2006 Kawasaki KX250F Test on Motorsports-Network.com


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Motocross has never been more enjoyable

Not many motocross bikes are launched with as much buzz around them as the 2006 Kawasaki KX250F… except for maybe the company's own KX450F. There's good reason for this, as Kawasaki (unlike Suzuki) revamped the entire machine (less exhaust) for 2006. The 2005 model was knocked by some for having substandard fork action. Everybody felt the bike made good power, all agreed it was often a bitch to start.

Enter 2006. Kawasaki didn't need to make a ton of changes to this bike, but with their renewed corporate commitment to build the best products possible, the company chose to makeover the entire bike. We are all the benefactors of this decision. This bike is nice, really nice - but more on this later.

Changes started with an all-new aluminum perimeter frame, something other manufacturers have taken years to get right. Not new to building aluminum frames, Kawasaki focused on centralizing mass and enabling the proper flex, thus providing a good feel to the rider. This new chassis is made up of forged, extruded and cast parts, and the swingarm pivot, output shaft and linkage positions were closely scrutinized to improve traction by reducing squat under acceleration. The new frame carries a revised rake and trail and is 2.2 pounds lighter in weight than the steel unit it replaces.

The new alloy swingarm connects to a Uni-Trak rear suspension featuring revised ratios, carefully chosen to match the new chassis. The rear shock uses a thin spring to reduce weight and features both slow and high-speed compression damping. Up front the new twin-chamber fully-adjustable Showa fork carries oil and air in separate chambers to provide more consistent damping.

The 249cc, 5-speed, 4-valve, semi-dry sump engine (which didn't demand many changes) received new main bearings for reduced mechanical loss, oil pumps that are 20% more efficient, and a reshaped piston and cylinder head for increased compression and improved combustion. The intake and exhaust ports have been massaged for a better flow, stiffer valve springs have been added for improved high rpm performance, a softer valve seat material greets the titanium valves and the dual overhead cams have new profiles as well. The engine sucks fuel and air through a 37mm FCR carburetor featuring an accelerator pump and hot start lever which we rarely used. Exhaust gasses pass through the same titanium head pipe and loud and raspy sounding muffler, though the packing material is said to be longer lasting. The brake discs are new lighter weight petal units said to disperse mud quicker, and the rear brake pedal is easier to find in the heat of battle as the tab is wider with sharper teeth.

We liked last years KX250F very much, more than many in the enthusiast press, so we couldn’t wait to throw a leg over the all-new 2006

model. The first thing we noticed is the bike is much easier to start, in fact it’s the easiest starting 250 4-stroke we’ve run across. The redesigned kick start lever snakes out of the way and is much lower when pulled out, making it easy to start the bike even when seated. This is something we were able to do even when the bike was hot, unlike last years machine. Once fired, the KX revs quickly and with authority. The same loud and raspy sounding exhaust note that most riders don’t like remains. (are you listening Kawasaki?)

Click the 5-speed tranny in gear and you’ll notice the idle increases substantially - a Kawasaki exclusive to make it harder to stall the engine. As you leave the pits to head to your favorite track, you’ll be met with a smooth and predictable clutch. Shifting is first rate, as is the clutch action even after quite a bit of abuse.

Rev the engine and you’ll be met with stronger mid-range power than last season, but a bit less than we were expecting. Even though the mid-range hits harder, we still found ourselves aggressively clutching the 250 to get an added boost of power to launch over sudden jumps when exiting corners. Up top, the 250F runs good, and our bike started to run even stronger as more time was put on the engine. Overall, there are no weak or flat spots to the powerband, making the 250F fun as well as easy to ride. Expert riders are going to want an even stronger mid-range hit, but for the rest of us this makes the Kawasaki easier to ride.

Once we leveled out the ride for our test riders, the KX was a blast over jumps – no worries here. The KX felt light and flickable in the air,

never a bit heavy - always at ease. In addition, the new suspension soaks up insane flat landings, a result of having too much fun over jumps, better than any stock bike we could have imagined. If you need to gas it over a jump to beat the guy next to you, the Kawasaki will land it with superb and impressive control. This same suspension package works just as well over bumps and whoops. You can jump the bike into a set of whoops and gas it, or enter with the front wheel lofted and hammer it. Either way, the suspension will soak it up while providing a remarkable level of control to the rider - no fear of what the bike might do, like spitting you off the track. We didn’t experience any problems over braking bumps, but each track will dish out its own punishment. It’s simply hard to get out of shape while aboard the KX250F – this contributes to the enjoyment when circulating the track.

