1975 Kawasaki KT250

Ron, that is a sweet bike! I like those ”Classic” trials bikes, with metal tanks and fenders. Parts availability is a common problem with most Japanese vehicles from the 70s and 80s, strange if you think about the volumes they were manufactured. Well, lots of vehicles, lots of spare part needs I guess. And after all it is over 40 years old.

I think the place George refers to is ”Consolidated Motor Spares NL”:

https://www.cmsnl.com

Really good pages with images of original spare part book pages. I have ordered parts for my Hondas there, fast and accurate service. Parts usually leave their warehouse in just a couple of days from the order and they are used to dealing with international / overseas customers too.

Most of their stuff is NOS OEM, they buy old warehouses and stashes from around The World. Some of the stuff I have received have had USD price tags (with very small numbers).

Very cool Ron. I owned a 1978 KE 175, my dad sold it to a guy he worked with and I picked up a 1982 Yamaha XT 550 which I still have to this day. What I love the most of the older Kawasaki's is the skinny streamlined like tanks.  I need to get a good picture of it. I have a little over 20K on the odometer street riding, but I used to remove the instrument cluster when going off road. Then I have my 73 Kawa 900 z-1 the first year offered sitting in the corner collecting dust. My son really wants to get that going.

Thanks everyone, I have come to the realization that I don’t want to street ride anymore, but still want to ride. The Trials bike is a good compromise.

The Kawasaki Trials was only made in ‘75 and ‘76 so there are not many out there. They didn’t do to well in the circuit so Kawasaki dropped them. Parts are available, but not cheap at all. Honda sold a ton of CB series bikes so it makes sense that parts are available. I am pretty good at sourcing parts though, just need to get out there and make friends.

The biggest users of these bikes seem to reside in NZ. I may have to go that route.

Looks like it is in a good condition.

I rode trial bikes and also competed in trial when I was young. Have you tried a more modern bike?
When they came out with a single rear suspension and disc brakes etc it was a real revolution. Total game changer in how to ride trial.

The worlds best can be enjoyed here (check out Toni Bou, true magic): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEQrOWpMTMqmotPpXCFj9Ow

WHOA there Ron!  Let’s see some video of you jumping up some rocks like that!  I was snickering to myself on your 1st post that Trial was spelled wrong on the bike, but on a quick search found a whole different world of biking.   I’ve done ‘trail” riding like snowmobiles trails.  Trial riding is so much more like :rock crawling. I’d never seen that be fore, (I must have grown up under a rock).  You’re gonna have some fun on that one.

I was going to ask how your VW is coming along, looks like you have a number of works in progress.   Here’s a Facebook post of what you could do when not Trial riding

https://www.facebook.com/carmmunityio/videos/760479007482430/

Nice bike Ron! I don't know much about motorcycles... but back in the early 70's I got some exposure to enduro-bikes thru a neighbor. I was just a "kid"... but my neighbor was into the scene. He had a "Greeves" bike.. and his laborer-friend had a "CZ".. that he road some 12 miles (off-road/over the utility roads) to work on his boss's home. They were both into enduro-style riding. Is that what this bike was designed for?

Back in the seventies when I was working for Joseph Lucas and Sons and riding Nortons, there was a motorcycle shop next door. When I went in there one day the salesman said we have just got the thing for you and he showed me a 1976 Kawasaki KV100 Farm Bike. I said what do I want that heap of **** for. He said Its only 3years old and you can have it for what we traded it for, $300. In the end he talked me into it and I never regretted the decision. The farm bike version had a 5speed low/high ratio gearbox and in low ratio it was great for trials type riding in just about any off-road environment. One of my brothers used to borrow it to take goat shooting. It suffered many years of abuse before finally dying. A piece of the big-end thrust washer tried to go through the disc valve just as it was closing, seizing the fibre section while the steel inner continued turning.

Ron. If and when you need parts drop me a line and I'll hunt around down here for you.

Kawasaki KV100 same as what I had except mine had a black seat.

Ken I would love to see a photo of your 73 900 Z-1...

I had-- in order--a KZ 500 triple, KZ 750 triple and then in 76 a KZ 900 "chain breaker" too much torque for a weak back bone frame...I had mine gusseted by the Shop I bought it from so I could drag race it in Washington state without killing my self...later sold to my Best German buddy's son in Germany for unreal dollars due to very favorable exchange rate

Fred I will get a picture, my garage doesn't have good lighting. In addition, she's no beauty queen at all. I have the parts to make her good looking again. Mine was a drag bike with a solid swingarm ( no shocks) and 10' wheelie bars which are hanging currently in my friends shop. It does have a slick on the rear. It wasn't to look pretty. I could do consistent 10 sec qtr mile runs back to back on any day. The only change aside from the Vance and Hines pipes are the Elgin cams. Last time out, I let a friend ride it and he side swiped a guard rail. He broke the headers and damaged the footpegs. My son currently wants to redo it, he just took off of the carbs. So it's just in there collecting dust now.  










My 82 Yamaha XT 550 which I owned since it was introduced. It was my second bike I owned. The other is my Kawasaki VN 1500 A which is a 95 and it looks like brand new. It needed a rocker cover gasket and the dealer wanted almost 3K to do it. It sat for 5 years and I finally dove in and had to pull the engine to do it. It took me nearly 50 hours to do the job in it's entirety taking apart everything aside from the forks.

Best I ever did "bracket" racing at Seattle International Race way (1/4 mile) was 11.003....I had one or more low 10s but not official

The KZ 900 was a beast in the day....later I had more sophisticated and MUCH faster bikes before I went sedate Harley big twins

Here on CEF we have more than one member with a serious MC passion and extraordinary collections...Mine are all gone now

Bucket list for sure some day is a El Taco Mini Bike I never got to own

I've had SWM, Fantic, Aprilia and Beta two-strokes, but the Repsol Honda is on my bucket list...

Its cool to see a 70s kawi trials bike, there not too common. About a month ago I got a little 78 kz200 with a 250 cylinder, I found that the intake valve was bent and surprisingly amazon had new valves so i installed it and started right up!
I also have a 07 yz250f with a 290 bore and race cams, Its faster than any of the 250 two strokes I've ridden. That bikes a lot of fun

Great stuff guys,

Too many posts to answer individually, but I appreciate all of them. Happy to see all the vintage Japanese bikes!

The Honda Repsol is way more advanced than what I have, Toni Bou can ride the tires off that thing!

I’ll take a video of my first ride. All I need is a clutch cable.... expensive. Trying to keep the costs low as my wife was not happy that I brought another stray home

well you bought her a VW Bug , i like the bike too Ron . I wanted a trials bike growing up but it didn't happen just read about them in Dirt Bike Mag. the Bultaco was popular at the time ! Looked up the Taco mini bike thats pretty cool been thinking about a mini myself , just the little tires that will get U flipped over

fredvon4 wrote:
Bucket list for sure some day is a El Taco Mini Bike I never got to own

Fred,

Looks like you can order the kits to build your own relatively cheap. It would be a fun retirement project...

https://www.tacominibikes.com