Kawasaki KR250 Specification
 
To celebrate their 4-year domination of Grands Prix,
Kawasaki designed and built a road bike inspired by
the racers. It shared no common components with them
but did feature the same tandem-twin watercooled layout
- but with the carbs on the right hand side - and
the reed/disc induction system which Kawasaki had
christened 'RRIS' and which also featured on the AR125.
Looking at the design sketches shows that the underslung
rear shock came about late in development and that
a multitude of different exhaust configurations and
routings were considered. The bodywork styling appears
pretty consistent from the beginning but the KR500
racer-inspired front mudguard design didn't make it
through to production. The 'KR250A' first appeared
in public at the 1983 Tokyo Bike Show in production-ready
spec.
Kawasaki UK chose to celebrate the factory's fantastic
racing achievement, not by importing the new KR250
but by releasing a limited-edition lime-green-and-white
version of the dreary Z250 four-stroke twin (excuse
me while I just go and be sick...). The KR was never
officially imported by Kawasaki UK - however, in 1984
the enterprising manager of the franchised dealer
Huddersfield Kawasaki decided there was a small market
for this high-tech machine and brought in just 18
bikes himself and offered them for sale in his shop.
This was possibly the first UK example of 'grey-importing'
that was to become so popular later on. It was priced
at £2799 which was exactly the same price as
the officially imported GPZ600R alongside it in the
showroom. Its rivals in the marketplace were the similarly-exotic
V3 Honda MVX250 and the more conventional Suzuki RG250
Gamma. Yamaha's TZR250 was still some way off, their
nearest comparable bike at that time being the first
RD350LC YPVS.
The original 1984 model was designated 'A1'. In 1985
the 'A2' replaced it - the changes were limited to
an upgrade of the primary gears. There are small differences
to cater for the legal requirements of the importing
countries so the Australian/New Zealand models have
a longer rear-mudguard, fairing-mounted mirrors and
separate indicators on stalks instead of the small
square integrated indicators on the Japanese and South
African models. The 'Huddersfield 18' came from South
Africa I believe and others have since come in direct
from Japan so all bikes in the UK seem to be the same.
Standard colours are green/white, silver (with a red
seat), white/red, black/red and red/grey. I don't
think the KR has any kind of deliberate power or top-speed
restriction - if you know different please let me
know.
A year later, Kawasaki released the KR250S. It was
the same as the 1985 'A2' model apart from the addition
of 'KVSS', Kawasaki's version of the 'powervalve'
system. The objective seems to have been increased
bottom-end power as it appears to have no effect above
7000rpm. The 'S' also had fairing-mounted mirrors
(instead of bar-mounted) and was available in black/red
and blue/white.
I've not been able to find out the details of how
many bikes were built in total or to which countries
they were exported (I suspect just Australia, New
Zealand and South Africa). I'd also like to obtain
a list of the frame/engine numbers for all of the
original 18 Huddersfield Kawasaki Centre KR's. Please
get in touch if you have any of this information or
anything else interesting or relevant.
KR250 Specification;
- Engine 249cc (56.0 x 50.6mm) watercooled 180º
tandem-twin two-stroke
- Rotary Reed Induction System with Mikuni 28mm
flat-slide carbs
- 6-speed gearbox, vertically-split crankcases
- Chassis Aluminium square-section double-cradle
frame
- UniTrak rear-suspension (adjustable damping and
5-way preload) with underslung (extending) shock
and braced aluminium swingarm
- Air-assisted 35mm forks with 3-way adjustable
AVDS anti-dive
100/90-16 front & 110/80-18 rear tyres, cast
alloy wheels
- twin front 260mm and single rear 240mm disc brakes,
single-piston sliding calipers
- Dimensions 2.035m (l) x 0.685m (w) x 1.185m (h),
1.360m (w/b), 0.790m (s/h)
- 134Kg
- 27º rake, 84mm trail
- Performance 45bhp @ 10,000rpm, 26.8ft/lb @ 8000rpm
- 112mph
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