Kawasaki's Two-Stroke is Real, the KX327 is Here

Right! Not a Kawi guy at all but go Kawi!

Awesome!

True and true . But let’s be honest this bike is aimed at off-road guys and vet  MX guys , both  can ride virtually anything they want.

First the Honda blue redesign, now a KX327... What the hell kind of drugs are the Japanese manufacturers on and how we get them to continue taking more 

Hope this sells really good for Kawasaki. It looks amazing 

Manufacturers dont want 250 2 strokes in the 250 class, will be interesting to see how it stacks up against 450s. On paper and pictures looks like an excellent bike. 

Great to see it's actually happening, thanks Kawasaki!

Can any engine builders explain how they get to these displacement sizes? Like is there a certain compression ratio,  hp, reliability target matrix that gets them there? Or, it just kind of like 'hey guys, only open class vets are going to buy it so just make it bigger than the KTM 300?'

Good point and if they really wanted it to compete with the 450s they would make it closer to 400cc’s. I doubt the 327 will really have the pull a 450 does.

That’s a damn good point early: they really want the 4 strokes to be the top dawgs.

Its legal is AMA amateur racing in the 450 class. They changed the rule several years ago. The 250 class is open to 250cc and the 4 stroke to 450cc. 2 Stroke or 4 Stroke. 

For vet and pro practice rider/racers. No mention of different mapping, porting, flywheel, lighting coil or off road suspension tuning for the X. Will it rev enough for a track bike? Nice throwback to 1987 with the graphics. I think Kawi will have a winner here.

This is so sweet man. The displacement is odd, not bad. You could not spec a better piece of equipment. 

Can someone photoshop Splitfire graphics on it 😁

Its gonna be too powerful for me no doubt about it. I have a 150SX and a 250SX. I already have to use the yellow spring in the power valve to tone it down. With the red one , it is a fire breathin dragon with shit ton of torque. I got nothing for a full blown 327cc 2 stroke. No whiskey throttle for me nowadays!! Have fun! 😀

I would’ve thought the engineering bottle neck with this entire thing would’ve been emissions.  Hasn’t that been the claim since the late 90’s, that the 2-strokes went away not because of demand but because of emissions?  Did they have to pull off some trickery in the exhaust department or am I flat out wrong?

I thought Honda was the first?
Kawi was at least the last to competitively race a 2-stroke with James.
*Even though MC raced a few SX races for fun on one.

It’s made up bullshit: ain’t no emissions on race bikes. And then companies like betas are making street legal 2 strokes and shit.

I’m sure we’ll see some of these (next year) with 500 motors put in. 

That's an entirely new engine, the bore and stroke are very different from the '07 KX250 two-stroke. The newer engine has a 76mm stroke vs 72mm on the 07. The 327 should have a ton more low end torque 

Bike aimed at Vet riders is fully legal in Vet classes...

Maybe after a couple years the 327 will become a 350, and if you bore out the 350 it becomes a 355. Long stroke it to a 383.  IYKYK.

More at the Kawi site. The 327 and 450 have GPS now. The kickstand was also redesigned to tuck in better, and it has a rubber holder like a KTM. It is also $2k cheaper than a KTM 300xc. It looks like they hit pretty much all the features and even leap frogged KTM on adding a GPS to their two stroke. I am curious if there will be any engine tuning in the app and what the GPS functions look like. Will it require a Litpro subscription?

Did anyone catch if it has an electronic or spring based power valve?

How long before Sexton is on the '27 frame?

pv looks electro to me. 

I imagine the X will be popular with hard enduro guys.

Nice!

See? I told you guys they were real. 😉

I'm surprised a little by the hydraulic clutch, and also the 19" rear wheel on the "track" version. It seems they made a motocross-capable bike after all. (It will be interesting to see how it performs on track, but the close-ratio 5 speed hints at an MX application.) 327 is a weird displacement, but whatever.

Sweet now it's your turn yamaha 

just fyi KTM has been testing a 350 in plain sight for a while now, supposed to be a 2028 model with the next gen chassis bikes

And eventually a dry sump 427 with titanium rods!

2003-2005 YZ426?