Kawasaki KX 125: technical data and owners opinion

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:41

One of the most famous motorcycle manufacturers from Japan is Kawasaki, which produces a wide range of motorcycle products. All equipment is equipped with power units of our own design and manufacture. One of the key activities of the company is the production of cross-country motorcycles of various cubic capacity. One of these motorcycles is the Kawasaki KX 125, which was produced from 1974 to 2008. The motorcycle was widely used by various teams and riders in various cross-country competitions, where it won various prizes.

Chassis

For the entire time of production, the steel frame and chassis elements of the motorcycle remained unchanged. This is an excellent confirmation of the huge potential inherent in the design at the design stage. To stop the motorcycle, disc brakes are used on both wheels. The front disc with a working element diameter of 250 mm is equipped with a caliper with two power pistons. The rear brake has a slightly smaller size (only 10 mm) and is equipped with a simpler caliper with one workingpiston.

In the front suspension design, an inverted fork is used, which has devices for adjusting operation parameters in both directions (compression and rebound). The fork travel reaches 300 mm, which is a good indicator for motocross equipment. The rear suspension is equipped with a single shock absorber with a progressive stiffness setting. The stroke of this element is even greater - up to 310 mm. With wide tuning ranges and long travel, the suspension provides good comfort when driving over rough terrain.

Workplace

In front of the driver there is a small shield with well-read instruments and signal lamps. The central place is occupied by a round speedometer, marked up to a speed of 200 km / h. It has two windows - with counters for total and daily mileage.

Next to the speedometer is a tachometer, which is an important instrument for monitoring the parameters of the engine. In addition to the instruments, there are five signal lamps:

• Direction indicators (green),
• Neutral gear box (green),
• High beam headlights (blue),
• Emergency oil pressure (red),
• Critical coolant temperature (red).

Engine

A single-cylinder two-stroke engine is used as a power unit. On the very first motorcycles, an air cooling method was used. Duringmodernization in 1982, the motor was equipped with liquid cooling. This decision made it possible to significantly improve the dynamic and technical characteristics of the Kawasaki KX 125. A little later, in 1992, they changed the ratio of the geometric dimensions of the piston group, which gave an additional increase in power and improved the elasticity of the motor.

Another way to increase power was Kawasaki's patented exhaust port control system. Thanks to this, it was possible to significantly expand the operating speed range of the Kawasaki KX 125 two-stroke engine. The characteristics of the engine with a volume of only 125 "cubes" are impressive - power up to 40 forces, which is achieved at about 11 thousand rpm. Peak torque is just 500 rpm lower at 26.5 N/m. The motor has quite sufficient indicators of power and traction in the range of low and medium speeds.

Transmission

The Kawasaki KX 125 is equipped with a six-speed forward manual transmission. A gear is installed on the output shaft of the box, which transmits torque to the rear wheel using a chain drive.

Power system

For fuel supply, a carburetor system is used, consisting of one device of the Mikuni brand TMH38X. Important differences between the carburetor are the spool valve with a figured window and the main diffuser with a variable section. Thanks to such innovations, the designers managed to achieve an excellent response of the motor to any movement of the throttle handle. Inningsfuel is supplied from a fuel tank mounted on the frame under the fairing. The capacity of such a tank is only 8.2 liters.

For some time, the motorcycle was equipped with a carburetor with a different design and a built-in system for additional adjustment of the composition of the air-fuel mixture. However, this system turned out to be unreliable and by 2001 it was abandoned.

Opinion of owners

The production and sales of the motorcycle ceased in Europe by the end of 2008, while the model left the American market three years earlier. Today, a motorcycle is quite common in the used equipment market. Prices for motorcycles - from 62 thousand rubles for cars of 1993 to 130 thousand for cars of the last years of production. Separately, we can mention the sale of motor vehicles without documents, which is widely practiced. For example, a 2002 Kawasaki KX 125 without documents is estimated at 80,000 rubles. But buying such a motorcycle carries many risks and is not recommended.

Many owners leave rave reviews for the Kawasaki KX 125, especially those who switched to them from cars of smaller cubic capacity. At the same time, the nature of the motor deserves separate positive assessments, which is gaining momentum very dynamically, providing "evil" and sharp acceleration of the motorcycle. With these characteristics, the Kawasaki KX 125 is a true motocross bike, for the full implementation of the characteristics of which good skills are required. At the same time, each owner of a used KX 125 must remember about the low resource of the motor, which is a fee forhigh power parameters. Almost all motorcycles have various elements of external tuning in the form of different screens on the muffler and control handles.