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/128340
to red esign the water-pump cove r so you don't have to mess with the coolant anymore whe never it' s time to install fresh oil - w hew! Even we don't have an excuse anymore for not changing the oil as often as we sho uld. Kawasaki also took aim at th e KXF's transmission. Some riders felt that shifting from t hird to fourth was a bit not chy, so Kawasaki stre ngthened and modified the third and fourth input gears to make the trans ition a little smoother - not to mention stronger. Kawasaki also made a few small re finements to the motor to help improve re liability and power. The intake port has bee n modified. the exhaust port straightened and the ignition timing revised. Most of the se changes are aimed at improving tope nd and overrev per for mance . As we expecte d. out on t he track, the bike doesn't fee l a who le lot diffe rent than last yea r's. which is a good t hing. Unfortunately. though, you can't help but notice right away that the bike is still very loud. There wer e times w hen you'd think that you're riding a 450 . es pecially aro und the sandy and hilly Chuilla Creek MX course that, in places, sucks the horsepower right ou t of t he bike. Then we were quickly brought out of our hallucination when it came time to climb a hill. O bviously, this is not a 450, but it still makes good power for a 250cc thumper. Keeping up your momentum at the bottom of the hill is a wise idea. Like most bikes in its class, the KXF doesn't hit extremely hard, but it doe s build up moment um nicely as you roll th e throttle on . so you certainly won' t have to worry about having your arms getting ripped off the bars . The smooth power makes the bike fun and easy to ride, that's for sure . Compared to other bikes in its class, however, the KX250F should hold its own all right. but we won't know for sure until we can run the KX head to head against the other 'OS 250cc thumpers. Soon, though, very soon . In the suspension department. last year the KX came set up a bit on the stiff side for our liking. It felt a little harsh down stra ights and didn't have enough cush fde the jumps. This year. however, Ka might've overcompensated a bit, the suspens ion a little too soft. While bike does turn exceptionally well anil d n't feel nervous down fast s hts, suspension felt a bit mushy at times charging into braking bumps or lanai jumps. The fix, however. is easy. played aroun d a little bit with the clickers and got the suspen sion to where we were happy wit h it. We still, howeve r. have s om e d ialing in to do . As for the stop ping powe r . t he bra kes on the KX250F wo rk great. We never felt like we cou ldn't get the bike slowed dow n in time for a turn . even when coming in a litt le overzealously. Kawasaki has changed the brake-pad material and added a new fron t-brake leve r, and you can de finite ly feel the difference. As far as ergonomics are concerned, the KX is as com fortabl e as ever, if not a little more so . thanks to the fact that it now has wider footpegs and a new, grippier seat cover. The wider pegs are a big improvement , and the seat is just plain awesome. To improve strength, the hand le bar mo unts are wider to help prevent be nding. And it see ms to work. We must admit t hat we 've t hrow n the bike away a couple of times (okay, fou r times) and the bars are still straight. So, has the Kawasaki KX250F avoided the sophomore slump? So far. we think so. All of the improvements. while seemingly small, have helped to make t his bike better than last year's rookie KX250F. However, like we said. we have n't ridden the bike back to back with any other 250cc fourstrokes. yet, so we can't say for certa in that this bike is any bet te r than its compe tition, but the new KX250F will definitely make this year's shootout even more interesting eN than last year's. SPECIFICATIONS 2005 Kawasaki KX250F MSRP ENGINE $5599 Four-stro ke single-cylinder with DOHN, four valves DISPLACEMENT 249cc BORE x STROKE 77.0 x 53.6 COO LlNG Liquid CARBURETION Keihin FCR37 with hot -start circuit COMPRESSION RAT IO 12.6: I IGNITION Digital AC-CDI TRANSMISSION ..Five-speedwith wet multi -disc manual clutch FRAME........Perimeter-style. high-tensile stee l with D-seaion upper frame rails RAKEITRAIL.. 26.5 degrees/43 in SUS PENSION TYPE: Front 48mm inverted. cartridgetype telescopic fork Rear ....UNI-TRAK® single shock system SUSPEN SION ADJUSTMENTS Front 16-way compression and Rear 16-w ay co mpression and rebound damping The radiator ca pa city has been incre ase d to sol ve the overheating problems. The water-pump cover has been changed far easier oil changes and maintenance . The forks have been slightly improved far 2005. www.cycieneW5.cm rebound damping. spring preload WHEELTRAVEL: Front I 1.8 in Rea r 12.2 in TIRE: Fron t.. 80/ 100-2 1 51M Rear 100/90-19 57M BRAKES: Front ..........5ingle semi-floating 250mm disc. dual-piston Rear ....5ingle240mm disc. single piston DIMENSIONS : O/A LENGTH 85. 1 in O/A WIDTH 33.1 in O/A HEIGHT 50.0 in GROUND CLEARANCE 13.4 in SEAT HEIGHT 37.8 in DRY WEIGHT 203.9 Ibs WHEELBASE 58.1 in FUEL CAPACITY 2.0 gal COLOR Kawasaki Lime Green CYCLE NEWS • SEPTEMBER 8, 2004