Kawasaki H2 SX

S1000RR  FORUM

Help Support S1000RR FORUM:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MacRR

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 20, 2015
Messages
2,217
Reaction score
1
Location
Rutland
Took a spin out on Kawasaki's Supercharged H2 SX sports tourer:

Good Bits

- nowhere near as heavy as it looks, beautifully balanced and very easy to filter through traffic at low speed
- very comfortable riding position that equally weights bum, wrists and legs
- an engine that makes a current litre sports bike feel gutless - very, very fast..
- sounds like you have a canary trapped behind the fairing when giving it some beans (chirping supercharger)
- passive suspension that smooths the bumpiest roads yet oddly and pleasingly doesn't let the bike wallow in bends
- obviously not as agile as a sports bike but not half bad through the twisties and very stable when cranked over
- brakes that work
- loads of space for passenger and luggage
- unique looks

Bad Bits

- unique looks
- clutch a bit heavy
- slightly snatchy part throttle response
- base model lacks the desirable tech of the SE version

I thought I'd find the H2 a fast, heavy lump, instead I found it a ridiculously fast, very capable all rounder. Not bad at all..
 
The looks bit generally is Kawas weakness with their big stuff, you wonder who designs their bikes... ZX10..ZZR1100 are a couple of horrors I can never get my head round, the H2 and R are just "out there" too with regard to looks.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Thanks for that, did it have enough ground clearance?

The Z1000SX ground the pegs, side stand and exhaust cover on the right. It was too low for me.
 
Last edited:
Hi Phil, I rode a Z1000SX a couple of months ago, the H2 is a completely different proposition, I didn't push that hard as I was 2 up but I wouldn't see it as an issue on the road, on track you would run out of clearance.
 
Agreed, looks a lot better in green than black, of course when you're on it you can't see it...
 
As it's for touring, whats the range like? I expect on gas it drinks it, but what about on cruise...superchargers are by their nature always costing you fuel even when they are not adding power (superchargers add a constant parasitic drag to the engine, where as a turbo uses waste gas energy). So unless the tank is mammoth I can't see it being terribly effective for long schleps, unless you need to pee every 100miles anyway...
 
So says a young man. You just wait, pal :-(

Ha. You compensate by getting there faster!

Just looked it up, it has a 19L tank and does 5.7L/100KM which gives a theoretical range of 333.3333333333333....(19/5.7)x100
Which would be great, but I expect 200 is more likely when outside of the laboratory.
 
Last edited:
The looks bit generally is Kawas weakness with their big stuff, you wonder who designs their bikes... ZX10..ZZR1100 are a couple of horrors I can never get my head round, the H2 and R are just "out there" too with regard to looks...
Forget the looks Stu, it's just not fast enough for us. Lol.
 
Ha. You compensate by getting there faster!

Just looked it up, it has a 19L tank and does 5.7L/100KM which gives a theoretical range of 333.3333333333333....(19/5.7)x100
Which would be great, but I expect 200 is more likely when outside of the laboratory.

Sports tourers typically have a range of 200-220 per tank so I think you are probably about right alex.
 
I had a test of it in the summer, not too bad, near choked when told about the servicing costs of the supercharger, need a mortgage
 
Forget the looks Stu, it's just not fast enough for us. Lol.
Lol, agreed....however on Macs write up he's impressed with the power and he's a litre bike man...

I just picked up on the servicing of the supercharger on last post......I just wonder what's involved there to cost so much...

Whats the drill with service costs then DCB ?

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Last edited:
I canny mind the exact sentence but it put me right aff it, there was something aboot adjusting the chain as well that makes it very easy to destroy all sorts of no done exactly right, but the big service cost closed it for me, nae change fae ?1800 is taking the piss
 
1800 quid...ram that !.... thats a wee track bike or a holiday or 400 kebabs on the way home drunk..

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk
 
Don't know which H2 ?1800 refers to, but for the SX it averages ?300 per service up to 15000 miles where valve clearances etc are done and that's ?765.
 
For valve clearances yip sounds about right, but the way Kawasaki told me it the supercharger should be done on that service as well don?t know what as was a while back and when he said very little to Nae change fae ?1800 I stopped listening. My other issue was ?18500 for a bike that is nowhere near as well built or as good as the RR, in my opinion that is excessive, I even compared it to my mates zzr1400 and I felt the zzr a better bike overall
 
Last edited:
Everyone has their own views and likes and dislikes, I think the ZZR puts out about the same top end power doesn't it but it's also a 12 year old design so they're going to be different. Servicing costs come from the main Kwak dealer near me.
 
To be fair, I don’t do upright bikes so irrelevant for me, ok for what it is just costs far too much for what it is in my opinion
 
Took a spin out on Kawasaki's Supercharged H2 SX sports tourer:

Good Bits

- nowhere near as heavy as it looks, beautifully balanced and very easy to filter through traffic at low speed
- very comfortable riding position that equally weights bum, wrists and legs
- an engine that makes a current litre sports bike feel gutless - very, very fast..
- sounds like you have a canary trapped behind the fairing when giving it some beans (chirping supercharger)
- passive suspension that smooths the bumpiest roads yet oddly and pleasingly doesn't let the bike wallow in bends
- obviously not as agile as a sports bike but not half bad through the twisties and very stable when cranked over
- brakes that work
- loads of space for passenger and luggage
- unique looks

Bad Bits

- unique looks
- clutch a bit heavy
- slightly snatchy part throttle response
- base model lacks the desirable tech of the SE version

I thought I'd find the H2 a fast, heavy lump, instead I found it a ridiculously fast, very capable all rounder. Not bad at all..
I am trying to work out if you would buy one, Im guessing not because of the looks but on the flip yes because of the space for passenger and luggage along with the Unique Looks. Would you buy one?
 
Back
Top