By John Ulrich
Kawasaki held a celebration dinner for the new supercharged H2 streetbike at the Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles last night. Both the 200+ horsepower streetbike version and the closed-course, 300-horsepower H2R version of the 2015 998cc four-stroke show-stopper were on display, along with an example of the original, 1972 750cc two-stroke three-cylinder H2 streetbike and a circa-1973 750cc two-stroke three-cylinder H2R racebike.
It was an interesting venue, currently hosting an exhibit dedicated to Hello Kitty that has been drawing huge crowds. One Kawasaki staffer told me that the line to get in to see the Hello Kitty exhibit had stretched around the block earlier in the day. I didn’t see much of the Hello Kitty displays, headlined as “Exploring the Supercute World of Hello Kitty.” But while looking at the bikes on display, I couldn’t help but wonder if Hello Kitty is a closet horsepower freak. Wouldn’t this popular character secretly enjoy riding a motorcycle that Kawasaki says “will redefine the standards by which motorcycles are judged” and produces “the world’s fastest, most intense acceleration?” And wouldn’t motorcycles displayed in the same building qualify as being part of “the Supercute World of Hello Kitty?”
Beyond that, I wondered, who came up with the audacious idea to produce such an outrageous machine in the first place? The fact that the new H2 and H2R were designed and built at all is proof that Kawasaki is not like other motorcycle companies. What was the initial meeting like when somebody floated the idea of a motorcycle “Built Beyond Belief,” making more than enough power to move a full-sized automobile swiftly down the road? What was the reaction to the idea of creating a motorcycle with a 14,000 redline and a supercharger that spins at 9.2 times crankshaft speed? Who was the guy at Kawasaki headquarters in Japan who had the brass to come up with the idea, actually voice the concept and move it forward? Who is Mr. 300 Horsepower?
I asked the question and the reply I got from various Kawasaki executives was predictable: It was a collaboration of many people from assorted Kawasaki divisions, including the units that build airplanes and helicopters and fuselage sections and wing parts for the Boeing 787, along with the division that builds gas turbines.
I pressed the question: Somebody had to have come up with the idea in the first place. Who is he? What was he thinking? Where was he when he first articulated the concept of building a 300-horsepower motorcycle, and what was the initial reaction?
No luck on getting a straight answer or an actual name for Mr. 300 Horsepower during the event in Los Angeles. Instead, what I heard was more about a project team working together under the direction of a project leader. But nothing about the single guy who first thought this project up.
Mr. 300 Horsepower was apparently not among the dignitaries invited to the H2 dinner and there wasn’t a press conference or briefing where he could talk about his inspiration for and execution of the project. I didn’t get to meet Mr. 300 Horsepower.
If I had, I would have said something we all know, that motorcycle riding is something normal society in the United States will never really understand, approve of and/or embrace. Even if we all dressed in pastel and rode stock 50cc scooters, a certain segment of society would still hate us and assorted government agencies would still create problems for us.
The way I see it, it’s best to ignore all that and live large, ride fast and celebrate horsepower. And, to echo a much-younger version of me as seen on camera during the introduction of the Ninja 900R at Laguna Seca in December 1983, have some excitement in your life.
So, Mr. 300 Horsepower, whoever you really are and wherever you are now: Thanks for whatever you said and did to get Kawasaki to build these motorcycles. Thanks for going big and fast and outrageous. Thanks for remembering that excitement and fun are what motorcycles are all about.
I salute you!
And Hello Kitty may secretly approve…