Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but Premium users receive great benefits. Premium benefits include:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2026 SX, MX, and SMX series.
Hopefully it has a rear shock
Nope, they will be using the their new Kawasaki Air Assist System (K-ASS)
I bet they release this bike with a lower compression head with the headlight and taillight to compete with KTMs XC-W line. Maybe they slap the KDX name on it
I REALLY hope it’s a steel frame. I can do with or without the headlight. I’ve been so excited about this bike for so long now and I’m going to be extremely disappointed if they just cram a 2 stroke motor into the 250f frame.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
Free shipping: VITALMX
I agree. Really hoping for a steel frame as well.
If it turns out to be aluminum, I'm hoping for a counterbalanced motor (either way I guess).
C'mon Kawasaki, roll this thing out!!
2 models: one with a headlight and one without. IDK about the frame construction. To sum up:
-2027 models. Probably released at the same time as the other '27s.
-Enduro version and Desert version.
-Not a Motocross bike.
Hopefully a high output stator with a lighting circuit to run a Baja Designs Squadron headlight. My KDX is plated. I'd like to do the same with this.
Those KDX250s were unicorn bikes. Shared nothing in common with either the KDX200 or KX250.
My dad owned a 1991 KDX 250 the tank was horrible
If this thread makes it to 100 pages before an actual bike from Kawi, they will hear from my lawyers.
Chassis is definitely a goofball, but the engine crosses over with KX250 and KX500 parts if you've got the time and energy to hunt things down. Kawasaki used different part numbers on the fiche even if the parts were identical to a KX model.
Somewhere on the KDX forum (kdxrider.net) they explain which early 90's KDX gears fit in certain model KX 250 transmissions to allow for a more off-road friendly KX conversion. I think the latest motor is 1998 or so.
Yeah that sounds like a nightmare.. knowing there are identical parts but no easy way to cross-reference from KX250/500 to KDX250. My comment a few posts up about nothing being compatible was from one of the dirt bike magazines back in the day.
So weird that they didn't just give the KX250 better gear ratios and a lighting coil, or give a oversized KDX200 cylinder to make it 250. Seems like an incredible waste of resources!
It was built as a street legal bike in Asia (competing with the Honda CRM250R) so we just got the version stripped of blinkers, steel fuel tank, and other legal stuff. Note that KDX250SR was sold for quite a bit longer in Asia than it ever was here.
From an economics/resources standpoint, cheaper/easier for Kawasaki to strip the SR and sell it here than modify a KX that wouldn't be legal in their home markets.
I will say that when I get the KDX250 fully done it will be everything it could have been when new while keeping the stock frame and plastic. I know I can cut a lot of flab off it and bring out as much of the KX hiding in the engine and suspension as possible.
huge announcement from kawasaki heavy industries: April fool bitches!
Steel would be lovely, but I have a hunch the steel-framed 125cc+ 'Race' bikes from Japan days are gone. Economies of scale on alloy frame is so much better than steel (hence the switch...). Anything Yam/Hon/Suz/Kaw that has been made for high level competition in the past 20y is all alloy,
Surely it will be a new engine and mounts that will slip into a common KX250X 4t frame assy, with some individual tuned parts to suit the 2t.
Well said, and I agree, that this will likely be the route they go.
Guys I hate to break it to you….but there’s no way Kawasaki does all this work to just make a niche 300 and 150 2 stroke.
You know damn well they’re gonna make a 125 and 250 MX version as well. Stamp it!
Pit Row
What work have they done? Posted a instagram clip over a year ago?
That's the impression I got. This is the start and there may be a few different models over the next couple of years. We'll see, time will tell.
A 250 motocrosser is niche compared to the 300 offroad market.
I just don’t see a 300 2stoke as a niche product. At the off road races I attend, and the trail riding areas, 300s are really popular.
It’s gonna be good to see another 2 stroke on the market
When I used to work for a KTM dealer, 300 models out sold 250s at a 5 to 1 ratio. Only reason we even had 250s was because it was a requirement with your allotment.
The only thing more niche in the dirt bike market than motocross is trials.
About the only way we could get rid of the 250cc bikes was if there were no 300s left to be had and we threw in a discounted 300 kit.
Only way Kawasaki will also drop a 250 is if it's a "simple" de-bore of the 300 and they can drop a 250F trans in it. Otherwise the ROI isn't going to even be close to making sense.
just put in my order for a 2027 300 yesterday, KTM. Dealer said they expect the 27's to start rolling in in May, as in next month. so, I expect a KTM press release on 2027 models soon...Would have liked that KX but done waiting. Will be riding instead!
Is 2027 a new model? Otherwise 2025's were going for $8,999 OTD
no, not a new model, and I should have specified, 300 xc-w, not $8999 OTD, haha
Happy Friday Kawi 2smoker heads!
Happy Friday Kawi Smokers….
SEND TO DUMBGEN with Chase
So pretending with a huge grain of salt they release the bike in June 2026.. that would mean the bikes are likely finalized and in production as we speak. Thinking about an assembly line of new Kawi smokers with those matt black pipes and pinkish vent hoses gives me the feels
Post a reply to: Kawasaki is bringing the two stroke back!