2020 KAWAS AKI Z H2
R I D E R E V I E W
P90
The Z H2 has ruined other inline-fours for our lad Abhi here.
"A BIKE THIS FAST
SHOULD NOT BE THIS EASY TO RIDE."
pressure without any thought to modulation and
the Z H2 will confidently rein you in with minimal
rear-wheel lift.
THE RUNNING GEAR
Showa handles the suspension with SFF-BP
(separate fork function, big piston) inverted
forks and a monoshock that felt well-matched
to my 200-pound frame. Kawasaki engineers
added 2 clicks of preload to the front and 1 on
the rear for our time on the track—annoyingly at
this price point, there's no remote adjuster for
the rear so you'll have to bust out your tools if
you want to do the same—and it was fine in all
situations except the when 700+ pounds of bike
and rider were compressing into 20 degrees of
banking at triple-digit speeds. I don't have an is-
sue with this, as I don't think many Z H2 riders will
be putting their bikes in that situation.
What they will be doing is covering lots of street
miles, and I can confidently state that's where the
Z H2 excels thanks to a half-day ride out to Valley
of Fire State Park and back. The (more expensive)
competition may have stiffer suspensions, lighter
curb weights and lower lap times at the track, but
Kawasaki has done a tremendous job building a
motorcycle for the street—a bike this fast should
not be this easy to ride. When you're taking it
slow, the Z H2 is calm to the point that you could
easily forget what it is capable of. I'm 6'2" and felt
the ergonomics were comfortable, though I would
have appreciated slightly lower pegs.
As a motorcycle that's fun to ride, the Z H2 is
tremendous. But the styling is somehow simul-
