that kind of stuff. So why do you guys think that it's,

16:38it's like that? Well, just obviously having that. I mean, uh, all of, you know, all of us

16:46motorcycle guys like to refer to the price when we either like, or don't like something, you know,

16:51the first thing you're like, Oh, it costs this much. Oh, you like to brag about how much you spent

16:56for stuff? Or, or if you can't, if you can't afford one, you, you, you poke the guy in the office.

17:03Okay. I would say I, I try to try to brag about how little I paid for stuff, but yeah, but yeah,

17:10I get it. I get it. It is a, it is a, like a status symbol, right? I've got a $60,000 motorcycle

17:18that I can only ride at a few times a year at a racetrack. Yeah. And, and the, in the low numbers,

17:24you know, like if you show up somewhere with, uh, the, uh, the H2, you know, people are going to

17:32want to see it because they don't get to see them very often. Yeah. Yeah. It's an exclusive

17:36bike. I mean, I don't see them on the road. Yeah, for sure. I think it, it kind of has that,

17:43um, that draw that when we were little kids and we all had like a Countach poster on our wall,

17:51right? Like, yeah, it's kind of like that in that it's the first supercharged motorcycle. It's got

17:58some crazy performance, you know, now it's 333 horsepower claimed. Um, you know, I think

18:05Kento, he went 200 and can't. Yeah. I wrote it down. Kento went to 26.9. Yeah. 226.9 miles an

18:15hour on that bike in a mile, right? In a standing mile. Yep. Yeah. It was at the Mojave, uh, Magnum

18:20speed event. Yeah. So in a, in a mile he went 229. So, I mean, it is insane how fast that

18:28motorcycle can go. So that's all that, um, you know, and then you've got, we should say

18:33Kent, Kent, Kent, Kent Kunisugo. He, yeah, he was a editor of a sport rider. And then he

18:40also does some writing for us on motorcyclist, uh, from time to time. So legendary sport bike

18:46rider. Um, if you're a sport bike fan, you, you know who Kento is. And probably if we said

18:51Kent Kunisugo, you would like who, and we say Kento and you go, Oh yeah. So anyway,

18:57um, you know, one of our other colleagues, I was looking at some of the stories and he

19:03was, Oh God, where was he? He was in Qatar and he went over 200 miles an hour on the

19:09straightaway, like just on a stock bike. That's wild. Yeah. That's crazy. Terrifyingly

19:17fast. Yeah, it is definitely. So, so I, um, so let's get into then. I think we kind of

19:26talk, we figured out why it's so cool and people want it and, and well, let's get back

19:30into why it's so popular. And that's why the influencers have them is they are bragging

19:35rights. They do catch your attention. You stick around to watch their, their reels and

19:40their shorts and their content because you're like, Oh, that's an H2. What's that guy doing

19:43with that? What's that girl doing with that? Right. So, um, that's what I'm saying. It's a

19:48necessary tool in your influencer, uh, toolkit. You got to have an H2 if you're

19:53going to be a, a good moto vlogger slash, uh, influencer. Right. It's look cool and

20:02sound cool. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. We do all love the sound of a, of a super

20:07charge. Oh yeah. It's so cool. The spin up and then the blow off the little

20:12in the cars and the bikes. I love that. Yeah, it is a cool sound for sure. So, all right.

20:20So then let's talk about riding the things. Um, Jeff, let's start with you. What do you

20:25think about the bike from your, um, vantage point? Okay. So we said something earlier,

20:32but for one, I find it to be a bit much, I mean, the styling and the super, as much as

20:38I love the, the sound of the supercharger, um, like I think at 300 horsepower is a bit

20:45much for a motorcycle, for a street bike. Um, but, uh, it's, it's a lot to wrangle, you

20:55know, it's, uh, uh, you need to have patients on the throttle and it's, uh, it's a lot. That's

21:03all I can say. It's a lot. And I don't think I've ever seen one on the road that I was, that

21:08wasn't in my photo shoot. I don't think I've ever like just seen one in the wild that wasn't,

21:14I wasn't working with. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. So speaking of photo shoots, um,

21:20you have some, some input there too, because you've asked lots of

21:26riders to do things on those bikes. And what always happens?

