Mid 90's KX's

Didn't the 99 or 2000 have an issue with the shift shaft? I thought I remember one of them having an issue. 

I had a 98 KX250. Abrupt power, from what I remember, however I didnt have it for long, only as a second bike for a little while and I did some work on it and sold it.  Wish I still had it to ride, and so i could describe it better now.  I liked it though.  It was a good bike for sure, Ive been wanting to restore another 98 lately. I bought it in 2012 and sold it in 2013, and I started riding in 2011 when I was 14 so it be a lot different for me to ride one now.   I dont know anything about mechanical issues with those bikes or any technical details about them really.  They were just fun.

The 97 was the better of that generation of kx's. Not only better running but the footpegs, springs and frame brackets were vastly improved. The 94 bikes were prone to breaking frames around the shock linkage and top of the shock mounts. Mostly caused from light springs and soft valving putting sharp loads on the frame in those areas. The chain guides were easily bent and broken off on the pre 97 bikes as well. All of the kx's of this era had issues with breaking kick start related parts. The general quality of these bikes was always a bit suspect so they all needed a little more attention and servicing than a couple other manufacturers in the mid -late nineties. 

The dog with good advice ^^^
While some of that era Kawi’s were certainly competitive, they were prone to premature wear and tear compared to say the same year Honda or Yamaha.

However still cool bikes and a worthy addition to the garage.

I had 98, 99, 00, and 01 KX250s. To this day, I believe that the 98 was the best box-stock bike I’ve ever ridden. My 01 was a close second. While the 99/00 weren’t drastically different, I recall thinking their power wasn’t quite as good delivery-wise as the 98/01.

I rode Hondas before and after. The atrocious 97 CR250 caused me to switch. While waiting for my 98 YZ250 to arrive, I ride a friend’s brand new 98 KX and immediately switched my order to a KX (the dealer sold both). 
 

I will absolutely concur that the build quality wasn’t nearly as good then as the CRs. Bolts were soft and wore out the threads often. My 01 ate reeds like crazy (never did figure that one out). Jetting was more finicky than the CRs. Plastic was flimsy. The rear mudflap was some weird rubbery plastic that rubbed off in layers when the tire hit it, and would suck up backwards if you rolled the bike back. Port casting and cylinder plating was questionable and inconsistent compared to Honda. 
 

The good news is that these days, a lot of these issues are fixable. I’d love to have another 98. 

 My 1995 KX250 was one of the best bikes I've ever owned period!  After I modded it a little (milled head, boyesen rad valve, Pro Circuit pipe...porting, I opened up the intake area ports quite a bit, and found at least 2 H.P. to be had in the exhast port by extense clean up on power valve related parts and polishing, Motul 8002t @ 32:1 ) I was 250 & VET pro at the time I put one step heavier springs front and back and kept fresh Maxima fluid in forks and shock always. Lots of races and 4 day a week after work rides at a nasty MX track right out my garage, this bike never had anything fail nothing! If you find a clean one buy it! 

I had a 95, 97, 98, 99 and a 2000.  The 98 was by far the best bike. The 99's had progressive suspension that was awful, you literally struggled to get any lift off of anything. They all rattled, splayed out the pegs after 50 hrs, and regularly lost bolts. 

They all looked great IMO 😁. Of course I'm a long time Kawy guy. For those of us who rode them, (with the exception of the 98,) they were all pretty bad. 

I came off of my 1998 CR250 and I loved the 2000 KX250 for every reason that MXA ripped on it! The low mid power was awesome, I liked that it was long and wide, I installed Gold Valves and got it handling for me… I just jelled with it! 

I also had a 98 KX250 and it remains one of my favorite bikes over the years.  Incredible bottom-mid motor, good suspension for the day, neutral handling.  The motor was amazing.  

I loved my Kawi’s from the early 90’s to mid-2000’s until I got tired of being disappointed with parts of the bike prematurely failing when they shouldn’t have. Awesome bikes to ride, frustrating to own. Very shabby quality overall. It was worth putting up with until it just wasn’t anymore. Poor metallurgy, sloppy tolerances and substandard quality control. Never had any luck with getting Kawi to stand behind their product in cases where they clearly should have, either.

