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/128076
Shootout KAWASAKI KX1~5 MOTOR Th e motor wa s reall y quite good. It pulls hard through th e mid-range and revs out pretty good too . It is very crisp everywhere and is quite responsive. - CS. Good torque for a 125. Very usable power with littl e effort, but not as easy to ride as the yz. . J.5. The low-end was oka y, the mid was good a nd the top-end was good. - CD. The motor was the best for the whoops. You didn't have to fan the clutch as much. It has great bottom. - D.L. Llove the mid on the KX, but it could use more up top.• M.F. The KX has a great mid. It comes on very strong but s tops pulling to soo n for me.' T.5. Very good overall but could hit a little harder off the bottom. • K.P. Th e front br ake is very good. - J.5. The fron t is grea t, th e rear is great. I like the brakes. - D.L. Mush y, bu t gnod power. - T.5. 1 like the bra kes, but the fron t brake tend ed to get mus hy the longer we rod e the KX. - M.F. . Good front brak e, while th e ba ck brak e see m ed to get pmgressively mu shy. • K.P. CONTROLs/SHIFTING The clutch-pull is nice and cons is tent. Lever se tup was nice ... and comfo rtable. I had ze ro problems wi th the shifting. CS. The shifting was better than the YZ. - J.5. The clutch wa s excellent. The pull was sm~th. Shifting was also very smooth. I cou ld go through the gears like a ho t FRONT SUSPE NSION The fork was a lit tle tw itchy for me, especially un der braking. It had too much of a nervous feeling and wanted to slide out goin g into turns . It worked a lot better at Elsinore (dry hardpack ). - CS. It is soft on fast, rollin g jumps and wh en you stiffen it up, cornering gets worse. - J.s. The fork works reall y well . - CD. We had a tough time dialing in the fork. It wanted to wheelie off a ll the jumps at Elsinore, but it works well on the gro und. · D.L. To stiff for me, and lack of control is unsettling. - T.5. 1 think the KX fork is the best of the bunch.• M.F. Very good. - K.P. REAR SUSPENS ION Really nice action and it was pretty stable and predictable. We pu t a stiffer spring (4.9 straight rat e) in it and it balanced out the bike better. - CS. Stiff on low speed but holds up well on hard hits. - J .5. The s hock feels good. it tracks fairly straight and gave me no problems. - T.5. I was ha ppy with the stock prog ressive spring and with the st raig ht wound spring. The KX shock really allows me to put the power to the ground in all conditions. - M. F. Absorbed well despite feeling a little stiff on the smaller bumps. - K.P. HANDUNG Handling is pretty good with the exception of the fork. i could ride the KX strong and confident. It'~ nice and 51:..1ble, -CS. Very stable, It doesn't tum the best. but it turns better for me with the handlebars in the rear position. - J.5. It tracks pretty norm al over braking humps and coming out of corners. - D.L. Last year's fork worked better for me. 1 prefer plushness over rigidnes·.· T.s. Once again, because I like the KX suspension SO mu ch, it han dles bes t for me ou t of all the' bi\.;es. - M.F. Very good, I coul d attack the track w ith co nfidence. , ever worried about sudd enly getting spit off. - K.P. M ~ 1l .2 (,) o 22 knife through butter . - D.L. The clutch action is a little heavy, but smooth. Shifting did not feel real solid .• T.5. I th ink the clutch is much smoother than last year's bike. but still not the smoothest when compared to the R.\I, YZ and especially the SX. - M.F. o complaints from me . - K,P. for my 6T' fram e . - K.P. What do you like mo st about th is b ik e? The mid-range motor. stu rdy frame and smoo th brakes, - CS. 1 like the torquey motor. It has sim ilar power as the YZ, just mo re torquey. - J.s . . The motor. - D.L. The mid -range is the best of the bunch.• T.5. . O nce you get a hang of the odd power band , it is super fun to ride. Plus it handles great. - M.F. Stable handling. - K.P. Wha t do yo u lik e lea st abo ul th is bike? We cha nged bar positioning and put on a taller seat, hut still sitting to standing is a pretty big movement because of my height. - CS. Rider layout. - J.5. The bike is too cramped. - D.L. The KX could use more power up top . - M.F. The for ks took away my confidence. - T.5. Cra mpe d ergos and lazy bo ttom-end. - K.P. Wha t coul d m ak e the bike be tter? More top-end and better ha ndli ng, • J.5. More power. - CD. ' The turning ra tio : - D.L. '99 forks and R.C: s motor . - T.5. The 250 cla mps an d taller sea t being standard, and a wider, broader powerband. - K.P. I felt like a hero on th is bike be cau se, " It was pretty smooth and fun to ride. I had bett er confidence on it with the changes we made. - C.S. I really don't feel like a hero on this bike. - D.L. I could ride it for a long time and not get tired. - M.F. The mo tor like> to be screamed .• K.P. ERGOS The bike is easy to grip with your legs. st~nding to sitting position is a 'li tt le tough with my height (6'2" J. - CS. The handleba r layout and gear shifter was all off. I kept kicking the bike into neutral. - ).5. The bike is easy to move around on . C D. Way too cramped . My boot w a s hooking on th e rad iat o r s hro uds and side pa nels, - D.I•. It fee ls pretty good, lot s of room. 1'.5. 11 KX fits my rid ing style just fine, ,e ially wi th the KX250 c41mps in the- rear position. it is me to tell th e d ifference seatsinstall nnce of the tim .F. Set 'em u I n o rder to assure consistency for this 125cc MX Shoo tout, we fitted eac h of the five bikes included wi th a Ren thal ha ndleba r and g rips an d a pai r of Dunlo p D756 tires. Thanks to those companies for their assistance. . For sell ing u p th e bik es, the manufacturers we re permitted to adjust the rid e height for rid er weight and to d ial in co mpression and rebound damping for rider preference . We a lso allo we d the cha nge of fork and shoc k springs, which Yama ha op ted to d o with its YZI25, going with a stiffer rat e up front (fro m 0.41 to 0.42). Kawa saki w ent stiffer on the r~ar, replacing its progressive-rate spring w ith a 4.9 straightrate. Apart from that, the only changes all owed were to the gearing (which va r ie d depe nd ing upon the tra ck), and jetti ng (every participant made ad justments here). For o u r ta ller rid e rs, Kawa saki installed its hig her KX250 seat and KX250 rubber-mounted hand leba r clamps (whi ch allowed the bar to be moved farther forward).