21:31Well, first they say, I don't think so. If I ask them to do wheelies or whatever,

21:36it's a little scary, right? Cause that the way the power comes on, it doesn't come on smoothly.

21:42Yeah. It ramps up like exponentially wraps up. It's not like it has like a two stroke hit

21:47or a turbo hit where it's like nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. And then boom,

21:51it just builds so fast and so hard. Yeah. It's not, it's not like a, like any other traditional

21:57street bike where there's a, there's a direct connection from the throttle to the way the wheel

22:04comes up, you know, different bikes are different ways, you know, but that thing comes up and just

22:10almost like, almost like, almost like an, did Jeff freeze? I think so. Yeah. Uh, I thought you guys

22:23freeze froze. No, did you? Uh, start that, start that, start that thought thought over from the,

22:29the linear throttle. Uh, where was I? Where did I cut off? Uh, you were talking about the throttle

22:40acceleration, you know, the input of the throttle on a normal bike is one-to-one and then this ramps

22:46up so fast and then you kind of disappear. Okay. Yeah. So I was saying that, you know,

22:51like you gotta be patient on the throttle, like asking, uh, like my photo models or whatever to

22:56do wheelies on that thing. There's a little intimidating because the way the power comes

23:02on, it's not like other traditional motorcycles. Like you get a sense for how the power comes up and

23:08it's pretty, once you've, once you learn it, it's can be pretty consistent. Yeah. I mean,

23:15it's consistent, but I mean, I'm one of those, those models that my ego actually didn't say,

23:21I don't think so. I was like, yeah, sure. No problem. And, um, Jeff was like, okay. Like he

23:27like kind of laughed like, all right, go for it. And, uh, we were on this like little section of road

23:33and empty section of road that had a corner at one end, a corner at the other end. And I go to

23:38wheelie the thing and it comes on up and I, I think I clutched it up. I just didn't come up on

23:43powers. Cause I, cause the, the, the space was so short and the thing just goes, what? And it went

23:49past 12 o'clock and I'm standing on the rear brake and I do like the, the Biagi, like wobble.

23:55Max Biagi wiggle on the rear. Yeah. You know, I'm, I'm, I'm past 12 o'clock I'm wiggling and

24:01I'm like, Oh my God. And then it starts, it comes back and it starts dropping. And now it's

24:05dropping because I'm off the gas. I got the clutch in and I've let off the, the, it's like

24:11going to slam down. So I gas it again to try to lessen that blow. And it goes right back

24:16up to, to 12 o'clock again. And then I'm like, I'm running out of room. And so I had to slam

24:22the thing down and I was surprised that there wasn't either a crater in the concrete or an

24:27oil pan left behind me because that thing came down so hard. Uh, people in the next town

24:35over probably felt it. Yeah. It was a bit scary to watch cause we were doing that and I was

24:40standing there with Alec Dare, who was the other photo model. And he and I looked at each

24:44other like, Oh wow, that was pretty close. Yeah. Yeah. We can find out the paint would heal

24:50itself when you hucked it down. Yeah. I mean, that was, that was, I think the closest I've

24:54come on a, on a photo shoot to ever looping out, probably one of the closest I've ever

24:58come to looping out and not actually looping out. So, um, it was, it couldn't have gone

25:03much further. I couldn't have gone much further. I mean, I was almost on my back that, uh, you

25:08know, that's what I was expecting as it, as that past 12 o'clock that it was just going

25:12to tire was going to jump out and it was just going to land on my, with all of its weight

25:16with me holding onto the bars on my back, like a turtle or something. So anyway, so

25:22that gets to me, I think it's, it is too much fun. Like it is such a fun motorcycle

25:28to ride because of that crazy power. Like, is it the most effective? Is it the most useful?

