Daily motorbike news, views & reviews
Kawasaki had its beginning as an aircraft manufacturer and since 1962 has been making low-flying motorcycles that have since won world and national road and off-road racing titles. It’s known as the “green machine” because of its corporate colours. We preview coming models and Kawasaki technologies such as the new supercharging in the H2 and H2R sportsbikes. We also road test Kawasaki motorcycles for performance, handling, economy, value, styling, comfort and more.
Rumours are circulating that Kawasaki is planning to shoehorn its supercharged 998cc inline four into their Vulcan cruisers. It was sparked by the above artist’s render in Japanese Young Machine magazine who make a habit of using artist drawings to push their speculation stories. Surprisingly, they are often quite accurate! We would imagine if this supercharged rumour …
Kawasaki displayed its electric project electric bike at the EICMA motorcycle show and now has released a teaser video showing it has manual four-speed transmission. While electric motorcycles can be twist-and-go, Kawasaki believes manual transmission “not only allows a greater speed range, it also allows the rider to have greater input when operating the bike”. Manual …
Kawasaki used to supply engines for esoteric Italian motorcycle manufacturer Bimota and now they are collaborating to share engineering ideas such as hub-centre steering. The first result of their collaboration is the upcoming Tesi H2 powered by a Kawasaki H2 supercharged 998cc inline four. Not only is it propelled by the stonking supercharged H2 engine, but …
Kawasaki seems to be following Yamaha and Honda in developing a leaning three-wheeler with its latest patent application in the US. Yamaha already has the Tricity leaning three-wheeler scooter and Niken motorcycle as well as patent plans for more leaning trikes with two front wheels including a VMax! Honda has also applied for patents for …
Kawasaki will beat Ducati and KTM to the punch by introducing Bosch’s full suite of Advanced Rider Assistance Systems in 2021. The systems include adaptive cruise control (ACC) which adapts speed to the vehicle in front, plus forward collision warning and blind-spot detection. Ducati and KTM have announced that only some of these three systems …
Kawasaki has displayed its EV Project electric bike at the EICMA motorcycle show as the Japanese company gears up for the coming electric revolution. The prototype electric features gears and a chain rather than direct drive or twist-and-go throttle like many other electrics. Electric project This official video from the company shows the work they …
Kawasaki is supercharging Bimota which it recently bought with the launch of the Tesi H2 powered by their H2 supercharged 998cc inline four. Not only is it propelled by the stonking supercharged H2 engine, but there is a fair bit of H2 in the “origami” design. It follows the release last week of Kawasaki’s fourth …
Kawasaki has just announced their naked and supercharged Z H2 will arrive in Australia early next year. It’s not quite naked with a sporty nose-cone fairing, but it is more exposed than the current range of H2, H2 Carbon, track-only H2R and super-touring H2 SX SE+. Z H2 will arrive in metallic spark black with …
Kawasaki will add a Chrome W800 model to its retro range to join the blacked-out W800 SE and the bubble-faired W800 Cafe. The Japanese company has announced the addition ahead of the Tokyo Motor Show tomorrow. We also expect Kawasaki will unveil their naked supercharged Z H2 at the show. It will be interesting to see if it …
A teaser video from Kawasaki showing a supercharger and the letter “Z” seems to indicate the company is about to expand its supercharged lineup, possibly the Z1000. Update: A second video now shows the date of October 23 which is the day before the Tokyo Motor Show opens, so we haven’t got long to …