Kawasaki KH250 Review

Overall Rating

Retro howling dragon get's you noticed.

Chronic fuel consumption.

Having owned a KH250 back when it was legal to ride on L plates and having a 'rose tinted' memory of the machine I leapt at the chance to own another now whilst in my forties. The bike on ebay was rough but honest with all matching numbers and a tracable history from back when it was in the crate, running and legal and all for £600 - how could I not? So off I went to some far flung place in a borrowed van and parted with the readies. Once back home I quickly donned the gear and started up the old Green triple for a smoky cackling howling trip down memory lane and have to say I wasn't disappointed. The bike sounded fantastic as it burbled and crackled like only a two stroke triple can, give it some throttle and the KH turned into a whining wailing smoke belching banshee which left a hideous fog trail behind me and frightened children and old ladies as I passed. Back home wearing a smile that met somewhere around the back of my head and feeling like a teenage rebel again I felt there and then that it was the best £600 I'd spent in a long time. Unfortunately I couldn't stop there and decided that I was going to restore this wonderful cure for middle age blues back to it's former glory and set about dismantling the thing down to the last nut and bolt. Crazed like a mad scientist I was soon burning the midnight oil every night restoring every piece back to perfection, all my spare cash was being spent on shot blasting and powder coating, respraying and re-chroming, stainless this and re-upholstered that - if it couldn't be restored it had to be replaced with new. Six long months went by until there stood a gleaming spotless KH250 like it had just come out of the crate and I was so proud.
After all this hard work and months of hammer rash and oily fingers I rode the thing once more and that was it! Horror of horrors the novelty had worn off.
And now she sits rusting in a corner unused and unloved and why am i telling you all this?
The Kawasaki KH250 - a terrible handling, wailing, slow, polluting, gas guzzler - but a small price to pay for something that makes you feel seventeen again.

Members' Comments onmarco999's Review

• laverdabru on 9th Jan 2009

  I agree with this review because...Like the reviewer, I had fond memories of the KH as a teenager...years on bigger, usually 4 cylinder bikes, passed. Then I was offered a cosmetically rough but mechanically sound KH for a good price. Great fun for the occaisional sunday blast, but used more petrol than my Mirage 1200 or any of my other larger bikes I've owned when pressed into commuting service. Maintenance was a 500 mile essential with the points to keep up peak performance, plugs oiled up, batteries & bulbs died, all the hassle we forget about when looking thru the old rose tinted specs!