Is the 2024 Kawasaki Ninja 7 Hybrid the best of both worlds? It’s interesting to consider what the book on the electrification of motorcycles will look like a decade from now. There will be chapters on the startups that led the initial charge and the bikes that changed the public’s perception of electric motorcycles.
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https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/kawasaki-ninja-7-hybrid-motorcycle-first-ride-review/
Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/
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SportsTranscript
00:00 This is the world's first mass-production strong hybrid motorcycle and it's from Kawasaki.
00:06 The Kawasaki Ninja 7 Hybrid is not a plug-in motorcycle. It's not an all-electric.
00:13 It is hybrid. It's got an ICE engine and it's got an electric motor to it.
00:17 Now is this the future of motorcycling?
00:19 It's part of it and we're here in Barcelona, Spain to find out kind of what that future might look like.
00:27 [Music]
00:38 So to start, this is using Kawasaki's 451cc parallel twin engine that it's pulled from the Kawasaki Eliminator,
00:47 which actually has a longer stroke than the previous Ninja 400 engine.
00:52 Mechanically, this is a really similar engine, but there are some changes to the intake funnels.
00:58 They're a larger diameter and they're also a little bit shorter.
01:02 What Kawasaki is doing there is trying to get a little bit more power up top.
01:05 Now they can do that because it is supported by a permanent magnet electric motor
01:11 that produces about 7 kilowatts or around 9 kilowatts maximum output,
01:17 which is equivalent to around 12 horsepower. That is tied to a lithium-ion battery.
01:24 In total, that battery and motor are going to weigh about 60 pounds.
01:28 So you had 30 for the motor and 30 for the battery.
01:32 Kawasaki is claiming right around 68.5 horsepower at 10,500 rpm.
01:39 That's going to be quite a bit more than the Eliminator and definitely more than the Ninja 400.
01:45 I should also say that is with what they call an e-boost function.
01:49 We'll get into that in just a little bit.
01:53 Now, before we get into how that engine works,
02:05 I do want to talk about the electronics on this bike because it really is important
02:08 and it's tied into the experience because what you have is you have three different modes.
02:14 So you have a full EV mode, you've got an eco hybrid mode, and you've got a sport hybrid mode.
02:21 So as the name suggests, EV mode is only running on that battery and motor.
02:26 Kawasaki claims about 9 miles total range.
02:30 Now you do have some regenerative energy in there.
02:33 That's going to help this thing maintain some charge while you're riding it.
02:37 But it's not for an extended stint of riding this in electric only mode.
02:42 It is great for getting your errands done around town.
02:45 If you've got a short little commute, things like that.
02:48 Today, we're in Barcelona, Spain. Big city center.
02:51 We're riding back in the afternoon and we rode all the way through the city center in EV mode.
02:56 The nice thing is with that regenerative energy, we hardly ran out of charge at all.
03:03 Maximum speed that we saw was around 38 miles per hour.
03:08 It accelerates hard enough off the line to get up even with a car.
03:12 It really made the most sense for us in traffic type situations,
03:17 where you're just coming to a stop, easing along with traffic at really low speeds.
03:21 You've got your eco hybrid mode,
03:24 which is going to use the electric motor for your initial jump off the line,
03:29 and then it's going to go into your internal combustion engine for everything beyond that.
03:34 I'll be honest, eco hybrid isn't my favorite mode on this bike.
03:38 It feels like kind of an in-between.
03:40 You don't have the aggressive launch that you're going to get in sport,
03:44 but at the same time, it doesn't really have that top end or mid-range power even.
03:51 Now, sport hybrid is where you really feel the potential of this motorcycle.
03:56 It exists as this Ninja full-fairing bike
03:59 because Kawasaki wants to showcase the sporting capabilities
04:04 and that sporting heritage of the brand.
04:06 They could have made this a Versys or any other bike,
04:09 but they really wanted something with that full-fairing sporty look and with that Ninja name to it,
04:14 and they're trying to carry that personality through into that sport hybrid mode.
