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/128231
1I1111nlh ~ Et{{~ Kawasaki KX250F Ev en l o a d e d down w ith m u d , t h e KX250F a lways felt lig ht on the trac k . (Ab ove) The Suzuki-desig n e d engine i s a se mi-dry sump design, which means th ere is no oil stored in its fram e , un li ke Its estab li s he d Yamah a c ompetitor. W e notice d that t h e k lckstarte r seemed a little long, which sometim e s made starting a chore. (A b ov e) The fram e i s designed t o be narrow to h e lp w ith t h e light feeling, an d it's partia lly made p o ssible by the sma ller· than - two-stroke tan k. Fo u r str oke s hav e bette r fue l ec o n o my - after all, it only fir es every other tim e . (Right) The rea r caliper Is smaller tha n the other Kawis' to save weight, and to add clearance f or the bigger four-stroke silencer. (Below) The linkag e is a new d esign f or Kawasaki this year , altho ugh it 's shared by its two-stroke siblings . tad stronger overall , but the Kawasa ki' s m oto r seems to offer a broad er sp read of power and is perh aps more us er-fr i end ly . W e ' ll fi n d out soo n enough . . But all of this eng in e perform an ce wo n 't do yo u a bit o f g o od i f y ou can 't start it , and th at's wh y Kawasaki put so me ex tra thought in t o th is area. To aid in start ing , th e KX 250F fea tures an a utomati c compress ion releas e that it dubs KACR (Kawasa k i Au tomatic Compression Release... no kiddi ng! ), and a hand leb ar-mou n ted hot -start lev er, pos it ion ed next to th e cl utch lev er. Sti ll , we fou nd t he bi ke t o be so m e w h a t d i f f i cu lt to sta r t, ma inly due to the ex tr em el y tall kic k start lever. W it h y our leg cocked and bent , it's a lmost as if your leg we re spring - lo a d e d by th e t im e yo u ' re read y to gi ve it e smooth , easy kick , whi ch is d i ffi cult t o do w hen you r knee wa nts to str aighten out as soo n as possibl e. So it's no t so m uc h that th e bike is relu cta n t to st art as it is just awk wa rd to start. Ag ai n , this is one of those t hi ngs th at once yo u ge t used to m ay not po se a p roblem . It just feels reall y high, especially wh en compared to the YZF . N o ma tt er how g ood th e K X ' s eng ine may be, it might not be the b ike ' s b est f eature. Instead , t h at honor cou ld go to the KX's chass is . Even t hou g h the Cahuilla tra ck o n th is day wasn't all that roug h (thank s to 3'/, in ch es of rain the ni gh t befor e the ride), th e Kawasak i handled like a dre am . Wh at f ai rly l a r g e b r a k in g bumps did fo rm by th e end of th e day w er e soa ke d u p b y t he K aw a sak i ' s sus pe ns io n as if they we ren' t th ere at all. T he ba ck end , with its new li nkag e sys te m and Kay aba shock, never ki ck ed o r h opp ed, a n d t h e fron t Ka yab a ca r t r i d ge f ork p e r f orm e d equally as wel l. O vera ll , th e Kawasaki 's sus pe nsion felt as th o u gh w e w er e riding o n a track m ad e up of sofa c ushions - and non e of our test r i d e r s co mp la ined of bott om ing . Despite a wide ran ge of rider abilities, styles , sizes and we ights, our test ers didn 't eve n feel th e need to m ak e any su spen sion adjust me nts - not ev en o ne cl ick. The KX 250F is not a big m otorcycle, eve n for a " 12 5." In fact , it feels 26 e S EPTEM BER 1 0 , 2003' c ue Specifica tions ®00LTI ~WG:l2ru[hfj ~B0[J The f orks w e r e awesom e at Ca h u illa Creek - no bottomi ng, no adjustin g ; they j us t work. The front brak e features what used to be referred to as " C R- slyl e" b rak e routing. neVIl' s ENGINE TYPE: Four-stroke, liquid -cooled, single DISPLACEMENT: 24gcc BORE X STROKE: 77 x 53.6mm COMPRESSION RATIO: 12.1:1 CARBURETlON: Keihin FCR37 IGNmON: Digital AC-CDI STARTING: Primary kick TRANSMISSION: Five-speed FRAME TYPE: Perimeter, hiqh-ten sil e steel w/bolt -on aluminum subframe RAK EfT RAIL: 26.5"/4 .3 in. WHEELBAS E: .58. I in. SUSPENSION Front: Kayaba, 48mm inverted cartridge fork w116-way compression and rebound damping Rear: Bottom -Link UNI-TRAK w/ad] . preload, and 16-way compression and rebound damping WHEEL: TRAVEL Front: 11 .8 in. Rear: 12.2 in. TIRES Front: 80/100 ·2 1 5 1M Rear: I 10/ 90- 19 62M SEAT HEIGHT: 37.4 in. FUEL CAPACITY: 2.0 gal. DRY WEIGHT (claimed): 204 Ibs. MSRP: $5599