The Kawasaki ZH2 - The Bike that Polarised Opinion | VALENCIA MOTO GP WEEKEND WITH MICHELIN
It is two days until the big one the title decided at the Valencia MotoGP I've never been to a Moto GP in my my life and I cannot wait because Michelin sent me an email a few months ago they said Freddie you're invited to a two-day two-night experience it will be Saturday where I'll be riding a number of of some of the most powerful motorcycles on the market in Valencia and on Sunday of course it'll be the Moto GP itself full VIP experience and have a listen to this what I'll be riding on Saturday just to give you a taster of what Michelin have got in store for me there will be on test a Ducati Super Sport Ducati Multistrada BMW s 1000xr BMW r1250r Kawasaki Ninja H2 Kawasaki zh2 and Kawasaki ZX10R so that will be roughly twice the horsepower that that I'm used to it's going to take me four hours 400 kilometers to get from here Barcelona over to Valencia but I mean now I'm here in Barcelona I couldn't not ride to the MotoGP apparently it's meant to be a huge deal Riders from all over Europe actually come to the Valencia MotoGP and Camp there I'll be doing it a bit more luxury in a hotel but still I can't wait I'll take you with me I'll probably split this into two videos one of me attempting to test ride some 200 horsepower motorbikes in the Hills at the outside Valencia and the second one which feels so lucky the Moto GP within the actual VIP section so I'll try and film as much as I can of the race there itself right I mean I'm an hour later and I wanted to go I've got a head off I'll take it with me let's go always don't know I've been down so long that my mind can't get no rest no no cause the damn was on my tree well I'm nearly there I've done three and a quarter hours and it's a lovely stretch of Motorway on the left hand side you get sea views for much of the ride and then the right hand side you have Mountain views I've just got half an hour left so I thought I'd do a gear for the day because I'll also be wearing this for all of the bike tests tomorrow you rock steel Martin Boots Italian company I've had these for about two years and they're very very nice slick pair of stealthy boots all-day comfort as well her jeans now these aren't the usual sk11 slim fits that I wear these are actually the k7s so you can see it's a straight leg all the way down just a bit looser fitting throughout hujin's now fully back in stock so if you are looking for them every single size and every fit whether it's slim fit or regular they're all back in stock so you can grab a pair now if you are interested this is the Bell stuff like Bell stuff Brooklyn's jacket one of the classiest in fact it's probably my favorite biking jacket I've ever tried removable lining wax cotton this is a size medium sometimes I'm medium to large in different jackets but definitely for the bow style stuff I'm a medium so if you're around my size I'm six foot one about 80 kilos you want a medium as well with exclusive rage shiny black helmet French company I hope you can pick that up but it's the most beautiful inner lining and fully removable just Chuck it in a normal 40 degree wash and you can wash the whole inner lining with again I wear these all the time because they are probably my favorites German company throttle snake the glove Trotter gloves just absolute Simplicity and I love them right last half an hour then I'll be at the hotel actually there's one more thing I'll quickly show you this is my new backpack it's not a biking brand but it doesn't need to be for backpacks this is Herschel and it's a really nice quality classically styled backpack very very easy to use and this makes a big difference when you're biking you need to get stuff and open it constantly getting in and out these are buckles but they're just magnetized so the Buckle is just just for the looks and actually they magnetize and clip on incredibly easily zip closed underneath there this is drawstring on top with lots of padding on the back you can see huge areas of padding so it gives a really good amount of support when you're riding like I have done for three hours or so and very very thick straps it's a really heavy duty backpack I think it looks fantastic and after using it three and a half hours I would highly recommend it Herschel definitely check them out well I made it and I've just about managed to squeeze that's okay squeeze the Bonneville in right outside the hotel here you can see Michelin Flags either side I've seen a few other bikers coming and going I think there'll be a big range of nationalities at this actual meal this evening and this will be my accommodation for the next three days you know Michelin they always treat me too well it's a lovely apartment or a lovely hotel room bathroom with separate Blue Area there I'm just a huge amount of space here cupboard area and coming through into the bed area with plenty of room at the back for table and chairs as well I just had a knock from uh Hotel stuff they gave me I think must be a bag of toiletries a few chocolates there a couple of bottles of water and a welcome pack from Michelin well I've got a few hours before going downstairs to dinner so I'll show you what comes in a Michelin race pack cap I hope this isn't needed umbrella do you actually need one of those so delighted with that this will probably be needed water flask keywing and I've been told these are needed by a few people because it gets insanely loud earplugs a necessity I've been told Plus no idea what this is foreign I thought that was waterproof that if a Michelin let me hold on a Michelin bike cover foreign I've quickly come out before we've had it off you can see the sun rising just over there because I had to get a glimpse of the bikes lined up Bonneville perfectly there everything nice and safe and overnight a whole load of gigantic BMW gs's parked up and the Bonneville looks quite pathetic next to them right I'm going to go upstairs get ready but just to give you a little glimpse of the lineup we've got ktm's BMWs Ducatis a few of them are on different Michelin tires so the aim of today yes get to test out the bikes but also get to feel the difference riding the same model motorbike with different tires and the effect that those different tires can make on that bike so I'm hugely excited I mean to