04:19 You're kind of getting that two motorcycles in one.
04:21 You have that complete EV experience in town if you want it,
04:24 but then you've got a bike that you could go rip around through the canyons on
04:28 and you're not giving up any of that performance.
04:30 The biggest thing that they're trying to accomplish here is make this a bike
04:35 that is fuel efficient, that works in our modern world,
04:39 where you have these cities that are going into these low or no emission zones.
04:44 Now, I do want to say that a big thing in terms of performance is using
04:57 what I referred to earlier as that e-boost.
04:59 It is a button that's on the right-hand side of the handlebar.
05:04 Now, this is a button that you can press when the parameters are correct.
05:08 So you have to be in sport mode. You have to be at a certain throttle opening.
05:11 But when those parameters are met, you can hit that button,
05:13 and for five seconds, you have an extra boost.
05:16 And this thing accelerates really strong at that point.
05:20 So it's going to be really great for if, say, you're on the highway,
05:22 you need to accelerate past a car.
05:24 For whatever reason, you want to jump off the line really aggressively,
05:28 but it makes this thing really exciting, and it was pretty cool.
05:31 We had the chance today to, it sounds silly,
05:34 but we were in a parking lot originally getting a feel for this bike,
05:37 and the first time using the e-boost launch function,
05:41 the thing just jumped forward and threw us back in the seat.
05:44 So Kawasaki actually says this thing accelerates harder than their ZX-10
05:49 in the first short distance of jumping off the line.
05:52 So it can be fun. It can be exciting.
05:56 Another thing that's somewhat engine and technical related
05:59 that I do want to talk about is the transmission.
06:01 Now, this uses an automatic transmission.
06:03 You have an option of going automatic or manual.
06:06 There is no clutch lever and no shift lever.
06:10 Everything is done through an up and down paddle on the left-hand side of the handlebar.
06:16 You can only use a manual transmission setting when you're in sport hybrid mode.
06:21 Now, that was a little frustrating for me.
06:22 It seems like I was pushed into a little bit of a corner there when I'm riding the bike.
06:26 Just because I want the performance of sport mode,
06:28 I may still want that benefit of having an automatic transmission setting.
06:33 As for the shifting itself, I thought it was really good.
06:35 So this is a hydraulic electronic system.
06:38 Kawasaki is using data getting pushed into the ECU,
06:42 making those calculations to understand what the hydraulics need to do to shift.
06:46 So it's not a dual clutch transmission.
06:48 So that's going to save them a little bit of weight.
06:51 And yeah, I think they've done a really good job.
06:57 So I was lucky enough to talk to the Kawasaki engineers and I asked them,
07:00 I was like, what is the most difficult thing about developing this hybrid,
07:04 the first hybrid motorcycle out on the market?
07:06 And they said packaging. That was the biggest challenge.
07:09 Keeping everything as compact, lightweight, and small as possible.
07:14 So they've done a really good job with that.
07:16 However, it does mean that this bike, the dimensions of it are quite a bit different
07:21 from what you're going to see in a Ninja 400 or a Ninja 650.
07:25 You've got a much longer wheelbase to it.
07:27 The rake and trail are both a little bit more relaxed.
07:31 You've got a longer swing arm. Now that swing arm is quite a bit longer
07:35 because it is making room for the battery, which sits right back here.
07:39 So the frame itself, it's based on the Ninja 400 frame.
07:43 Really, that's just because it's a steel trellis frame.
07:45 The bike weighs about 503 pounds.
07:48 So it is quite a bit heavier again than your Ninja 400s, your Ninja 650s.
07:54 Now I talk about weight and all of these things,
07:56 but the reality is the bike doesn't feel that heavy
08:00 and it's a bike that you can still pick up off the kickstand.
08:02 It's still very maneuverable. You get up into the canyons
08:06 and it turns into the corners really well.
08:08 I think the bike's very balanced. It's not moving around up and down a bunch.
