Unboxing the 1,000cc Kawasaki H2

Apr 20, 2015 10:19 am

My palms began to sweat a little as I watched the four large boxes being unloaded from the lorry.

I stood there like a child waiting to tear open his presents.

But it wasn’t my birthday last Thursday.

For some lucky Singaporeans, it might as well be their birthday when their Kawasaki dealers call them to say that their H2 motorcycles are ready for collection.

Mr Iain Stewart, founding director of Mutt Motorcycles SEA and Creo Customs. is seen here with the RM 1 from Maeving, a British manufacturer.

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For me, getting a first look at the first batch of H2 bikes up close and personal would have to suffice.

Technicians unbolting the metal frame that protects the H2. TNP PHOTOS: ZAIHAN MOHD YUSOF

I moved in closer as the technicians from Evershine Auto, the local Kawasaki motorcycles distributor, cut open the cardboard boxes and unbolted the H2 from its metal palette.

While this might not be the much-talked-about supercharged H2R, which has an eye-popping 300HP and can reach a theoretical speed above 400kmh, the single-seater H2 is equally impressive.

First, it doesn’t look like your contemporary sports bike.

The street-legal H2 has less curves. It’s designed with more sharp angles and features small tunnels for air to glide over its bodywork.

The fins and the low-drag design of the Kawasaki H2 is evident on the bike's bodywork.

I don’t know much about aerodynamics but this thing looks like it can fly given its close association with Kawasaki’s aerospace branch, which had designed the supercharger on the carbon fibre-infused H2R.

As I pushed the 1,000cc H2 into the showroom, I noticed that it’s slightly heavier than a 600cc sports bike.

While the saddle area feels like any anorexic sports bike, the H2’s front seems a little bulky and wide.

The bike’s paintwork caught my eye because the gleaming panels may look like metal, but they’re not — they’re hand-painted to look like liquid-metal, like something out of a sci-fi movie.