be in Valencia now the day before the MotoGP and get to test out some of these bikes behind me the most powerful bikes that I will ever ever have ridden in my life by such a huge distance I mean you know I can't even compare it to anything else I'll do a rundown of all of the bikes outside here because it's Moto GP weekend and you've got a lot of bikers turning up now so just give you a a bit of a hint a bit of idea about what other people's bikes are here who have made their way to the Moto G because it feels like it's really heating up now so these are all of the Michelin bikes there you can see the Michelin Team all getting ready these are the ones we'll actually be riding and I'll go through more details in a bit but these are some of the bikes that have turned up I guess just to watch the Moto GP you know you can see these are Big A lot of them BMW gs's Honda Taurus but you know when they've done a lot of mileage when the number plates actually been so bleached by the sun you can't even see it they're Portuguese spikes Portuguese little Vespa there and all of the BMWs these I'm sure won't be the ones we're taking out but again they love their gs's out here and these May well be so it's got the Michelin logo my guess is that these will be the two outriders who'll be leading us around for a three-hour ride into the mountains of Valencia right that's it I've got to get ready I've got 10 minutes until we need to be outside the hotel thank you well we're about an hour or so into the ride I've tested out three bikes now I mean the weather's stunning the the road surface is incredible it's like riding Heaven I started off on the effectively the tamest bike which is this the 900 CC BMW on the the basically the most Road focused version of the three Michelin tires and I'll put all of the details here about the three tires so there are in essence three of them one is Road focused one is rode in a bit of track and one is track Focus where you really at the very least need to have completely dry roads if you're going to be riding it on normal roads and not a track so I started off on the 900cc BMW on the road tires and after talking to everyone about it you know it's a bike that so flower me it's a bike that is is fine but everyone had the same reaction as me to this BMW when when they tried it out and that's you know it's not going to set the world like it's also not the most characterful bike with that engine you know it's very good at its job but it's not something that you know you're going to have sleepless nights thinking about but handling everything very very good bike I'll do a flip round of that in a second because I think it comes in in a fairly decent price point as well I then moved on to this the Kawasaki H2 or zh2 I think this is 197 horsepower and it's on the most track focused tires so I was worn beforehand with these tires you have to make sure they're at least up to a decent level of temperature so I spent the first 30 seconds riding this bike completely genuinely petrified because uh you know you know 200 horsepower track tires I made sure I went at the back of the queue because uh I didn't want to embarrass myself but honestly after about a minute I found that to be riding Heaven the power is like a spaceship the handling Sublime it's one of the most incredible bikes I've ever tried and that surprises even myself because I'm not a sports or fast bike kind of person but this is a sensation this bike it's completely blew my mind and on these roads I felt like I was in riding Heaven although I should say that I was just talking to a motorcycle journalist a German motorcycle cycling German journalist who was on that that Kawasaki for about two minutes and I said to him so did you like it he said no awful get me off it and he wanted to switch back to the BMW 900 so it's a Marmite bike there have now been two people who have hated that Kawasaki but I've liked it oh it's a fun day next up I'm on this big BMW I'll get all of the sets in a second that's the Thousand CC s1000. we've got about three or four more bikes to test we've got about I think two more hours of riding to go and I should hopefully make my way through all of these bikes but it's been fascinating just getting to try these bikes so far you can see they're doing a few drive-by photos at the moment we're just on a Bend here oh it's a good way to spend the day all right let's do a little walk around of this the Kawasaki zh2 this is in the UK 16 and a half thousand pounds which is a lot of money but you get so much performance out of it it's 197 horsepower and it's of course a thousand CC but look at this on the side of it I've never ridden a bike with that before supercharged you know these are the the cars that have been following us you've got a fairly simple Audi A3 but then you've got two Mercedes amg's behind it so they've been following getting all of the shots and I waited as long as I could in this gave on a long straight the other bikes as far as they could into the distance and then I just flawed it as much as I could and its spaceship levels of quick it's actually I'm surprised at how addictive it is that feeling of power but that's it the fastest bike I've ever ridden effectively 200 horsepower a krapovic pipes and just to give you a little idea on the light up display there Superbike really superb and this was the first bike I tested the BMW f900 this comes in at 8 600 pounds and I think if I remember I think it's about a hundred horsepower it's a it's a decently smart looking bike we've got four of these today they're they're good at their job this is it in Black it just doesn't specifically do anything for me as a bike although being a BMW of course they do things properly and it's all beautifully well put together and I do think and it's great to see three of them I do think 8 600 pounds for a bike with that much performance I actually think it's quite good value at that price point maybe especially in Black it's a mean looking bike okay let's do a little bit of a behind the scenes you're going to hear quite a bit of German Spanish and French talking because I think there's only one other Brit here so to look at those two amg's the pursuit cars and now we've got a couple of the bikes going out to get to get the drive by shots or the ride by shots so they're going to go down there