Kawasaki is building a turbocharged two-stroke engine. The great news was announced on the Kawasaki US Instagram platform.
The short video showed a bunch of comments by social media users who called for Kawasaki to bring back the two-stroke engine, plus that two-strokes are the best, etc. IThe video ends with “WE HEARD YOU” and the revving of a two-stroke engine in the background.
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Of course, there is not much else to go on from the teaser. However, there have been reports that patent documents submitted by the manufacturer in July 2024 showed a revolutionary engine. It has fuel injection which is not new but get this: The intake valves are camshaft operated and it has a turbocharger. A turbocharged two-stroke engine. This is enough to get us salivating!
Fuel injection, coupled with camshaft operated valves promises efficiency and most importantly, cleaner emissions, as two-stroke motorcycles were banned in many countries for being polluting. Traditional two-stroke engines do not have mechanical valves and that led to unburned air-fuel and 2T mixture leaking out of the exhaust port. Kawasaki’s engine may well change that. The turbocharger adds in more air to the mixture so the engine burns leaner thereby saving fuel. The interesting now is to know what is its lubrication method.
But hang on. There is still no word on what kind of motorcycle that the engine will be used for. I could be a dirt-bike because there are countries allow its use on closed circuits and/or private lands, but not on the road. Or (god forbid) used for the hydrogen hybrid that Kawasaki had invested much into. Then again, Kawasaki already has the KX250 two-stroke MX bike.
