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/128337
(Above) The 48mm forks feature new lowfriction seals. (Below) The new KX gets a taller and " g rip pier" se a t. MSRP $5099 ENGINE TYPE: Two-stroke . liquid-cooled. reed-valve. DISPLACEMENT: 5inglew/KIP5 BORE AN D STROKE: I24cc CO MPRESSION RATIO: 54.0 x 54.5mm CARBURETOR: Mikuni TMX38 IGN ITION : Digital CDI TRANSMISSION: Six-speed FRAME: Hightensile stee l perimeter RAKE: 27 degrees TRAIL: 4.4 in. WHEEL TRAVEL FRONT: 11 .8 in. REAR 12.2 in. TIRES FRONT 80/100-2 1 REAR 100/90-19 SUSPENS ION FRONT .48mm inverted. cartridge fork w/ 16-way compression and rebo und adjustment. REAR Uni-Trak w/adjustable pre load, 16-waycompression and rebound damping adjustment. temperature compensating rebound damping. BRAKES FRO NT Disc. twin-piston REAR Disc. single-piston WH EELBASE: 57.9 in. FUEL TAN K CAPACITY: 2.2 gal. GROUND CLEARANCE: 13.4 in. SEAT HEIGHT: 37.2 in. DRY WEIGHT: 192 Ibs. cover and is taller in the middle section. Despite Kawasaki making no major per fonmance-en hancing changes to the motor. the '05 KXseemed surprisingly fast. After all. it's been a while since we rode our '04 test bike. so when we took our first lap on the new one . we were quickly reminded just how good the KX's motor was - and is. It moves along quite well and doesn't fall on its face when confronted with a power-robbing uphill or a sandy straight. However. a few testers comp lained that the motor seemed to flatten out a bit on top . forcing them to click up another gear when they'd just as soon hold on a little longer without shifting. and the word "pipey" came up now and then . Yes. the KX's motor was rather quick to fall off the pipe if you gave it the slightest chance. Obviously. Bubba does not have that problem. As far as jetting. our bike ran crisp and clean right from the start . It responded instantly whenever the throttle was cracked . Luckily. the very fast KX has the brakes to back it up. The Nissin discs are powerful and have a good feel. and we have yet to get them to fade out. Even our notori- ous rear-brake-abuser couldn't get the back brake to fade or even get a little mushy. As a result, we could charge into the corners as hard as we dared. In past years . Kawasakis have always handled extremely well and have been at the head of the class in that department. Last year ('04). KX125 felt stable at speed and through whoo ped-out sections. but fo r some re aso n. o ur '05 KX125 did n't q uite fee l as sol id. It felt nervous down fast straights and we experienced quite a bit of headshake. We raced our new KX in a local grand prix that featured a lot of fast straights and sand washes. and the KX felt a little un-nerving. We're pretty confident . however. that with a little more time experimenting with the many suspension adjustments . we could get the bike feeling good again . After all. we loved the way our '04 KX handled. and there's no reason why the ' OS should handle any d ifferently. O ur '05 KX did. however. feel right at home on the tighter sections of t he track . especially the Supercross sections. The KX jumps extremely well and the suspension www.cyclenews.com at both ends soaked up the hard landings withou t blowing through the travel too harshly. As far as ergonomics go. the KX still retains that excellent Kawasaki feel. With the now taller and flatter seat. we found it easier to move around on the bike. We did. however. catch our knees on the edge of the seat every now and then while transitioning from sitting to standing. This was more of a nuisance than a real problem. though. Even though we still have some minor suspension/handling issues to work out. we still like the '05 KX very much. just as we did the '04. The bike is fast and has the potential to hand le with the best of them. but we'd rea lly like to see Kawasaki get up to speed with some of the finishing touches like most of the other manu facturers have. such as swapp ing out the steel bars with aluminum bars and updating the foot pegs (can you say titanium?). We 'd also like to see Kawasaki go with the unpainted finish with their swingarms and frames. Paint quick ly wears off and loo ks ugly. Otherwise. the '05 Kawasaki is as good as eN we expected - and then so me. CYCLE NEWS • AUGUST 18,2004 17