2020 KAWAS AKI Z H2
R I D E R E V I E W
P82
JOINING THE
FAMILY
The Z H2's performance is
surprising, but its existence is
not. The Z H2's Project Man-
ager (Koji Ito) himself says
that "this is one of the most
predicted motorcycles we've
ever built." Many riders have
expected this since 2015, when Kawa-
saki initially shocked the motorcycling
public with the supercharged production
engine in the H2/H2R. Three years later they
released the sport-touring H2 SX SE, and now
naked bike enthusiasts can rejoice.
Even though many motorcyclists have seen
the Z H2 coming, we asked Ito what he thought
would surprise riders about it. His response was
simple: "this isn't just an H2 without a fairing." Ka-
wasaki believed that simply taking the bodywork
off would still leave a bike with a performance
envelope that would only be
interesting to a very narrow
customer base. So, while
the engine internals are the
same, there are serious
changes to almost every-
thing surrounding the motor.
Kawasaki has made more
changes than you may expect in their
quest to give the Z H2 a street focus.
The steel trellis frame is all-new, tuned
more for low-and-mid-speed handling
than outright top speed as in the H2, or luggage
capacity as in the H2 SX SE. This behavior is
paired with a slight increase in rake compared to
the H2 (24.9 vs. 24.5 degrees).
The swingarm is also different. Gone is the single-
sided unit found across the rest of the H2 lineup,
and it's replaced with a ZX-10R-style swingarm that
flanks both sides of the rear wheel. It's stronger,
lighter and it's cheaper, too—more on that later.
The Z H2 (center) joins the H2,
H2R and H2 SX SE in Kawasaki's
family of supercharged
motorcycles.
The street cred that
badge gives you is
enormous.
