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My first full sized motocross bike, a 1985 KX125. I loved this bike so much.
I have posted this before, but if you are up for a laugh and a quick clip of a terrible case of the nervous novice... here you go
https://vimeo.com/32860005
We can work with speed!
JWACK - This was in southern NM back in the day. It was a one-off track at the Deming fairgrounds.
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Yup broke a lot of frames 75-85 years
Kawasaki's plastic was super brittle in the early to mid 80s. It got a little better by late 80s. The '86 rims were also prone to cracking. My '86 KX125 front rim had to be welded due to a crack.
The '86 125 was so fuckin cool with the rear disk brake.
Plastic hasn't gotten much better!
Sick ceet cover Bro . I had a red& white zebra striped 1 on my 87 cr125. Kawi should release a single radiator kx125 for 2,999.00. Then add a Huge contingency program like no other . Like 500 to win a local race unlimited classes paid. Then everyone would buy at least 2 & a ton of parts.
New Mexico True!
New Mexico is still a great place to ride. I just picked up some small acreage to build on plus I’ll be able to ride out of my garage straight to my own track. Cut in part of it a few weekends ago!
Can’t wait to break in a new KX 300!
Riding straight out of the garage after school til dark is how we grew up. But we let the homeboys on their 3 & 4 wheelers cut the trails and whoop them out. I looked at google maps and all of our old haunts have houses on them now. The entire southwest region of the US grew up in the golden age back in the 80s & 90s.
Awesome to see you are still living the dream.
“He’s fast but he crashes a lot!” 😎
That was good 👍
Had that '81 KX125 - still think it's a classic beauty. It wasn't real popular that year because everyone else had moved to LC, but it was quick and fun.
If you look closely, you'll see they had aluminum pegs. I lost one of mine and despite an lengthy search, I couldn't find it. I ordered a new one from the dealer only to be completely deflated when it arrived and was a black steel one. You couldn't get the aluminum ones as replacements, so here I was with one silver peg and one black. I'm sure it would have driven the matching-gear guys out of their minds! 😂
Keeping the dream alive on my 98 woods machine.. 927 for days😎
Been watching this thread in the hopes of some tangible news so figured I’d post my old street legal 98 Kx250 which I sold a few years back to make way for my 23 300sx when they came out.
I'd love to do that fork swap on my 1998.
Highly recommend for slightly modernizing the feel of the bike. Came off a 13 450f got them with the triples for about 250 with blown seals. Just need to press the stem out and press the 98 stem into the triples, then besides the wheel the rest is plug/play. Threw a YZ brake I got for dirt cheap with a braided line and called it a day. Miss the bike a lot but don’t have the time to screw around with older bike projects these days.
I remember the brittle KX plastics. Get a freezing cold day, and the track would be littered with broken off mudguards by the end. They used to just flex and snap.
Pit Row
Late reply, I know, but here's my take:
1 - The ad came out during a SX race simply to reach the largest audience. Off-road guys watch SX, and so do casual fans. A lot of MX guys ride off-road, too. Plus, SX gets much more publicity than any off-road series. More eyes and ears equals more potential sales.
2 - The bike in the ad sounds like a minimum of 250ccs. Why would they make a small bore bike if they used that sound clip? All of us are smart enough to know the difference. A lot of casual fans are NPCs, but we moto nuts are not.
3 - If Kawasaki is aiming for the off-road market and are smart about it, they'll label it a KDX250 and/or KDX300. Not a KLX. No extra X. Being Kawasaki's two stroke off-road family with such a long and rich history, a revival of the KDX name would be great.
4 - Even though steel is more compliant and forgiving, using the current KX platform would make the most economical sense. Regardless, I hope they equip it with a counter balancer. Aluminum is not nearly as forgiving as steel, so vibration would be off the charts without one. Even steel frames shake like crazy. It doesn't rob that much power. When I hear people argue against them, I get a visual of a guy drenched in sweat while driving his hot rod without A/C because it "robs too much horsepower." Gimme a break. Personally, I wouldn't want to pay a lot of money for a bike that makes my hands and feet numb after riding it for a while. My 2006 KX250 did that. I'm 50, y'all, so I like a little comfort.