25:34Absolutely not. Like I, you can get around a racetrack a lot faster on other motorcycles.

25:39You can be more comfortable in, uh, in everyday use with other motorcycles, but at the same

25:46time you've got, you know, you've got so much fire, fire power on tap with your right wrist,

25:53you can't help, but just love just cracking that thing. And here in the, the supercharger

25:58spool up and the thing, just rush the rush of power, all that that's worth the price of

26:03admission. Like, I don't think I'd ever own one myself, but I will not ever question anyone's

26:11decision to own one of those things. Cause there are so much freaking fun.

26:17Yeah. That's what about you, Adam?

26:19They're awesome. Yeah. I think the same thing. They're just really thrilling to ride. Just the

26:24rush of acceleration and the supercharger blow off. It's just, it's, they're really exhilarating

26:30bikes to ride. If you've never ridden one, you know, get a chance to rent one or try one

26:34out. Cause they're awesome. Yeah. You wrote, you wrote the first one at the press launch.

26:40I wrote the 2015, the 2015 model here. Yeah. Ninja. So the first one without the lower fairing.

26:48Yeah. Just very exhilarating bikes are just, they're awesome. You know, just I'm surprised

26:54you don't really see more on the road, you know, because they are so cool. And as we talked

26:59about before with the pricing, you know, $32,700. Yeah. It's definitely expensive, but that's

27:05what a lot of those, you know, Panigales V4s costs now and, and things like that.

27:10I mean, a Diavel can cost 32,000. Like, you know, a monster SP is 27 grand or something like

27:19that. So, I mean, like there's so many bikes that are in that price range. I don't think

27:23it's, it's crazy for sure, but yeah. And that Ninja, the Ninja is going to make a statement

27:28like, it's just, it's a very unique bike. And, you know, I personally prefer the looks

27:33of the lower fairing equipped model, but it's still cool without the lower fairing.

27:38Yeah. I, I, I agree, but I also like looking at that trellis frame. I think it's,

27:42yeah, it's pretty unique, you know, and then you can, you can see the, the gear drive for

27:46the, the super, the supercharger right there on the side, it says supercharger and you've

27:51got that. That's cool.

27:52You've got the tube feeding the, the system. Like, so mechanically it's kind of interesting

27:57to look at as well, you know? So, yeah. Um, yeah, I don't know. Uh, overall it's a super

28:06cool bike. Um, if you have one high five, heck yeah. And if you haven't seen one in person,

28:13hopefully you do at some time in your life because it is, it is something to behold for

28:18sure. Yeah. So I think that's going to wrap it up for the old, uh, Kawasaki H2 series.

28:26It is a legendary motorcycle because it represents the absolute peak of Kawasaki's performance

28:33engineering. I mean, it's, it's so peak, right? It, it doesn't even have a Kawasaki logo on

28:37it. It's got the, the heavy industries, um, aerospace look, you know, the different logo

28:43on it that, um, you know, comes kind of from the aerospace division. So, and that's an interesting

28:48thing is that they, they used other divisions outside of Kawasaki, um, or Kawasaki divisions

28:57outside of motorcycling to build that thing. Because they went to, like you said, Adam,

29:01uh, we were talking about it one time. They went to Garrett to build the, um, supercharger

29:05and Garrett was like, we can't do it.

29:07Eaton, Eaton.

29:08Or Eaton, sorry. Sorry, Garrett. No slander on Garrett.

29:11All right. Tell your lawyers to stand down. So tell the story.

29:18Well, remember they were using superchargers on their, on their PWCs and jet ski vehicles.

29:26Yeah. That was a, that was a roots blower. So that was the, the interlaying paddles, you

29:31know, like you would expect to see on the top of a, um, a Hellcat or something, you know,

29:37a big flat thing that pushes it that way.

