Didn't the big four try forced induction back in the early to mid 80's with turbos? While the idea seems cool how much is a supercharger going to add to the price of a 600cc bike? Look at the price difference between a 2015 ZX10 & H2. The H2 is a whopping $10000 more. Apply that to the price of the ZX6 & you end up with a middleweight bike priced above liter class bikes. Not to mention maintenance. H2's require a tear down inspection once the engines reaches 15 hours of +7000 rpm operation. At 30 hours of +7000 rpm operation a bottom end rebuild is required. Now I'm sure you can roll the dice & forgo these services but whats the cost if the engine grenades? Even if Kawasaki does manage to keep the cost & complexity of the bike reasonable. I think ultimately your left with a novelty much like the turbo bikes of years gone by.
When I first heard about the H2, I commented on the ZXFORUM that I hoped this was the direction Kawasaki was headed. Potentially liter bike power in a 600 package. Maybe innovation in motorcycles is Green, not Red.
With the forced induction (for efficiency) trend in the auto industry growing, it wouldn't be surprising to see it in bikes. There have been a lot of advancements in turbo technology since the 80s. The H2R is a halo bike, though, they didn't really build it to compete in any class or go head-to-head with other liter bikes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
