Kawasaki is leading the way in introducing supercharged motorcycles. After the success of its Ninja H2 / H2R twins, the world is looking at the Japanese bikemaker with a newfound respect. Supercharging of motorcycles at Kawasaki isn’t going to stop with the H2 though, and company has shown its intention to release more products based on the platform. Smaller supercharged engines, at a more affordable price point, while still offer advantages over their NA counterparts are in the pipeline.
The SC-01 Spirit Charger Concept Kawasaki showcased earlier
It’s not been long when Kawasaki showed us its SC-01 ‘Spirit Charger’ concept through a sketch. Now, at the EICMA, the company has released another sketch of a new concept, namely SC-02 Soul charger. The new concept, with its low slung handlebars, single seat and a somewhat traditionally styled tank, gives the impressions of a cafe racer. The two metallic bars in front of the headlamp are another indication of a retro-connect. A cafe racer with a supercharged engine, now wouldn’t that be cool!
The concept sketch looks cool, what with its minimalistic styling, featuring a sharp crown above the headlamp housing the instruments. The SC-02 Soul Charger sketch comes along with the sketch of the balanced supercharged engine that Kawasaki displayed at the recent Tokyo Motor Show. This hints at new force inducted products getting ready to roll of Kawasaki lines sometime soon.
According to Kawasaki’s official release, the SC-02 Soul Charger is an un-faired naked concept illustration. It is meant to represent a smaller machine, both in cubic capacity and size, as compared to the litre class Ninja H2 and H2R that it is expected to share its tech with. While we still aren’t sure about it, the three pipes represented in the sketch may also point at the new engine being a three-pot mill. The statement by Kawasaki, that the ‘the Soul Charger represented the possibility for Kawasaki to make forced induction technology scalable’ also supports our assumption.
What could it be, then? A three-pot 750 cc supercaharged naked machine with a much smaller price tag than the H2, and retro styling? Wouldn’t we fancy that!
Apart from the new concept, Kawasaki also introduced its 2016 line of road going machines, along with a few special editions. Here we have some images and details of these motorcycles.
Kawasaki introduced the J125 scooter, on which we have done a story in detail.
The Z1000 and Z800 nakeds get special ‘Sugomi Editions’ with black and burgundy colour scheme, red anodized detailing and Akrapovic exhausts. Check the new colour scheme out in these images.
The 2016 ZX-10R gets a special ‘Winter Edition’ which is a replica of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes’ winter testing motorcycles. Details include a matt black paint job, white detailing, a KRT snowflake logo and Japanese ‘fuyu’ character along with an Akrapovic exhaust as standard.