Another trait of the 2006 model is that it will turn on a dime. Last year the Honda simply out turned the KX in an embarrassing way. For 2006 Kawasaki has the green bike turning in an instant. In addition, the bike is simply brilliant in terms of how it handles different lines around a race track. The bike offers excellent control through, or crossing over, ruts as well. When riding the KX250F, just choose a line and gas it.

The KX brakes are certainly strong, and the front just never seems to run out of power. When you think there’s nothing left to be squeezed out of the front brake you find even more stopping power. With this said, we'd like this power to come with less force needing to be applied to the lever, and a bit more feel would help as well. They certainly work well, we just didn't feel completely connected to what the KX brakes were doing.

As delivered, our bike jumped nose-high and with some harshness on smaller sharp bumps. We slowed the fork rebound which leveled out the bike in the air, then softened front and rear compression slightly to rid the suspension of some of its harshness. We liked our results, but noticed the rear was riding low (tire too far up into the suspension stroke) so we added some compression damping back into the shock to balance the ride. Overall this gave the bike a softer feel.

Like the 2005 KX, the machine still works your hands hard, even with the stock Renthal bars. We moved the bars back (to the old-school position) and this relieved much, but not all, of the fatigue to our hands. Otherwise the ergonomics of the 2006 model are spot on. The levers are excellent, the pegs and foot controls just right. The seat went virtually unnoticed in our testing, except for the fact you can easily climb forward for cornering.

After our changes were made the bike still handled mondo flat landings in stride, and the bike didn’t mind where or in what kind of bump you landed in on the back side of jumps. Steering and cornering remained precise, and the KX's ability to cross over ruts or simply be thrown about anywhere on the track remained consistent - and made the bike a blast to ride. It’s all of this that created a soft spot in our hearts for the easy to ride, easy to toss about 2006 KX250F. It wasn’t long after returning our test bike we felt as if something special was missing. We wanted the bike back, because the 2006 Kawasaki KX250F is so much fun to ride. You can just pick and choose any line on the track with complete confidence. Sometimes we didn't really care how fast we were going on the KX, we just knew we were having a blast riding it.

The suspension worked so well and saved out butts so many times it was impossible not to think of the awesome James Stewart jumping his factory Kawasaki into impossible sections of a track with wild abandon. The stock 2006 KX250F offers up a bike capable of similar feats, though on a smaller difficulty scale of course. If you want loads of fun riding an incredibly capable motocross machine, you can get one at your local Kawasaki dealership. You, however, will have to provide the skill and experience to accomplish these feats - but the 2006 Kawasaki KX250F will assist you as well as any bike on the market.
MN

SPECIFICATIONS
Engine: Four-stroke single with DOHC and four valves
Displacement: 249cc
Bore x stroke: 77.0 x 53.6mm
Cooling: Liquid
Carburetion: Keihin FCR37 and hot start circuit
Compression ratio: 13.5:1
Ignition: Digital AC-CDI

Transmission: Five-speed with wet multi-disc manual clutch
Final drive: Chain
Frame: Aluminum perimeter
Rake / trail: 27.5 degrees / 4.7 in.
Front suspension / wheel travel: 47mm inverted twin-chamber telescopic fork with 16-way compression and rebound damping / 12.4 in.
Rear suspension / wheel travel: UNI-TRAK® linkage system with 13-way low-speed and 2-turn high speed compression damping, 17-way rebound damping and fully adjustable spring preload / 12.2 in.
Front tire: 80/100-21 51M
Rear tire: 100/90-19 57M
Front brake: Single semi-floating 250mm disc with dual piston caliper
Rear brake: Single 240mm disc with single-piston caliper
Overall length: 85.0 ins.
Overall width: 32.3 ins.
Overall height: 50.0 ins.
Ground clearance: 14.6 ins.
Seat height: 37.8 ins.
Dry weight: 204 lbs.
Wheelbase: 57.8 ins.
Fuel capacity: 1.9 gal.
Color: Kawasaki Lime Green / Black
MSRP (USA): $5,899


KX250F Test		2006 KX250F
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