Hacking: Kawasaki KH250

Well, there I was. Once again without‘a bike. | possessed a red KH250 which had served me very well, but the extreme use I had given the bike had eventually proved too much when the centre pot blew. Despite a rebuild it went again, leaving the crankcase full of little bits of piston.

It was more by luck, and certainly not judgement, that I acquired my second KH250, an S reg, metallic green job with 26000 miles on the clock for £100. The day after I bought the bike I had to rush down to Cardiff from London. I left London at twelve o‘clock, spent an hour trying to get on the M4, by one o'clock I hadn't even cleared Chiswick; yet by three o’clock l'd reached my destination. This may not impress yer average GPZ900 owner, but I was riding a two stroke triple with a dubious reliability reputation. I'd only bought it the day before and hadn't even serviced it. My return journey was even quicker.

Most of my spare time during the next week was spent in stripping down the bike and performing all those little bits of maintenance that keep a bike going. The bearings all the way through seemed to be in good nick. They were re-greased and replaced. The only exception was the one in the rear wheel which had run a little dry, but I got away with repacking it with grease. That may have caused the bike to twitch in fast corners, but to be on the sale side I fitted the Konis off the old bike. The seat was torn but fixed with tape, the battery and plugs replaced. The front end needed a little more work, new oil in the forks and fluid in the brakes in an attempt to cure the sponginess I’d noted in the 300 mile round trip.

This was a very pleasant bike to ride. It could easily be scratched around comers and refused to tie itself in knots. The bike had the pleasant, contented, burble of its kind at 60mph but refused to go beyond 80mph. No amount of tweaking or re-tuning had any effect. The bike gave a definite lurch at 6500rpm and powered away between 65 and 80mph.

The first real problem occurred through my own stupidity. It had a bit of oiling up of the two outer plugs so I dropped into a dealer to pick up replacements. The new plugs fitted, it went like a rocket for two miles, then made a noise like an elephant fart and ground to a halt. Whipping out the plugs proved a little difficult. The damn things wouldn‘t come out of the heads. With care, the bike did start and l was able to nurse it home at 25mph. In the garage, several large hammers were wielded, accompanied by swearing in seven different languages, eventually removing the top end.

The sudden demise was because l’d fitted long reach plugs, the overheating had welded the plugs in and melted the pistons. All the top rings were also cracked - maybe the reason why it didn‘t go over 80mph. A new set of rings combined with the old components I had lying around got the machine back on the road.

I acquired a very cheap 550 so the KH was tucked away in the back of the garage for two years until it caught my attention again, after reading a report in one of the glossies on how to tune up Kawasaki triples. The exhaust and inlet ports were increased in size using a needle file, all sharp edges and comers removed. Two base gaskets per pot were used and the head gasket left out, whilst one millimetre was taken off the top of each barrel by a local engineering firm.

On starting, the engine had a delightful crackle but no power until it hit 7000rpm, then it really moved, a real arm wrencher. The bike could do 105mph on the clock at around 10,000rpm - but couldn't be used in town.

I advertised it in a certain weekly organ for £300. The first young lad to see it fell in love. My next door neighbour conducted the sale in my absence. The kiddie got on it and rode off up the road. He'd been told about the powerband but I don't suppose he knew what it meant. Because he couldn‘t get any grunt out of it twisted the throttle full on.

As the engine hit the powerband the front wheel put itself where the lad's ears had been. The bike careered on for about twenty yards in this fashion until the back guard hit the pavement. The kid paid the money and took the bike away. Half an hour later he brought it back saying that it was unrideable (course it was, he’d just thrown it down the bloody road). My neighbour, in a fit of generosity, let him have the money back bar £50. I almost had a seizure when I came back and found out.

Still. I eventually sold it for spares a month later for £75, l'd refused the guy’s first offer of £100 as I didn't want to rip him off. To be honest, I never really missed the KH250, especially as I had my K3.

Pete Jenkins