VOLUME ISSUE JUNE , P153
what narrow," they wrote.
Below 4000 rpm, the crew
suggested there are "not enough
ponies to move the bike." Only
when the rider took the machine
to its sweet spot (between 7000
and 9000) would the little Kawa-
saki show some guts, hitting its
claimed maximum top speed of
90 mph.
What the Kawasaki lacked in
usable power, it more than made
up for it with its unusable brakes.
Really bad drum brakes, like
barely effective when they were
cold and dangerously unreliable
when they were hot. A short 15-
mile hop-about got the rear brake
so hot and bothered that "riding
at about 25 mph, a rider could
pull in the clutch, stand on the
rear brake, and still coast for a
good 30 feet before noticing any
significant slowing from brake
action." Staffers learned to take
a 45-minute break to allow the
stoppers to cool down.
1974 was the year when panic-
stricken consumers were told
to fear gasoline shortages, and
nearly every road test reported
fuel consumption. The little
Kawasaki, which put out little,
still drank a lot, delivering only
35 miles to the gallon. It also
chugged more than a bit of oil,
with the CN crew noting that it
"burned one quart of two-stroke
oil in 750 miles." An overnight
road trip would necessitate bring
-
ing along extra two-stroke oil.
That was probably an unlikely
event, because the Kawasaki S-1
was about as comfortable as a
vibrating Iron Maiden. Pilots and
passengers alike complained of
butt-numbing shaking in the seat
and on the pegs. The shocks and
forks were mighty stiff as well,
making "the tester sorry he had
ever taken the freeway." Every
expansion joint and every settled
slab boundary was transmit-
ted through to the rider's guts.
Changing spring preload did not
help, but maybe a kidney belt
would have.
Ground clearance was good.
The finish was solid. The toolkit
was meh, with no wrench to
fit the rear axle nut, making it
impossible to tighten the chain
while on the road. No major
reliability issues were reported.
In the end, the crew reiterated
that the little 250 was "reason-
able" before adding in "practical,
unflashy and bland."
It didn't have to be like this. Ya-
maha's 250cc two-stroke street
bike was a fine machine, still
sought after by two-stroke buffs.
The Kawasaki 250 had a short
life in the company's lineup.
Sometimes, even being reason-
able just isn't good enough.
CN
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Being reasonable
doesn't sell street
bikes. Needless to
say, the 250 S1B
had a short lifespan.
