Cycle News

Cycle News 2016 Issue 08 March 1

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

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VOL. 53 ISSUE 8 MARCH 1, 2016 P69 tolerances to velocity would have to agree is a burning definition of the word fast. It's not that the Kawasaki Ninja H2 is going to reach a higher top speed than a ZX-10R. It's the way in which it advances you onward that grabs you by the goolies. At 6500 rpm in third gear, 10 degrees of movement on an H2 throttle is akin to 25 on a ZX-10R. And the H2's torque curve is so smooth, so buxom, it genuinely makes many other 1000cc sport- bikes feel anemic. These rapid sensations are purely due to the presence of the factory fitted supercharger. Kawasaki Heavy Industries— a company that possesses a board of directors—collectively voted to fit a supercharger to a 1000cc four-stroke, inline, four- cylinder, superbike engine and sell it to you and me. Let that sink in for a minute. In a world gone completely mad with keeping you safe from yourself, KHI has presented you with a proposition. For $26,000, you can acquire what is, by almost any measure, the single fastest form of transportation available on the road today. A Kawasaki H2 will posi- tively vaporize all but the highest specification of supercar, and make burgers out of most bikes, too. Gunning the throttle on an H2 is pure sex. The faster you go, the louder the flut- ter. And much like the mattress mash up, the faster you go, the faster you want to go. The receptors in your brain open. Serotonin floods your sys- tem. It's an orgasm of speed and sound and liquefying peripherals. There's a personal connection to the experience, one very few machines, let alone motor- cycles, can manage. From the rider's eye it looks like you're riding a shark. The reflective silver, covering every aspect of the H2's shell, reminds you of the exclusivity of the experience—the Kawasaki River Mark adorning the snout, award- ed to only the most revered of When was the last time you saw a rear wheel that looked that good on a Japanese machine?

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