Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/126603
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problemchange over," answered Rogers.
Whether or not the disc will be used on
the production model is still up in the
air. Rogers seems to be pleased with
the drum , however, saying "They're
strong enough and I've had no
problem with them fading." The first
three-wheeler sported a set of KDX250
front forks with 38mm fork tubes and
travel was 10 inches. Rogers has
brought the travel down to eight and a
half but retains the 38mm tube
diameter and air adjustment. The
only thing that was changed on the
forks was the location of the axle
which changed the trail factor, which
in tum makes it easier to tum.
The frame is a KX125 chassis, but
the bottom part of the frame has been
changed to accept a 250cc engine.
"The first frame 1 tried was a 250
frame with a 125cc engine, but 'I
didn't hav e enough power, so on my
second bike I put a 250c c motor into
the 250 frame . Well , that didn't seem
to handle as well as I liked , so 1 put a
250cc motor into a 125 frame. Now
everyt hing handles just right. It
seemed to be a good compromise, plus
with the trail factor changed on the
front end, 1 haven't changed anything
else on the chassis," explains Rogers.
Rogers also noted that he did experiment with different head angles , like
raising the fork tubes up and down ,
but other t ha n that , the chassis was
left alone.
The engine, as it sits right now , has
a KX top end with a KDX lower end.
What's nice is that the KDX has a six
speed transmission . The flexibility of
t he gears is what prompted Roge rs to
go with th e KDX lower end. The first
time the bike was raced it had a
sta nda rd KDX engine model in it, b ut
Rogers quickly re alized that it needed
more horsepower. That's whe n the KX
top end was pu t on . The carburetor
put on a standard KDX is a 36mm,
but with th e KX top end a 38mm is
used .
The hardest part of the machine to
build was the rear suspension. The
main problem was devising a way to
attach an axle to an existing motorcycle
swingarm ,using a standard KX125
Uni -Trak
suspension
system.
Modification had to be made to the
shock, damping rate , spring-rate and
link-ratio. The swingarm is now
shorter than it is on a motorcycle ,
which changed the leverage ratio on
the shock. An '81 KX125 model shock
is used to cushion the rear, and a softer
spring is used due to the fact the
swingarm is shorter. "T he swingarm
was my design, that is what enabled
me to build this machine. Overcoming
the problem of attaching an axle to a
motorcycle swingarm, that was the
toughest problem to solve. Other than
that, the machine went together quite
well," commented Rogers.
The triple clamps were welded
together out of old spare clamps they
had laying around . The width was
determined by standard three-wheel
tire . The offset axle came together
after a lot of trial and error.
The rear end sports ,a drum brake ,
reason being conven ience. A complete
Honda axle, drum brake and spacers
were used to get this machine up and
running. O f course th e production
models will use all Kawasaki goodies.
"T he rear brake is its weakest point.
It's not strong enough for this type of
application, weight , speed and power"
comm en ts Rogers.
As the bike sits right now , it seems to
have the potential of being a winner.
As of th is writing, nothing has been
planned yet as to when production will
start; however , plans for release are
due som et im e th is fall . Much is
promised from Kawasaki in '83 a nd
with th e sta rti ng of the KXT (the
model's given name) th ey seem to be
on the righ t foot .
ATJ'
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