Hybrid motorcycle

[Kaido]

https://www.kawasaki.com/en-us/motorcycle/ninja/sport/ninja-7-hybrid

2025 Kawasaki Ninja 7 Hybrid Is So Close To Being A Great Motorcycle - Jalopnik

Is it possible to make one sport bike that does everything? When Kawasaki created the Ninja 7 Hybrid that must have been the design brief, because this motorcycle is truly a jack of all trades. Based on the cheap and cheerful Ninja 500 platform, but lengthened six inches to fit an extra 121.2...

www.jalopnik.com

 

[pauldun170]

These aren't selling.
Not sure why they would market this under the ninja brand since they aren't really sporty.
Hybrid means a porky bike with a long wheel base and its not really all that fast.

As a commuter bike, the wheelbase might help on freeways/expansion joints and the hybrid might make this nice errand bike around town.

As for bikes and beards, i vaguely recall that guy dropping too many damn Bible verses in his vids so I steered away.

 

[Pontius Dilate]

These aren't selling.
Not sure why they would market this under the ninja brand since they aren't really sporty.
Hybrid means a porky bike with a long wheel base and its not really all that fast.

As a commuter bike, the wheelbase might help on freeways/expansion joints and the hybrid might make this nice errand bike around town.

As for bikes and beards, i vaguely recall that guy dropping too many damn Bible verses in his vids so I steered away.

Yeah, I don't know why they didn't do hybrid with the Versys, seems like the ideal bike for it. And that dude does love the lord.

 

[pauldun170]

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Yeah, I don't know why they didn't do hybrid with the Versys, seems like the ideal bike for it. And that dude does love the lorlord

The pricing is awkward to me.
Its spitting distance of a 1000sx.
Not sure being able to humble brag about mpg is worth it.

I can see this being an interesting bike to commute on. The mode button on the 7 seems like a fun little traffic toy. Little power shot in stop and go situations.

 

[sdifox]

Why bother? They are not gas guzzlers to start with. Go electric if you want to innovate.

 

[Fenixgoon]

Why bother? They are not gas guzzlers to start with. Go electric if you want to innovate.

I could see a hybrid being a stepping stone to get engineers more familiar with electric drive systems before going for a full-on EV bike. Or they end up providing complementary performance the way electric systems do on supercars.

There are a couple of EV-bike companies but none the size and scale of Kawasaki.

 

[sdifox]

I could see a hybrid being a stepping stone to get engineers more familiar with electric drive systems before going for a full-on EV bike. Or they end up providing complementary performance the way electric systems do on supercars.

There are a couple of EV-bike companies but none the size and scale of Kawasaki.

The only thing they need to figure out is power to weight ratio and placement of batteries. Hybrid complicates the matter while not solving anything.

 

[Greenman]

Why bother? They are not gas guzzlers to start with. Go electric if you want to innovate.

Harley tried that. As I recall it didn't work out.

 

[sdifox]

Harley tried that. As I recall it didn't work out.

Harley wasn't know for innovation.

 

[Greenman]

Harley wasn't know for innovation.

It depends. Harley has been through a lot of changes over the years. At one point their clothing sales outstripped motorcycle sales. They were actually a clothing company that also sold motorcycles. They did some actual innovation with the V-Rod, the best bike very few wanted, and the Livewire, the bike no one wanted.
But overall their main "innovation" is getting another year out of 1966 ditch pump engine design. Long stroke air cooled engines are their bread and butter, though it appears they're taking another stab at getting away from them.