29:40But they had that relationship with Eaton. So they're like, oh, okay, Eaton, we're, we're,

29:45you know, engineering a sport bike and we'd like to fit a supercharger on it. Can you,

29:51can you make this, here's the dimensions and here's the engineering plans that we have for this,

29:55this component. Can you guys manufacture this for us? And they went to Eaton with this and Eaton

30:01looks at the documents that are like, we, we can't do this. We don't, we've never made anything

30:05like this. We wouldn't even know the first thing, how, so they couldn't partner with Eaton

30:09obviously. And they had to, you know, find a new solution and the new solution laid within

30:14Kawasaki heavy industries in the aviation division. And they were able to actually, uh, manufacture

30:20this, this centrifugal supercharger, you know, with an impeller that spins upwards of a hundred

30:26thousand RPM. So kind of neat.

30:29Yeah. Very neat. I mean, it is, you know, cause a lot of people don't, don't know that if

30:34all the things that Kawasaki does outside of motorcycles, we're talking, everything from

30:40shipbuilding is where Kawasaki started from in the 1800s to, uh, turbine power plants. So they have

30:47some, some, uh, engineering prowess in turbines, which would be the inside of the supercharger

30:53aerospace. So they, they can build fins and things, which also, uh, goes to the turbocharger.

31:00Um, you've got bridge building, which I don't know how that would fit in, but maybe they brought one

31:05guy, one guy in from bridge building to give them a thumbs up. Yeah. You know, good job. Yeah. It looks

31:11good. So, uh, anyways, uh, yeah, it's a, it was a collaboration between all of Kawasaki to build

31:17something, not just the motorcycle division. And that's, that's pretty impressive. So, uh, you know,

31:23and it, it ties back to Kawasaki's wild seventies heritage, you know, Kawasaki has always been the

31:29one for wild motorcycles. You know, they've, they've had other forced induction motorcycles.

31:34They had the 750 turbo, the 900 turbo. Um, you had these H2, the widow maker, and they were like,

31:41kind of proud of the name widow maker, like back in the seventies marketing. Like if they, they,

31:46I'm surprised they didn't actually put it in the ads, you know, get your hands on the widow maker.

31:50You know, it had this reputation and Kawasaki has always kind of had that reputation of building

31:55crazy fast, technically bonkers things. Right. Yeah. They've always been known for performance

32:03and speed, you know, and yeah, you know, sport bikes and just speed. And that, that goes off into

32:09other areas. Like Adam said, there was the jet ski, supercharged jet skis. Um, and now there's a

32:15supercharged side-by-side as well that just came out 250 horsepower, thousand CC side-by-side

32:22goes like a hundred miles an hour. That's cuckoo. So it's crazy. Kawasaki is still unhinged and crazy

32:30all these years later, which is cool. So, um, so whether it's the, okay, no, go ahead, Jeff.

32:37Oh, no, you mentioned the jet ski. I did have a photo shoot with the supercharged jet ski,

32:41and I'm going to have to pretend like I remember, I think it was a thing did about 80 or 85 miles an

32:48hour. Uh, yeah. The later ones got right up against 80, um, back a long time ago when I worked at,

32:57um, Kawasaki, I test rode the first models of the supercharged, but, uh, things, and it was crazy.

33:04They were fast. They were, it was really fun. It was really interesting, but those were very, um,

33:09low boost. Like even with that supercharger, I don't even think they got up to 14 PSI. I think

33:15they were running like 10 or 11, if I remember right, but still big power, 300 horsepower jet

33:20skis, pretty fast, pretty big. You know, they were 1500 CC, uh, with a supercharger. So, um, but let's

33:28get back to the bike part of it. You know, um, every model is proof that Kawasaki still builds

33:35motorcycles like no one else dares to. And I think that's where we should leave it. So, uh, thanks

33:41for listening. Thanks for watching. Uh, if you like what we're doing, hit the like button, subscribe,

33:46hit the notification bell. So, uh, you can get the notification of these every Thursday. Um, and put

33:53some comments down below. Let us know what you think about the H2. Would you ride one? Would you own

33:57one? Do you think they're cool? Whatever it may be, put it down below. We'd like to hear

34:01comments. We write back as much as we can and we'll see on the next one.

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