German mag Motorrad is reporting we might soon see a sport-touring version of the Kawasaki H2 hyperbike.
When Kawasaki first unveiled the track-only supercharged H2R, jaws dropped at its claimed 300 horsepower. Those jaws weren’t quite as slack when the street-legal H2 was unveiled, as it’s heavier and makes a few less ponies (264 hp, which is still a healthy number).
The H2 is obviously more usable, since you can take it on public roads, but you still don’t see many around, partly because the bike is like the Suzuki Hayabusa and Kawasaki ZX-14: aside from drag strip heroics and straight-line posing on the street, what are they really good for? They’re extremely fast bikes, but they don’t corner as well as race-bred superbikes, and they aren’t equipped for the one thing that heavy, powerful bikes are really good for: long-distance touring.
Motorrad thinks that might be about to change, with talk of a sport-touring version of the H2 coming soon. If true, that would be a very sensible use of the supercharged platform; all that torque would be welcome with a heavily-loaded machine. It might also be a very timely move, as there seems to be a bit of rekindled interest in luxury touring bikes, with a new Honda Gold Wing coming, Yamaha’s two new superbaggers, and the Ducati Super Sport all coming to market recently.
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