Oh well, the very first machine on the xBhp PowerTour 2023 is a conundrum. The Ninja H2 just scraps whatever we said about power being more than just numbers and yet, it is one of the best examples of that very thing. We have covered thousands of kilometres on the Ninja H2 and yet, it just never ceases to amaze. We had bid it adieu here in India because it started to feel like we had done everything we needed to do with it, and it was time to let go. But a machine as special as the Ninja H2 does not let you off the hook easily. So we got one again… in Australia no less!

The idea behind the Ninja H2 was a simple yet complex one. Motorcycles were getting faster, yes, but not better. Every new motorcycle was more of the old ones. From hyperbikes like the Hayabusa to superbikes like the S1000RR, everything was starting to feel a little… familiar. Kawasaki decided to break this mould by introducing forced induction on a production motorcycle. As absurd as it sounded, the Japs got it done and there it was- River Mark insignia on its forehead and a supercharged inline-4 to shake the very foundations of motorcycles and motorcycling.

With a radical design, maddening power, intoxicating acceleration, and near-unlimited potential; it was the perfect motorcycle. Something that brought two wheels back to the posters in kids’ bedrooms. And we are kids at heart if not actual ones. It was candy and we just had to have one. Despite its price tag and the fact that it was so hard to get your hands on one, we finally got it. We sold ours off but even 8 years after its launch, it is still just as captivating and we succumbed to our desire for this supercharged candy.

We had ridden the Ninja H2 in Australia in 2017 during #PowerTrip360. It was phenomenal. But this reunion with it was even more special. Imagine letting go of a motorcycle thinking that you have saturated it and then swinging a leg over it only to be smitten all over again. That is exactly what happened. The is no getting used to the absolute thrust as the inline-4 engine sings away spinning the supercharger propeller at over 9 times the speed of the engine. The howl, the chirp, and the sheer acceleration are like eating a can of coffee beans. And that, friends, is no exaggeration.

The Acer Swift 5 packs everything you need for a trip like the #xBhpPowerTour2023- tons of power and portability unlike anything.

It wakes you up. It jolts you out of the mundanity of riding… and riding isn’t even mundane! Yet, it makes you feel like everything you have ridden apart from it is just… less. It is almost blasphemous to talk about numbers when it comes to the Ninja H2. Every number and every piece of the specifications sheet is redundant. There’s just the Ninja H2, open roads, and speed that can tear through space and time. We have ridden fast motorcycles. We have ridden wild motorcycles. And yet, it is only the Ninja H2 that makes us wish that it was a little slower, just a teeny tiny bit.

We can wax lyrical about the Ninja H2 and its prowess all day long but the best thing we like about it is that it is alive. It was aimed at being perfect and absolute. Sometimes a pursuit like that can lead to too much precision which leaves no space for soul. But the Ninja H2 has that and character in spades. The way it demands every ounce of your focus just to keep it going and keep the shiny side up is addictive. The way everyone seems to respect your cojones for taming something like the H2 is addictive. The way you are forced to look at it with almost divine respect despite the illusion that you have tamed it… it is addictive.

We went back and forth a few times on whether to make the Ninja H2 a part of the xBhp PowerTour 2023 or not. After all, isn’t it too obvious? Well, if you look past the obvious you will realize that the Ninja H2’s real power is not its engine or its design or its sophisticated technology. The real power that the Ninja H2 holds is that of reminding everyone that playing it safe may save one from defeat but shooting for the stars is what gives you a shot at true triumph. And with the Ninja H2, Kawasaki triumphed.