This week's Classic Steel looks back at the the 1996 Kawasaki KX250

tblazier
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8779
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7/20/2011
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Leesburg, VA US
10/16/2013 11:14am Edited Date/Time 10/4/2019 8:03am
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Ryno23
Posts
693
Joined
1/13/2010
Location
Belgrade, MT US
Fantasy
779th
10/16/2013 11:42am
I had one of these ugly bikes when they came out. Not a bad bike but damn they were hideous. Looked like a frog with a bruise.
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burn1986
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9740
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4/16/2010
Location
bossier city, LA US
Fantasy
3280th
10/16/2013 2:00pm
Haha! I wouldn't mind having one of them now. Even a 125.
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RedRum666
Posts
866
Joined
2/6/2013
Location
AZ US
10/16/2013 2:19pm
I remember Huffman chasing MC down in Seattle aboard one of those.....I think Huffman was ready to take over MC's reign until that broken femur 2 weeks later.....bummer....Huffman was never the same after that.....
mark_swart
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2398
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11/2/2011
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Chapin, SC US
10/16/2013 2:24pm
As bad as the purple was, once you get rid of it I think the overall bike ages pretty well in comparison to the other brands. With some color upgrades, late model fender/numberplate, and modern graphics. This is my '94 -- I also went waaay up on the spring rates. The stock fork rate was something like .37!??!

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The Shop

docweedon
Posts
941
Joined
8/17/2006
Location
Escondido, CA US
10/16/2013 3:52pm
I love my 95-96 KX250. Still one of the best bikes I have ever ridden to this day. I bought it at the end of 1995 from Factory Kawasaki and picked it up at the shop in Mission Veijo.
It was MX-Keid Mike Keidrowski's practice bike, but had a brand new 1996 bottom end/cases and Mike LaRocco's 1994 Supercross cylinder. The forks were standard 1995, but with factory outdoor valving. The shock and rear swingarm were brand new 1996 models that the factory took off a new bike. Of course they tweaked the valving on the shock as well. What set it off was a factory SPECS pipe that was from Factory Kawasaki's GP team.

I raced the piss out of the bike for a long time, right up until I got my 2001 KX250.

I have re-built the 1995 and ride it from time to time. Still fast as hell...

nytsmaC
Posts
5959
Joined
8/10/2009
Location
Frig Off CA
10/16/2013 6:43pm
I suddenly have the urge to buy a case of footpeg springs, pipe springs and o-rings.
Beast666
Posts
682
Joined
8/13/2013
Location
Englewood, CO US
10/16/2013 7:04pm
mark_swart wrote:
As bad as the purple was, once you get rid of it I think the overall bike ages pretty well in comparison to the other brands...
As bad as the purple was, once you get rid of it I think the overall bike ages pretty well in comparison to the other brands. With some color upgrades, late model fender/numberplate, and modern graphics. This is my '94 -- I also went waaay up on the spring rates. The stock fork rate was something like .37!??!

Nice I have a 94 KX250 also. One thing to note is the 94 model was the last one produced with a large exhaust port. In 95 they went to a smaller port to give it more low end grunt. I prefer a rever myself Wink
7/27/2017 1:54am
I have purple shrouds with evo mx graphics and purple fork guards ready to go. I just need to find the right bike to put them on.
1
10/2/2019 11:33am
mark_swart wrote:
As bad as the purple was, once you get rid of it I think the overall bike ages pretty well in comparison to the other brands...
As bad as the purple was, once you get rid of it I think the overall bike ages pretty well in comparison to the other brands. With some color upgrades, late model fender/numberplate, and modern graphics. This is my '94 -- I also went waaay up on the spring rates. The stock fork rate was something like .37!??!

I like it , it does look like a much newer gen KX for sure.
10/2/2019 11:35am
docweedon wrote:
I love my 95-96 KX250. Still one of the best bikes I have ever ridden to this day. I bought it at the end of 1995...
I love my 95-96 KX250. Still one of the best bikes I have ever ridden to this day. I bought it at the end of 1995 from Factory Kawasaki and picked it up at the shop in Mission Veijo.
It was MX-Keid Mike Keidrowski's practice bike, but had a brand new 1996 bottom end/cases and Mike LaRocco's 1994 Supercross cylinder. The forks were standard 1995, but with factory outdoor valving. The shock and rear swingarm were brand new 1996 models that the factory took off a new bike. Of course they tweaked the valving on the shock as well. What set it off was a factory SPECS pipe that was from Factory Kawasaki's GP team.

I raced the piss out of the bike for a long time, right up until I got my 2001 KX250.

I have re-built the 1995 and ride it from time to time. Still fast as hell...

PICS PLEASE
zippytech
Posts
1119
Joined
9/8/2018
Location
Bethesda, OH US
10/2/2019 12:05pm
I had a 95 cr250 and it had the purple shit on it too. I don't know what the designers was thinking
3
10/2/2019 1:11pm
zippytech wrote:
I had a 95 cr250 and it had the purple shit on it too. I don't know what the designers was thinking
To my memory: KTM, Kawasaki, Yamaha, and Honda all went purple in the mid 90s.
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Wandell
Posts
7563
Joined
12/17/2008
Location
Cairo, GA US
10/2/2019 1:28pm
Yep! Everyone was going purple in the 90's!
2
Denn700
Posts
1256
Joined
11/7/2006
Location
Shreveport, LA US
10/4/2019 7:39am
This era KX250 is my favorite. I actually prefer it to the 2003 and 2005. Have you ever done a story on RC’s 2001 SR250? I didn’t know till recently that he ran a 98 frame and that it was 20 pounds lighter than stock. I would love to know more about that bike.
10/4/2019 8:03am
I’m with the purple liking crew, loved my 96 kx100 my first new bike

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