Published: Today 09:00

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Kawasaki makes some bold claims for them Ninja 7 Hybrid and Z7 Hybrid Twins. The firm reckons the “powerful hybrid” system in these 650-sized bikes offers “the instant acceleration of a Supersport class 1000cc model from the start with e-boost and fuel economy on par with the 250cc class”.

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That’s a pretty eye-opening pair of claims for a single bike, so we thought it only fair to put them to the test in a real game of two.

There’s only one way to do this right: a speed test. As Kawasaki was making the claim, it made sense that we would use the company’s 1000cc sports bike, so we arrived at Deenethorpe Airfield with a ZX-10Rshining in the latest retro 40th anniversary image.

For fuel economy testingI set out myself armed with a water bottle and with a lot of patience…

Hitting the lane

MCN’s resident speed tester Bruce Dunn was tasked with comparing the bikes. He recorded everything and rode both bikes under exactly the same conditions to ensure consistency between the results, running each bike multiple times to eliminate any chance of outlier readings.

But first, I asked him what he expected the result to be. “Well, at first I thought Kawasaki was making a bold claim that the Hybrid was faster off the line than the ZX-10R,” said Bruce. “However, when I applied some logic to it, I thought that perhaps the 1000cc ZX-10R might lose out on initial launch, simply because it’s the only area of ​​the acceleration and speed range where the Hybrid with lower power can make a difference. “

The result

The hybrid was indeed quicker to 30 mph, its electric assist allowing it to get off the line ahead of a ZX-10R struggling to put down power without the nose going skyward. But it wasn’t Hybrid’s speed that struck Bruce, it was his balance.

“What surprised me the most was the big difference the 9 kW electric motor makes,” he said. “It adds enough power without disrupting traction and lifting the front wheel. The Hybrid is faster up to 30 mph, and the ZX-10R only hits it at about 35 mph, where times and distances start to converge.”

Of course, at that point the superbike leaves the Hybrid on the exhaust. Bruce also provided some data on other relevant bikes; THE Ninja 500 It shares its 451cc engine with the HEV and, despite being 55kg lighter, is slower at all points between zero and top speed. This gap would of course be smaller on a twisty road or track due to the added agility of the smaller bike.

But more surprisingly, the Hybrid is faster at 20 mph than the fastest electric bike MCN has ever tested – LiveWire S2 Del Mar – and likewise the Kawasaki is beastly supercharged H2 SX and theirs ZZR1400. All three monsters rebalance past 30 mph, but before that, as a bike to win GPs at stoplights, the HEV is up there with the best.