Tank Slap - Motorcycle Forum

Yesterday I was in Nottingham meeting with the boss of Moto-Direct the importers of Arai, AGV, Dainese, Alpinestars etc.

Anyway, we had a very productive meeting and then he said, tell me what you think of a new bike I have just brought. Went downstairs, and parked alongside a couple of 500GP bikes (Nial Mackenzie's) there sat a brand new Kawasaki H2R.

It was brought as an investment and so it is unregistered and will not turn a wheel, like the NR750 that is also there, but the Kawasaki is certainly a Marmite bike.

Personally, I did not like it, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

That's a bike to admire up close. The workmanship, manufacturing and engineering is a thing to behold.

Ive known the owner Jonny T for many years ,he has a great collection of bikes and its good to see him doing so well
The H2 was built by Kawasaki as a demo of the KHI groups engineering excellance ,each engineering department had an input to different parts of the bike.It wasnt built to make a profit from,although ive heard they have a back log order for them
I like it ,I want one but only alongside a zx10r

Kwacky wrote:That's a bike to admire up close. The workmanship, manufacturing and engineering is a thing to behold.

Yeah I agree, but I also agree with T.C its not a thing of beauty.

Perkles wrote:Ive known the owner Jonny T

Is that Terry's nickname?. I will have to remember that

I like it, not S1KRR like it more impressed like which could be the future for bikes

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I'm glad there's no pic so I can see what the thing looks like.

D41 wrote:I'm glad there's no pic so I can see what the thing looks like.

Arrggh!!

I stand by my previous statement.....That thing looks awful!! Did it come from the factory 'pre-crashed' just to get that unique er, 'design'??

I guess they could use it to their advantage in their advertising...."DON'T WORRY ABOUT CRASHING THIS BIKE....WE'VE ALREADY DONE THAT FOR YOU!!".....or.."THE WORLD'S FIRST MOTORCYCLE FOR THE BLIND!!"

it's the attention to detail I love

Kwacky wrote:it's the attention to detail I love..

Very nice detail touches, I have to agree.
However....
I think IMHO this is a case of the entire, being somehow far less than the sum total of it's parts.

Yep, as the OP said, very marmite.

I like them.

Its not pretty but does have a kind of brutish appeal to it.

I like the H2 and if it was 15k I maybe interested but the problem is for the sane money you can have a 1299s which betters it in all areas IMO.

duke63 wrote:Its not pretty but does have a kind of brutish appeal to it.

Put perfectly.

Blade wrote:I like the H2 and if it was 15k I maybe interested but the problem is for the sane money you can have a 1299s which betters it in all areas IMO.

I don't think the h2 is aimed at competing with super bikes like the 1299 etc,they wanted something unique and imo they have delivered on that count.I do agree the looks are very marmite but it does look better in the flesh
Rutter said after riding the ht2r that no bike including race bikes feel anywhere near as fast and you have to recalibrate your brain for it.There is more supercharged goodness to come for kawasaki in the near future

Fair point Perks ands I realise the manufacturers have not designed them to compete against each other but as a potential customer they do compete for my hard earned and for me at least I wouldn't consider a H2 at its current price. North of 20k there are too many MORE special bikes available IMO.

Saying that I hope Kawasaki do produce some more affordable supercharged specialness for us to enjoy. But key word in that statement would be affordable.

Personally I won't pay a premium for how a bike makes its power. I will pay for performance and features but not just for the uniqueness of a supercharging being used to create equal performance. If I can buy similar performance for massively less coin thats where my money will go.

I like the H2 for what it is, unique. I wouldn't be looking to compare it to current sportsbikes because, in my mind that's not what it's about. I've only ever seen it as an engineering project to bring something different to the market. I'm sure Kawasaki will use what they've learned on more bikes and other platforms.

I think your spot on Kwacky.

All Im saying is as a potential customer I wouldn't spend 22k on one but would pay similar money to say an R1 or S1000RR. Different bike I understand but I would consider one as an alternative if the price was lower than 22k and more like 15k. Just my opinion as a potential customer.

Don't get me wrong, I do like the bike and personally I like the looks but for me it's just too expensive for what it is.