Posts Tagged ‘Kawasaki’

THERE’S NO doubt about it. The Japanese have been the most instrumental power in bringing the world of small-bore off-road racing to its present level in the United States. Even way back when Yamaha Trailmaster 80s and Honda S90s were bouncing their semi-modified selves around the boonies, things were beginning to take shape. The adage that there is strength in numbers held true once again when, due to the enormous number of these trail bikes showing up at a given race, it wasn’t rare to see both an 80cc class and one for the 90s.

Then along came the Hodakas. First a four-speed 90 and then a five-speed 100. It wasn’t long before the bigger Japanese manufacturers bored their bikes out to 100 and added another gear in the transmission. As these little screamers buzzed their over-stressed guts out week-end after weekend, the European distributors took notice of the tremendous market that was being created. The European machinery was better. It was not much more reliable than the Oriental stuff, but was faster and handled better. Read the rest of this entry »

POKER, IF YOU don’t already know, is a game of both patience and action. Players are dealt cards, and play them out, bidding according to their value and the odds of someone else having something better. Poker is also a game that should  be familiar to just about every motorcyclist.

As a motorcyclist, and therefore always a potential purchaser, you are dealt a new hand each year, by the motorcycle manufacturers, in the form of new and (hopefully) better models. This is true whether you are a street biker buyer or an off-roader.

The Japanese are the most notorious for dealing out fancy hands. The Europeans change little, if anything, from year to year. but the Big Four? WOW!

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The 1974 Kawasaki KX125 has been reassembled ready for testing. Ater adding some fuel it has fired up and has a crisp throttle response, very nice. Now just need some cooler weather and a track test.

Some months back I made a general enquiry about some vmx parts by phone to a professional motorcycle mechanic in the USA and he happened to mention that an old 1974 Kawasaki KX125 just came his way and would I be interested? These are very rare and the few KX in use seem to be never offered for sale as people know they will not be able to replace them easily.

We made a deal and that included him pulling the bike down into components and completely refurbishing everything and making sure it was race tuned to hit the track as well.

The frame was stripped and repainted, all the bike parts cleaned, replated, painted or replaced as required, seals replaced, motor overhauled, new tyres etc, etc, the full monty….

The overhauled components would then be shipped to me to rebuild the bike, they have now arrived…. some assembly required.

KX125 parts coming back together

Very Nice Kawasaki KX125 Engine

Those Rotary Valve Carb Configurations Look Interesting

Beautiful Paint Job on This KX125 Tank

LESSON : Professionals do very good work and it saves a hell of a lot of time and errors.

See how the 1975 Honda CR125 compares to the other 1975 models in a test shootout, the Honda is pretty much the same as the 1974 bike with a bit of red colour added, the 1975 Kawasaki KX125 looks like the 1974 model, both these bikes still have the 4 inch rear suspension travel BUT the the radical new Suzuki RM125 comes along in 75 with long travel suspension!!! The Yamaha YZ125C introduced mono-shock suspension and a lot of horsepower into the 125 class.

This is a test that really highlights the pre 75 class with the new breed of mx bikes and a new era then follows. I rode my first real mx season on a 1975 RM125S and it was coool – big sand woops no longer held any fear, full throttle and just hit em hard!!! The RM125 tested here is the US version RM125M, the faster RM125S came to Australia.

SHOOTOUT……… As if you didn’t already know, motocross is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. It’s not hard to see why. Few sports combine action, color, speed, and finesse the way motocross does. And few sports equal motocross in ability to captivate young people, both as spectators and participants. Motocross is real for them. They don’t have to be content to just watch, they can actually do it themselves.

The favorite bikes of teenage riders are the 125s. In fact, most 125 motocross races are dominated by high school and junior high school students. And if any “seasoned veteran” of motorcycling still thinks 125s are nothing more than noisy toys and their riders dumb little kids, he should truck his 250 or 360 down to the local motocross practice track and get his doors blown off by 13-year-old Stevie Squid on his 125 Homazukasaki. As a further humiliation, he may very well learn that Stevie isn’t even one of the 125 hotshoes -he usually finishes somewhere in the middle of the pack. Read the rest of this entry »

Dirk Bike magazine did a review of the 1974 Kawasaki KX125 when it came out and the text of their article is here for interest as it is one of the bikes we are looking to restore.

GREEN MUSCLE Machine

Fastest unfinished package in the Klass

1974 KAWASAKI KX125 SPEED FREAK

Kawasaki really blew it. Seriously blew it. Last year, Kawasaki was impressive. They had Brad Lackey, Jimmy Weinert, Peter Lamppu and Jim Cooke riding for them. It was all paying off. Weinert drowned the Europeans in the mud at the Houston Trans-AMA. Lamppu had third place in the National motocross open class. Wyman Priddy had tenth place. Jimmy took fourth nationally with his 250.

With a little road show and some publicity, Kawasaki could have sold eight jillion motocrossers. But they didn’t, because they didn’t have any. And if they had brought out this bike, this little KX 125 we’ve been testing, back then .. well, they’d be more common than crushed beer cans at the track on Sundays. Because this is a really neat little bike. Read the rest of this entry »