I built a 96 KX125 to race at Foxhill VMXDN in August and this thing is incredible to ride. Handling is quite a bit different to a modern bike but on the right type of track it’s better. They handle and turn so well!

Had the '98. Great motor and rear suspension. Handled ok, brakes were ok, forks kinda sucked.

1990 kx125 was a big deal . The 1st perimeter frame, engine had a strong mid . They compared it to the 87 cr125 which was yrs ahead of everything else. I remember 2 125 a riders on the 90 kx , I let them pass me ovr a big jump. So I could jump in behind them and learn all the stuff. They kept it wo on the flat over rev. So I did the same thing . It seemed like I had better brakes since I could get rt on them.  I learned to flow better I really studied them. I thought the kx Looked so cool flying in the air next to me. Very futuristic bike at that time. 

Interesting to hear all these quality issues on the late 90's bikes. My 04 was rock solid other than the butter steel bars and the bar mounts twisting even in the softest tip over.

As a kid I absolutely frothed over the 93 KX’s 

I bought one about 12 years ago and it wasn’t as much fun to ride as I thought.. however I had the last gen 07 KX250 at the time as my main bike.

The 93’s looked soooooo cool, would love someone to make these graphics for my current bike.

But you did add the '97 and on swing arm, good call on that. My '96 tried to kill me on many occasions, I swear that bike was possessed by a demon.

It was the stock forks, horrible.

I had a 97'. Great bike but didn't hold up as well as my 90' CR (Wife's desert bike now, still going strong) or my YZ's (05' & 06')  

I thought they took a step back aesthetically in 1993. The 1990 KX looked so out of this world radical, I’m still not sure why Kawasaki opted for a safer, less radical look through the mid 90’s.

I had a 1999 and 2001 KX250 and a 2001 and 2002 KX125. They were all awesome bikes. I have been in the market for one as well, prices are still a bit silly around me though. The 99 KX250 was one of my favorite bikes, it was actually my old man's at the time... I just rode it a lot. 

The '92-'93 where slimmer than the '90 but the bike got slimmed down in '94 so you have it backwards. '99 they kept the same geometry but slimmed it again making IMHO the best KX250's chassis ever.

I have a modern Yamaha 450, a 250 2 stroke and a 125.  

I have a 98 kx 250 I use for AHRMA racing.  As good as you remember the KX 250 powerplant, it is no where close to a modern yz 250.  It is much softer hitting than you remember, but it was good in its day.  

I also just built a 98 KX 125.  Same thing.  It has a punchy mid-range, but is in no way a modern YZ 125.  

I love all my bikes  and I would ride the 98 more, since it has some history as it was a KHI bike, but parts are a nightmare to get, hence I only race it at Vintage events.  

The Yamaha 125 with an Vortex ignition, porting, pipe, Lectron Billitron and carbon reeds is the most fun bike I own. I absolutly love it.  It is as reliable as as a stone also. 

The 2022 and 2023 Yamaha 125s are not as good as the old platform either.  Lots of trouble with DNFs in my area.  

I had the ‘93 it was one of my favorite bikes ever for sure. Many, many hours with just basic maintenance and no major problems or quality issues. Just finished this ‘94 project over Christmas and can’t wait to try it out. 
 

Larry Ward called that chassis a career ender and Emig rode the old chassis in 99.

I wanted that 93 KX250 so bad but cheaped out and bought what I thought was a lightly used 92 KX250. Possibly the worst bike decision I've ever made. Should have got the 93. 

My old girl. 93 with 92 graphics. It's still a work in progress. Everything is just placed there until I get the new crank and put it all together. Any tips and tricks for the 93?

Good thing they where not selling bikes to them.

Couldn't have been that bad, Ricky won a championship on it. Have you ever ridden one? Feels exactly like the '94-'98 chassis with better ergo's. Considering the geometry is exactly the same it's understandable.