Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

'crad le main fram e made of lig h tweigh t hi gh-tensile steel with a bolto n steel left rear sectio n . Kawasak i tras hed th e stru t system Uni -Trak rear suspension design for th e bottom lin k Uni -Trak system. It now boasts 11.8 inches o f travel with a Ka ya ba piggyback reservoir shock , complete with l fi-way ex terna l co mpress ion and rebound damp in g adjustm ents. A new and stro nger ex tr u ded aluminum du al -box secti on swingarm is used. It is 5mm taller a nd 5mm wid er than the '88 unit and reta in s the q uick-change rear wheel design. The complete wh eel assembl y can be removed wit hout having to pu ll out the ax le. U p front is a new but relatively co nvent io nal Ka yaba 43mm fork with 11.4 inches of whee l trave l. It has 16-wa y com p ressio n rebo und dam p in g adjustments. Sto p pi ng is no w ha ndled by tw o di sc b rak es. T he fr ont di sc i s unchanged , but a 220m m rear dis c has been added repl acing th e o u tdat ed drum system . th at 's because th e '89 model ha s so much low-end th at it do esn 't feci as th ou gh it comes on th e p ipe or hits as hard as it used to at m id ra nge. Chugging up gnarl y, tigh t, roc ky or muddy hill s on th e ~D . is a p iece o f ca ke. An y slo w-g ectio n is eas ily handled by the K X's tor q uey motor, plus it' s hard to stall a nd has pl enty o f po wer to get you th ro ugh the tough st uff. . H ow ever , in th e tight a nd slow sectio ns th e KDX is p ro ne to o verheating si nce th e mo tor is now wa tercooled, a nd this has many KDX . owners concerned. Las t yea r, th e KDX was the onl y two-stro ke p ro d uction enduro bike that was a irco o led , and many end u ro rider s prefer this because, in some wa ys, a ircooled eng ines are more rel iab le, and (Far left) Fork action is much improved. (Center top) A coolant overflow bottle is located behindthe right side panel. (Above) Water crossings made the brakessqueak. (Left) The mechanical tripmeter is a little hard to adjust with gloves onand while in motion. The new gas tank holds a hardy th ree ga llo ns. . The contro ls are essentia lly th e same with th e plasti c hand guards, dogleg levers and same bend han dl eb ars. However , th e last yea r's electron ic d igital cl ock/tripmeter has been replaced by a less expe nsive me chan ical a na logue o do meter/ .. tnpmeter. I Hittin' the tra il . Even th ough the KDX is radically changed for '89 it didn 't lose its tradi tional and well-liked KDX feel, but overa ll pe rfor ma nce is still much impro ved. All the traits th at have mad e th e KDX so pop u lar in years past hav e been touch ed up a nd en ha nced fo r 1989. Right o ff th e ba t, th e ' KDX ' h a s s tro n ge r lo w -e n d response; smoothe r and' more stable suspension ac ti on , better handling, ' quieter sou nd and feels lighter. The new KDX has trem endous power o ff th e bottom. It has a bottom-end punch like no other KDX we've ridden but isn 't all that much faster than last year's KDX from midrange on up. Actually, th e new KDX a lmost feels slower, bu t don't ove rheat. But we rode the KDX in a co u p le of end uros and we never experienced any coo la nt loss even in some very tight, leg-padding-type sectio ns. In th e fast er sectio ns, though, th e a d va n ta ges of wa ter -cooling ca n really be felt. Horsepower loss aft er th e engine heats up is hardly noticeable, which is good, because th e KDX ca n' t afford to lose any. Although the '89 KDX is slightly faster than last year's mod el, a converted 125cc MXer ca n eas i ly o u tru n the 200 from midrange on up. The KDX is q u iet, a lmost too quiet. Although th is is some thi ng that 's good for eve ryone wi thi n hearin g dis tance of th e KDX , it mak es it a little tough for th e rider. It is ac tually hard to hear th e moto r, especially at high speeds whe n the wi n d is ru sh in g thro ugh your helmet. Plus, wh en you come up behind slo wer riders in enduros, be prepared to do some yell ing, because th e rider in front o f you won ' t be able to hear th e KDX. Bu t we feel that the silence is one inconven ience th at's worth ge tting used to. The clutch fin ally wo rks u p to par. It can now ta ke the abuse like it should, instead of gett ing hot and fading just wh en the going gets tough. It does ge t a little mush y with a lo t o f use but not as ba d as p revio us KDXs. T he pull on the lever is o nefin ger opera tab le. H owever, th e hand guards over th e clu tchand fro nt brak e lever are 5050 - 50% good and 50% bad . T he pl astic guard on th e front brake side still piv ots into th e lever whe n hit by tree branch es and bushes. Some- times , it'll pivo t enough to wh ere it' ll press th e front brak e lever in a nd apply th e brake. The clutch side is firml y a ttac hed. The five speed transmi ssion works well. Gear ratios seem to fit the motor accord ing ly and. m issed shi fts were few a nd far betw een. Suspension is a far cry abo ve last year's KDX. The biggest im p ro vement is th e fork. It has a smoother . a nd more progressive feel from th e first few in ch es o f travel to the end of th e stro ke. The larger fork g ives th e KDX a so under feel. ] ust like th e front en d, th e rear sus pe ns io n is much impro ved. It sti ll absorbs th e slow -speed bu mps and roc ks as well as ever , bu t the back end handles the hi gh-speed whoops be tter th an before. H o wever , the KDX is sti ll mor e suited for slo wer speed tra ils a nd end u res , rather th an fast end uro s or desert races. One of th e fir st modifications we would do to th e KDX is to in stall some kind of sea t kit . The stock sea t is too soft and breaks down quickly. We are di sappointed that Kawasaki switched odo me ters on the KDX. The mechanical read out odome ter isn 't as conven ient as th e d igital system. It is more difficult to adj us t (Con tin u ed to page 61) TIre new motor is based on the KX2S0 with a KXI2S ILI.P.S power-valve. TIre result is tremendous bottom-end with slightlymore power on top. .

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