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FastestThings

Motorcycles

Kawasaki Ninja H2

Cycle World measured the 2015 street-legal Ninja H2 at 183 mph. Kawasaki does not state a top speed for it. The H2R is not this bike.

Also known as Ninja H2, H2
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Top speed

Published as 183 mphPublished as 183 mphPublished as 183 mph

Cycle World, 11 November 2015, measured the street-legal 2015 Ninja H2 at 183 mph after a quarter mile of 9.62 seconds at 152.01 mph. Kawasaki's press kit does not state a top speed, so the test is the ranked figure. A calculated 209 mph and the H2R speedometer video are not stored.

VerifiedCycle World (opens source in a new tab)

In context

  • 2.8× a cheetah's timed top speedSourced · Cheetah, 29 m/s. Sharp 1997, mean of three timed runs over 201.2 m
  • A football field in 1.1 sConstant · American football field, 100 yd (91.44 m)
  • London to New York in 18 h 55 minConstant · London to New York, 5,570 km great-circle

Worked out from the sourced figure above, which stays the ranked number.

This list

Why it's so fast

A motorcycle is fast because the air only has to get around a rider and a fairing, not a cabin. The engine still has to stay in its power band, and many of the big numbers are factory limiters.

  1. A small hole in the air

    Less frontal area means less drag for a given speed. The rider's tuck is part of the shape. A sitting-up test is a different motorcycle.

  2. Limiters are common

    A published top speed on a modern sport bike is often an electronic cap the makers agreed to, not the speed the engine would reach with the cap removed.

The capped one people mean is the Suzuki Hayabusa.

This is how the category works. A note written for this entry appears here once it is in the database.

Provenance

Every measurement

Claimed, measured and official figures side by side, each with its source. The ranked figure is marked.

  1. 295km/h183mph81.8m/s159knRanked figure

    Cycle World, 11 November 2015, measured the street-legal 2015 Ninja H2 at 183 mph after a quarter mile of 9.62 seconds at 152.01 mph. Kawasaki's press kit does not state a top speed, so the test is the ranked figure. A calculated 209 mph and the H2R speedometer video are not stored.

    Verified
    Cycle World (opens source in a new tab)

Reference

Specs

Model
2015 street-legal Ninja H2
Test
Cycle World, measured 183 mph
Not this bike
Ninja H2R

Spot a wrong number?

Every report is read by a person, and corrections are dated on the page.