Kawasaki Kx250

Kawasaki KX250

Long-Term Report

It's Still Going Strong After 28 Races

Kawasaki’s 1982 KX250 motocrosser was the only 1982 250 MX racer from Japan without water-cooling. We liked the bike anyway. It had many nice features like an engine with competitive horsepower, enduro-type torque, fresh styling and a disc front brake. One thing we weren’t especially delighted with was harsh suspension at both ends. The wheels hopped over small bumps at slow speeds instead of following them. Still, one of our riders couldn’t get enough of the bike. He wanted it for a long-range test. Twentyeight motocross races and 15 play rides later, he still has good words to say about the KX250.

The ’82 KX250 hasn’t been the most reliable dirt bike we’ve had around, but it hasn't been the most unreliable either. Perhaps the most constant and most annoying problem has been the continued loosening of engine bolts. We never broke one but they had to be tightened between every moto and in the middle of the day when trail riding. The bolts are substantially smaller than the holes they go through and of poor quality. The front disc brake never did work as well as we thought it should, actually being quite a bit less effective than last year’s KX250 brake. So, when the thing quit working during a race, we thought good, now we can replace some parts and maybe get it working well. The caliper was the trouble and we replaced it. Still the brake didn’t work as well as it should have. Damn. Bleeding the cylinders is a genuine pain also. Hardly any brake fluid is moved with a single pull of the hand lever. Plan on spending a couple of hotirs bleeding the air from the system, minimum. Our local Kawasaki dealer has devised an easy way—they force the fluid through the lines from the caliper end. We had more trouble with the unit towards the end of the test period, too. Not the bike’s fault this time, another competitor Tboned our rider. The other guy’s front tire broke the caliper off the lower fork leg and then he took the braided steel line with him! Parts for the disc are costly, the caliper goes for $99, the braided line costs $69. Thanks anyway. Given our choice we'll take a doubleleading shoe front brake on dirt bikes.

Rear spokes proved as fragile as they appear; one or two (usually on the sprocket side) broke almost every race.

The front spokes didn’t cause any problems after they seated. The front part of the seat base cut the front of the seat cover early in the test but we didn't replace it. After about 15 races and seven practices the pipe mounts started breaking. Not from the pipe, the frame mounts broke. They were rewelded and additional gussets added. End of problem. Eight races into the test a broken rear brake spring ruined the brake shoes and scored the drum. We replaced the shoes and springs but not the drum. That proved a mistake, as the rear brake never worked well after that. At 15 races the rear shoes were replaced again.

Some of the stock suspension’s harshness was eliminated by sending the shock to Moto-X-Fox. They revalved the shock and added a remote reservoir with adjustable compression damping. Price including parts and labor is $160. When they sent the shock back, a new pair of fork springs was in the package. Both changes helped and the adjustable damping is nice, but the suspension still doesn’t work as well or as comfortably as a stock RM.

Other minor but irritating problems recurred during the test; the seat bolts loosened constantly, the chain never stopped stretching, even the new one that was installed with new sprockets at about 15 races. The clutch nut came off several times during the test period. Normally it happened during competition. When it

would happen the clutch lever would get too much slop and, of course, the clutch couldn't be disengaged. No problem as long as the rider didn’t stall the engine in a turn. Shifting wasn't affected, the rider just shifted without the clutch. The side cover got chewed up a little more each time the nut came off but it never did poke a hole clear through. We tried Loctite and other fixes but nothing would keep the nut in place for long. The clutch never seemed up to the demands it was subjected to. It would get hot easily; the rider always knew as the lever would get a lot of freeplay in it. The shift lever wasn’t sturdy either; it continually got bent toward the cases and needed to be straightened after every moto.

Most major parts proved durable. The original cylinder is still on the bike, although the piston was changed at the 15race mark. It should have been done sooner; it was cracked badly around the wrist pin. No transmission problems. The only frame breakage was the seat and pipe tabs. No swing arm breakage or bearing problems. The cylinder blew one base gasket about 13 races into the test but the rider caught it before any damage occurred.

All in all the bike has been enjoyable and fun to ride. It had some problems but never registered one DNF. Our intermediate rider liked the bike a lot and said he wouldn't hesitate buying one. Not a bad recommendation. S