Supernaked Group Test 2016 - MT-10 vs. S1000R vs. 1290 Superduke R vs. Speed Triple R | S.13 Ep.5

So has there been a bike more hyped than the Kawasaki H2 and H2R? Not in my memory. Just the headline figure, a supercharged sports bike. I mean, we haven't seen turbocharging for 20 years now on sports bikes, and to see a supercharged sports bike is, wow, it's got all of us super excited. We've come all the way out to Losai, I think that's how it's said, Qatar. It's actually a super exclusive launch, there's not that many people here. And us English guys, we're the first lot to ride it, and we are super excited. It's gonna be amazing. So the bike itself, it's, Kawasaki are gonna say, it's a technological masterpiece, and in all honesty, I'm not gonna argue with them. They really have gone mad with this bike. In the same, you know, a couple of weeks ago, I rode the R1, and they were saying, we've thrown everything at this R1. Well, Kawasaki has done exactly the same thing. They've thrown everything they can at the new H2 and the H2R. The whole thing has been developed from scratch. It's taken them since 2012, so that's three, four years. You know, we're in 2015, it's finally coming out, which is longer than it normally takes them to develop a bike and it's because there's nothing been done like it before. I mean, sure, the jet ski range that Kawasaki has, everyone knows they do a few supercharged 1,000cc four cylinder engines in that, but it's not like they've just grabbed one of those engines and thrown it in a trellis frame. You know, they have developed this engine and this supercharger from scratch, from the ground up, to develop a bike that is literally like nothing else you'll ever see. Every detail, the frame, just looks like a trellis frame, right? No, every tiny tube on it has been optimised, get the stiffness right. They've used a specialist welding technique that gets the best looking, best formed welds you can possibly have. The supercharger itself is a centrifugal type supercharger, but it has its own self-lubricating system, ceramic bearings, spins at 140,000 RPM at maximum rev. I mean, the technology in it is incredible. You've obviously also got the usual refinement, so you've got Brembo brakes, you've got the best KYB suspension money can buy, or not buy in this case, as it happens. You've got the ABS systems, the advanced traction control systems, anti-wheely launch control. Every little bit has been put into this bike to make it not necessarily the fastest thing in the world around the track, but the most exhilarating thing to ride. And we're gonna get a go today on track. So there's the H2 and the H2R, two different models. H2 is the road-going bike. That's the one that anyone can buy. You can ride it to the shops. You'll get there really, really quickly. It's only 220 horsepower gram air. There's only a few things that change between the two bikes. You know, when you're looking at it, the H2R is a 60,000 pound motorcycle. H2 has got a lot of the components of that kind of headline bike. The H2R itself, man, where do I start? What a piece of kit. So it's track only. I don't know where you're gonna ride it, because it is loud. If you were lucky enough to see it at the NEC show, you would have seen the fire-spitting, flaming, mad, monster thing. It is, it's like standing next to a Formula One car. It's incredible. Track only, no pillions, rider only. 320, are you listening? 320 horsepower. That is ridiculous. I don't know what we're gonna do with it. I'm pretty sure it's just gonna spin the world backwards, but I'm gonna find out right now. You've probably seen my reactions as I got off the bikes earlier. That thing is unreal. It wasn't a lot other than swear words and giggling like an idiot. These things, both of them, both the H2 and the H2R, are like nothing else I've ever ridden. Literally nothing. They are incredible machines. I'll start with the H2, the slow one. 220 horsepower is never gonna be slow. It is a wild thing to ride. And again, it really feels as it looks on the dyno graph. At the top end, it's not gonna pull away from a ZX-10, not by much, anyway. But coming off the turn, there is so much drive. The thing just rips off the apex. And the four traction controls fighting and straining to keep the thing in line. And just every single year, second, third, fourth, fifth, the thing just goes and goes and goes. It doesn't ever seem to let up. All the time you're in the middle of the rev range, a big fat part of the torque and power curves, the thing just takes off. I actually came in thinking, what else could feel like that? I've never ridden a bike, race bike, road bike, supermoto's, track bikes, anything. I've never ridden anything that has that same snap, that same drive off the corner. The chassis as well, thankfully, they've made it handle, which if that thing didn't handle, we'd all be dead within seconds. But luckily, they've got a bike that holds a line, doesn't tie itself in a knot. The brakes are phenomenal. You can hold them right deep into the turn. The non-switchable ABS, which you get on the H2, you can't actually turn the ABS off. Did worry me, but actually out on track, it's fine. Even when you trigger it, as the bike slides into a corner, it doesn't stop braking. It keeps slowing you down. It just stops things getting too out of shape, which again, with a bike like this, it's probably a good thing. You do feel the weight. It isn't a super sport bike, and it's almost a bit of a testament to it that you treat it like one. You know, you're riding around, you're pitching it into turns, and you're right over the pegs touching down, you're hung off the thing, and you think, oh, it's not holding a line, perhaps, as I'd expect, and then you realize you're comparing it to the latest super sport bikes, and it's not. You know, it's a big bike. It's 30 kilos heavier than a super sport bike, and that's why it doesn't hold a line, doesn't turn as it should. If you compare it to other powerhouse bikes, things like the Hayabusa, the ZR1400, it's in a different league. You know, it's definitely a heavy super sport bike rather than a well-handling cruiser, power bike, whatever you want to call it. Just when I thought things couldn't get any crazier, they rolled out of the H2Rs, and a garage full of super experienced journalists just shut up. Just everyone went completely silent. These things are, they're animals. You know, they were warming up in the garage. It was making our chests vibrate with the exhaust note. It was just, I'm gonna swear again. I can feel it coming. They are just like a Formula One car crossed with a MotoGP bike crossed with a jet plane. They're just wild things. And out on track, the experience, it was like the very first time I rode a 1,000cc bike. I think I've said that already. It just made me wonder how anyone could hold on to it, how anyone could ride one fast. And then you have a couple of laps, and then you think, oh, I'll start using a bit more gas here. And then all of a sudden you find yourself fifth gear, sliding the thing, just lent on the traction control going, I've never, ever done this, and I'm never, ever gonna do this. There's not a bike in the world you could do that on. Correction, there's not a bike in the world I could do that on comfortably, lap after lap. It is absolutely obscene. So a hell of a long straight here at Qatar. I think Mark Marquez's record is 214 mile an hour. He's quite good on a bike, and that's on a MotoGP bike. Today, according to the maximum speed readout, I just topped 200.7 miles an hour. And the thing was still pulling hard. If we can find a long enough straight, this is gonna be an obscenely fast bike. In terms of an intense track riding experience, nothing but nothing gets close to the H2R. That has literally blown my mind.