Kawasaki Teases New Electric Motorcycle With Manual Transmission

April 27, 20204 years ago Jo Borras 0 Comments

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Motorcycling’s “core customers” and keyboard warriors have leveled a number of criticisms at the coming wave of electric motorcycle models recently. Some will claim that electric bikes are dangerous, parroting that old bromide, “loud pipes save lives,” while doing their best to forget that horns exist. Others, however, have pointed at the electrics’ single speed transmissions and — perhaps rightly — remarked that an uninvolved rider is a less aware rider, and than an uninvolved ride is a less enjoyable one. As if in response to that argument, Kawasaki released yet another teaser for its upcoming Endeavor EV … and this one is showing off the ace up Kawi’s sleeve: a manual transmission.

Kawasaki EV Endeavor | Manual Transmission

When Kawasaki revealed the EV Endeavor prototype at EICMA last year, it received criticism for being “underpowered” — but those comments were either innocently ignorant or deliberately crafted clickbait. Yes, the Kawasaki Endeavor prototype only offers about 30 HP, but the bike’s torque figures have yet to be revealed — and the 250W motor in Ducati’s eBike is good for some 51 lb-of TQ. That’s more than Kawasaki’s pants-crappingly fast ZX-6R sportbike … and the EV Endeavor? Its 20kW motor is going to be much, much more powerful.

What’s more, because electric motors are most efficient (and, as a consequence, most powerful) at low RPM, multiple gears will allow not just torque multiplication, but superior acceleration mid-range and high speeds than a comparable single-speed/direct drive EV. And those things are pretty quick, even without gears!

In short, you should fully expect that the Kawasaki EV Endeavor electric motorcycle will be fast. Substantially faster, anyway, than a quick glance at its spec sheet may indicate– and it promises to be a lot of fun, too. If you equate shifting gears with fun, at least.

What do you guys think? Are you excited to see the production version of Kawasaki’s EV Endeavor hit the road, or are you more attracted to the single-speed bikes? Check out a few more of Kawasaki’s other video teasers for its upcoming electric bike below, then let us know how you feel about rowing your own in the comments.