5 - An electric starter would tickle the fancy of a lot of people. Is it necessary? That depends. There are good arguments for and against it. If it has e-start, put a backup kick starter on it. A lot of people miss them on the new KTMs. Personally, having bad knees, I wouldn't be upset to see an easy button.
6 - As far as FI goes, I'm on the fence about it. It would certainly drive up the cost and complexity, but it could be necessary for emissions. An MX bike doesn't have the restrictions due to it being a closed-course competition motorcycle. I don't know, though, because the YZX bikes are carbureted. I'm not 100% up to speed on USFS regulations in relation to dirt bikes, so don't crucify me if I'm wrong. A carburetor would be a smart move for economic and simplicity reasons. Emissions on the other hand, I'm sure they're not the best. I'm not a big fan of the EPA, but they could play a significant role in the final product.
7 - Whatever they come out with will be after careful consideration of their target audience. Kawasaki has the money to do research for the hard data they need. They know what they're doing. Coming out with a revised minibike would be a huge mistake after releasing their ad. All of the comments referenced were about bringing a two stroke back, not updating an existing model. That would imply they're coming out with something they don't currently produce. Also, as mentioned earlier, the sound bite was not a small bore bike. Sorry, y'all, that wasn't a 125. But that's not to say small bore bikes couldn't be updated or introduced later.
Take what I say as only my opinion. I'm old, haven't been on a bike in a while, and currently overseas, but I'm still a dirt bike fan and a potential customer. I'd love to see a KDX offered in 250cc and 300cc versions with a steel frame (even though I argued against it), an easy button with a kick backup, a counter balancer, and a carburetor for simplicity. A little bit of new, a little bit of old. I could see a green bike in my garage again someday. We'll see if Kawasaki is listening.
Your last paragraph would be an almost ideal bike, IMO. The only thing I'd add is make sure there's a powerful enough lighting circuit to run a Baja Designs headlight or similar. Bonus points if they can somehow manage to work up a dual sport kit that's plug and play either through Kawi themselves or a quality outside vendor. There's nothing worse than having a new bike and having to immediately hack up wiring.
Your last paragraph.
"I'd love to see a KDX offered in 250cc and 300cc versions with a steel frame (even though I argued against it), an easy button with a kick backup, a counter balancer, and a carburetor for simplicity. A little bit of new, a little bit of old."
That is exactly what I'm hoping for as well. That covers so many bases and I think would satisfy the majority riders/racers.
Ran my 1990 KX250 in at Thruxton on NYE 1990 . Absolutely baltic day and every single piece of plastic apart from the tank & airbox broke . Even the rad louvres & mudflap.
I had a 1990 kx and had more issues keeping the frame from cracking tbh lol.
Ah Thruxton.. I wrecked a new 1991 YZ250 on the triple after deciding "one more lap" before packing up to go home 😭
Beta makes this exact bike right now
The Beta counterbalancer is tiny. Still vibrates like crazy.
KTM made this bike for three years (‘17-‘19 250XC and 300XC). Then they screwed it all up in ‘20 with TPI.
I’d buy it
Vibrations means it’s working
Here's a Green 2 stroke from around 2018(?).
I'd love to see innovation like this never (series) produced Ossa Pioneer. Hey, Kawasaki bought Bimota, perhaps they might have 'snaffled' the remnants of OSSA, after their disasterous 'merge' with Gas Gas.
A very innovative 2 stroke design. Reversed and Laid Back Cylinder, EFI - weirdly, the best info I ever found about it was from an English Language Print version of a French Trials Magazine. The engineer behind the bike said it was to use multiple injectors - Transfer Port, Top of Barrel ( so as to be 'near' to DFI), and perhaps on the Throttle body, so to get the power and revs, And 'cleanliness' above what was required over their Trials EFI bikes. Cassette Gearbox, Cassette Crank - note the 'bump' at the top of the alternator cover - that was for the conrod to come through, from that side of the engine.
PS : Now That's, a Snail Pipe!
I feel it's will be 250 mx bike with an off road variant, just like the yz250 and its x brother.
It will be efi and kickstart.
Maybe they will offer a 300 Cc top end package like KTM to appeal to an even broader market.
Post a reply to: Kawasaki is bringing the two stroke back!