Rennie Scaysbrook | October 22, 2019
Kawasaki has used the Tokyo Motor Show to unveil its brand new supercharged motorcycle in the Z H2.
Based heavily on the H2 SX sport touring bike but with fairings and luggage turfed and new, angry-looking aesthetic and sporting LED lights front and rear, the Kawasaki Z H2 is every bit as mean as it sounds.
Here’s the third installment in the Z series in the 2020 Kawasaki Z H2.
The Z H2 will run a 998cc, ram air-assisted, inline four-cylinder motor, with power at a claimed 197 hp at 11,000 rpm and 101 lb-ft of torque hitting at 8500 rpm. The six-speed gearbox runs an up and down quickshifter.
Chassis tech is typical H2, with the metallic lime green tubular steel chassis on full display, as is the now-iconic “supercharger” logo on the impellor on the right side of the motor.
But Kawasaki has not pushed the boat entirely out with the new Z, preferring to run conventional, rather than electronically-monitored/adjusted suspension in the Showa Big Piston Fork (BFP) and Brembo’s radially mounted, four-piston M4.32 front brake calipers.
Like the rest of the supercharged Kawasaki range, the Z H2’s doesn’t run an intercooler, with Kawasaki saying, “With its assist and slipper clutch plus dog-ring gearbox technology, clever use of oil as a coolant to eliminate the need for a bulky intercooler and manifest oil jets playing on key components, KHI engineers have married reliability to rideability in a way only they know-how.”
The electronics are governed by a Bosch Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) for traction control, intelligent anti-lock braking, cornering management function, selectable rider, power modes, and anti-wheelie control, and all accessed via a new TFT display. And Kawasaki has fitted cruise control to the Z H2.
The Kawasaki Z H2 is the first new release from the company ahead of EICMA in two weeks, so we haven’t seen the last of what’s new for the big K for 2020.
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