08:12 I'm actually a bigger guy and a lot of times stock suspension feels really soft
08:17 and the bike starts to move around especially on the kind of lower tier models.
08:21 I'm not saying this is lower tier, but maybe like a Ninja 400.
08:24 I think because of the adjustments Kawasaki has made to the suspension here,
08:28 it actually works really well. There's really great support.
08:31 Now, it's not perfect. Obviously, there are some sacrifices
08:34 and challenges with the weight and the dimensions of this bike.
08:38 Because of the longer wheelbase, it takes a little bit more to get the bike to lean in
08:42 and then once you kind of get it off its axis,
08:44 then it kind of falls in a little bit quick.
08:46 So it's not as linear steering as a Ninja 400
08:49 with more traditional geometry figures to it and a lower weight.
08:52 It's a pretty traditional braking package.
08:55 Nothing super spectacular. On this bike with a little bit extra weight,
08:58 I do end up using the rear brake a little bit.
09:00 I think for most riders who are going to be riding around town, things like that,
09:05 it's more than enough. It's a really solid package.
09:08 But this is Kawasaki learning so much about how to make a hybrid,
09:11 how to find that balance between features and performance, right?
09:15 So I think from a handling standpoint, they really have done a great job here with this bike
09:20 and I feel like I'm riding a standard, you know, internal combustion engine motorcycle.
09:26 Now, admittedly, I have not ridden a Ninja 400 recently,
09:34 but I will say with this bike here with the size of it,
09:38 yes, it is a sport bike. So you've kind of got some sport bike ergos
09:42 in the sense of this seat to foot peg gap.
09:44 The knee bend is a little bit tight for me.
09:47 I'm 6'3", so that's going to happen on anything kind of sport bike related.
09:52 The handlebars are quite tall and wide.
09:55 So you're in a very upright riding position and the width of the handlebar,
09:59 in my opinion, adds some really good leverage to the bike.
10:02 And I think that helps a lot in making this thing not steer so heavy.
10:06 And kind of looking at that package, and if you could see how high those handlebars are,
10:10 that is Kawasaki showing you that while they want some of that sporty Ninja pedigree
10:14 in it, they also want this bike to be something that is a little bit more relaxed and comfortable.
10:20 We rode today about 70 miles, nothing too crazy,
10:23 but we did have some long stints with Photoshop's and things like that,
10:26 and I wasn't uncomfortable. These are all challenges that Kawasaki is having to face,
10:32 but it's doing that and it's facing that by building an actual production bike.
10:38 This isn't a concept bike. This isn't just them saying,
10:41 what could we do if we were to do this a couple years from now?
10:44 They actually built it. I think that's really cool because it really heightens the stakes for them, right?
10:49 I mean, it's it makes it like, hey, this is going on sale.
10:52 We got to do it and we got to do it right.
10:54 So they're learning and they're learning through a package that I think they're going to take this technology
10:58 and push it even further down the future into different platforms and different areas in the lineup.
11:04 Now, hybrid is not the only thing that Kawasaki is working on.
11:08 They've been working on hydrogen projects.
11:10 They just introduced two all-electric models. Kudos to Kawasaki for building this.
11:16 I think their primary market is going to be for Europe or other cities outside of the United States,
11:21 but it is going to come into the United States when we're not too sure just yet.
11:26 Kawasaki hasn't formally announced it for the US market and that means obviously no pricing as well.
11:32 We are certain it is coming to the States though.
11:34 It's going to be a really exciting bike for a lot of people, you know, a lot of people who like tech.
11:39 I think newer riders who kind of enjoy that concept of going green and helping the environment too.
11:45 Really exciting things here in the Ninja 7 Hybrid.
11:48 We're really excited to test out the first strong hybrid motorcycle
11:53 and really excited to see what Kawasaki has coming down the road.
11:57 Thanks for tuning in to our review of the Kawasaki Ninja 7 Hybrid.
12:01 We hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions, drop a comment below.
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12:14 Thanks again for tuning in. We will see you in the next video.
12:17 [Music]
12:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]