When it comes to presenting new bikes, every company does it differently. Ducati goes big with their World Premiere Series, KTM plunks their entire 2022 RC range out of nowhere, and Damon Motorcycles leads us on with tantalizing tidbits of new information on the weekly.
Team Green, however, has been keeping pretty quiet about what they’ve been puttering away at in the lab – and the wait is finally over. In less than 15 days, Kawasaki packs up and heads to Italy’s fashion-forward, economic heart.
Milan, darling, Milan; and according to VisorDown, this year’s EICMA is about to be hit with a big ‘ol suitcase full of (three) surprises for the moto masses.
Back in EICMA 2019, Kawasaki stole the show by joint-revealing Bimota’s TESI H2 (the sibling of Kawi’s own Ninja H2 hypersport beastie). The joint reveal was in part due to Kawasaki investing a hefty 49% stake in Bimota at the time, alongside the intentions to co-create Bimota motorcycles using parts from Kawasaki’s supply chain.
This year, Bimota is expected to bring something equally big to the table – so given that both companies are tethered together, it’s practically a given that Kawasaki will finally break their silence on a few projects that have been circulating about the gossip grapevine.
We’re going off the following tip:
“The Kawasaki USA website [shows] three shrouded models on a website banner with five formerly covered, but now revealed models in the foreground.”
So what could these three beauties be?
One of the shrouded machines looks like it will happily take its place in the sports segment (at least based on what we can guess from the vague shape of the thing), and the report muses that we could be in the market for a revamped ZX-6R – especially after, “the current generation rather suspiciously disappeared from price lists earlier this year.”
Although it would be nice, a ZX-6R would be less likely, considering Kawasaki’s already got that bike lined up for WorldSSP, though the ZX-4R, “a European version of the Asia-only Kawasaki ZX-25R four-pot screamer” would be brilliant for the current Kawi showroom, and amazing to get on North American streets.
The second bagged bike is taller and definitely sporting DNA from Team Green’s beloved Versys range – accurate, considering that someone found the filing of documents for a new Versys 650. If the filings are accurate, the 650 will likely have most of the changes be aesthetic – plus they have been quiet about updates for this year, so this is a very possible beastie to show up at EICMA.
On to the third shroud.
This is where things will get exciting. With Kawasaki revealing their plans for a hybrid powertrain and tinkering away at what they call the ‘Endeavour pure electric EV’ (not to mention the big one – committing to a fully electric lineup by 2035), this third motorcycle will likely be a steady symbol of the company’s clean, mean, green future.
Stay tuned for more updates, as we haven’t got long until the big unveiling; in the meantime, be sure to check out Kawasaki’s three-wheeled concept for the track, and as always – stay safe on the twisties.