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[Richard230]

Here is another article regarding the Ninja 7, which mentions that it will be marketed in the EU and the UK starting in January of next year. Pricing has still not been determined:  https://thepack.news/kawasaki-introduces-the-all-new-strong-hybrid-motorcycle-ninja-7-hev/

[TheRan]

A few more numbers revealed such as torque and rpm figures, and a ridiculous 227kg. Still no price yet.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/new-bikes/kawasaki-ninja-7-hev/

[princec]

Price likely to be around £10k I reckon. Weight disappointing but entirely unsurprising - weighs the same as my SR/F! (Which genuinely does accelerate like a litre bike... at least, up to 100mph or so)

Cas

[TheRan]

I expected it to be lighter, that's 59kg more than a Ninja 400. If it is using the battery from the fully electric model then that's only an extra 11.5kg (or 23kg if it has two of them, which I doubt), a motor and controller shouldn't add 47kg on top of that (or even 37kg if it's dual battery). The fully electric model only weighs 135kg so they managed to keep the weight down on that.

[Stonewolf]

Actually, I watched a couple of videos about it and they had some Kawasaki visuals that seemed to show warm air passing over the battery box from the engine (good for cold weather performance I guess), but more relevantly its shape was square like a car battery which precludes the use of the removable batteries. That makes sense but does imply it's not a plug-in hybrid which is really lame, do we have to stay 10 years behind cars, can we not use this tech transition to like, catch up a bit.

[TheRan]

So MCN have a review up and it's even worse than I imagined. A price of around £12k (I assume that's an estimate Kawasaki gave them and not just a guess), a 7 mile all electric range at 40mph, a poor automatic transmission implementation, fuel economy that's barely any better than an NC750, not so amazing performance, poor suspension, and they say it's buzzy above 60mph and realistically is best cruising below 70mph.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/bike-reviews/kawasaki/ninja-7-hybrid/2024/

[flynnstig82r]

Disappointing, but not surprising for a first iteration. I didn't expect it to compare well to the already-mature NC750X, but I expected it to come a little closer. It sounds like Kawi's engineers made something they didn't want to ride, so their hearts weren't in it and they were left guessing about things like fully automatic shifting in sport mode, even though they already had a successful example from Honda to copy. I'll be interested to see what v2 looks like in ~5 years.

[Stonewolf]

There's some interesting details in there. I seem to be correct about it not being plug-in capable which is a massive oversight in my opinion if you're trying to push an economy line. Other oddities include the battery is charged only by the regular generator not the traction motor so no regen and slow charging only once you've shoved all the lithium.

Overall it looks pretty disappointing, Kawasaki really have not put their best foot forward with these three bikes I feel.

Reading the technical section I was also reminded that hybrid cars use a different battery setup to be cars that suits their load patterns better which complements my above statement about this not being the removable battery (in addition to it not being mentioned in the article).

Boost mode apparently makes the battery too hot btw, interesting.

[Richard230]

It does seem like something that is not going to sell well at all. I think Kawasaki was just practicing with the technology and how it could be integrated into a motorcycle chassis. Likely a fun project for the engineers and something to impress regulators in the EU. Did you notice the comment about Kawasaki hiring new staff that had EV experience to help with the project?

[Stonewolf]

Yeah, I did and I think that's a good idea but I note it doesn't say what they're experienced in. I view these three bikes as being noble but lacklustre first efforts (I know they did concepts before but a full on production bike is different). The 2 pure EVs look like they fall pretty short of the mark and honestly I do not see the point of the hybrid at all.

I'll give Kawasaki a nod for putting their money on the table and giving it a try, they could definitely have done better though and I hope the dire sales numbers I expect these to do don't dissuade them from coming back with something better.

[princec]

Same thing happened with turbos in the 80s. The problem is, that bikes are already efficient/fast. If you go sticking a whole load of expensive gubbins on it that make it more efficient/faster, it simply becomes more expensive/needs all the same chassis upgrades a bigger engine has, and you've solved nothing you couldn't have solved just by making the engine lower tuned/bigger in the first place.

I don't quite get why the Kwack guys didn't see this 1000 miles away and realise it was a daft idea if they couldn't produce it at exactly the same price as the NC750. Or, well, any of the other 750s, all of which are capable of 85ukmpg if you actually ride to speed limits, and weigh 30kg less, and don't have any hybrid powertrains to go wrong.

That's kind of the thing with bikes... a 400 costs the same as an 800 to make, more or less.

Cas

[Richard230]

Here is Revzilla's take on the Kawasaki Ninja 7 hybrid after riding it for a day during the introduction of this new model: https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/2024-kawasaki-ninja-7-hybrid-first-ride-review

[flynnstig82r]

Much more positive than previous coverage, and it has me rethinking my “check back in 5 years” position. If the video’s acceleration vs the ZX-10R is truly reflective of what it can do in a straight line at lower speeds, then that puts it in a very different category than something like Honda’s NC750X, which will never deliver blistering acceleration. It seems like an affordable way to get a lot of the benefits of an Energica without the drawbacks: Strong off-the-line performance, a quiet motor for dense cities, forward-and-back walk mode, but you don’t have to deal with the awful charging network that seems to get worse by the day.

[princec]

It doesn't however solve the fundamental problem of ... continuing to burn stuff.

Cas

[Richard230]

Here is another ride review. This one has some interesting information regarding the operation and design of the drive train and transmission of the Ninja 7 HEV:  https://www.motorcycle.com/bikes/manufacturer/kawasaki/2024-kawasaki-ninja-7-hybrid-review-first-ride-44596150