now in a three and you can see how beautiful the roads are we haven't seen anyone for about 20 minutes or so they're about to head down there fly back up get some pictures with the photographer there the landscape is spectacular so open so much space questions well we made it to the Moto GP at the qualifying session you can see people people leaving all around me because the final qualifier has just finished I'll be a full tour tomorrow just because it will be at its absolute capacity but it's got a real Festival Vibe I mean we went here just behind me to get our tickets and just as we were getting our tickets Valentino Rossi just rides past and it's one two five cc scooter amazing the ride itself was brilliant I only got to test out one extra bike which was that BMW SX 1000 very competent bike again that engine it's not the most characterful engine and the seat is like a rock honestly it's one of the least comfortable seats I've tried but it's a very competent bike amazing day in the Hills just really three hours of incredible riding so I'll leave it there and I'll come back to you tomorrow with a full tour of the Moto GP because I've been told by an expert a few interesting things to look out for tomorrow so I'll do my very best to a good guided tour well I've got lucky and on the way back the final little stretch I've got one more bike to test and that is the Ducati Super Sport 950. this is a bike that quite a few people have said it's one of the best in the lineup that's the KTM 1290 that I won't get to test big BMW just behind it and this this is the KTM 890 I think and this is about quite a few people have said it's the best bike in the lineup Kawasaki and BMW there the other BMW and that's the rest of the lineup but this the Super Sport let me just squeeze through it's a lovely looking bike not absolute hardcore Super Sport it should be lovely handling thing thank you oh that was a long day but I found it fascinating I learned quite a few things today firstly delighted I got to try out the Ducati and it was after being on on those two BMWs a revelation because the two BMWs that I tested lovely bikes they do their job brilliantly they are excellent bikes but but they're devoid of soul and you get on the Ducati you get the vibrations the rumbling you know the wing mirrors the mirrors they vibrate so much over 20 miles an hour they're completely useless you may as well get rid of them but I realized how much I crave that intangible thing the character and the soul and if we're down to the last 10 years or so of petrol motorcycles being sold in Europe if we're coming to the end my Lord I want one last hurray I don't want to be whimpering out with petrol engine bikes that are just sounding more and more like electric motorcycles until it's just such a gradual transition you barely even notice the difference I want an engine that sings and I want a bike with so much character makes me jump off it at the end of a day and I'm just feeling so happy that I spent a day in a saddle well the BMWs are excellent you know it it doesn't specifically do anything to me they're great at their job but I I just I ended up feeling quite cold and not desperate to get back on those spikes it was a really interesting experience as something else I've learned I had a 2007 Triumph Speed Triple 130 horsepower bike it was a monster of a super naked and the reason I'm saying this is don't worry if you can't afford one of these the latest and greatest motorcycles because honestly probably for the past 12 years or so 12 to 15 years motorcycles have been so good and so reliable that for any normal Rider like you and I the difference between my 2007 Triumph Speed Triple and one of these modern motorcycles for any normal Rider you are not going to notice any difference at all on real roads you could say that the older bikes may have slightly more characters so from that point of view don't worry at all you know look at one of these new modern bikes that are all brilliant but then you can look at the older version because they're all so damn good from the past 10 to 15 years old and another thing personal preference you know these are all excellent bikes that we were testing out today some of the latest and greatest but it's personal preference example the Kawasaki zh2 I thought that was my pick of the bikes for the day it was completely Sublime the power delivery the suspension the handling everything was just so seamless and so smooth it's a stunningly good bike it's Sublime to ride really really breathtakingly good I then spoke to four different people in fact I spoke to five different people of the five different people three despised it despised it and myself and one other liked it now the interesting thing with that is I asked two German motorcycle journalists who both write from German motorcycle magazines one of them detested it so much he got off it after one minute the other one said it was one of the best bikes it tested today and it was stunningly good you know so even for these bikes you get huge differences in opinion even from the experts it's purely down to personal preference what bike do you like more than any other there's no right or wrong answer that's what I've learned today and riding a 200 horsepower bike like I did the Kawasaki zh2 it's only as scary as you want it to be you know it's actually relatively tame if you just want to you know stay under 70 miles an hour it's just a a beautiful handling bike extremely smooth if if you want to give it some it's a I mean it's an animal but it's still a smooth animal it's a beautifully smooth bite that it's definitely my pick of the day you know motorbikes they're only as dangerous as you want them to be right I'll actually wrap it up there and save tomorrow's video for or the video that I've filmed tomorrow for the Valencia GP specifically because after going there today for qualifying there's a lot of interesting stuff um you know we've got access to the the paddock at the VIP so it'll be quite interesting I think so I'll save that for one dedicated video and I think I've spoken quite a bit about motorbikes today I probably rambled a bit as well so we'll wrap this one up here thank you so much everyone for coming along have a fantastic day and week and I will speak to you all I will see you all in the next one
2022-11-13 16:29