Kawasaki’s KR250 was a dominating race bike that won 4 consecutive world championships starting in 1978, earning its place in history (and a spot at the Barber Museum). The most notable feature was the “tandem twin” motor – a disc valve, twin crank, rotary valve, water-cooled two-stroke design which allows for a narrow motor and therefore a slimmer motorcycle with better aerodynamics. The seller says it’s “like a RG500 Suzuki cut down the middle.” Kawasaki also built a street bike with the same engine design, and while it didn’t really share anything else with the race bike it was the first street Kawi with an aluminum frame. This example has been customized as a tribute to Kawasaki’s racing bike at the time, but it’s street legal so you can enjoy it every day!
Kawasaki introduced the street bike in 1983 in its home market but a few importers brought them in to certain countries. A UK dealership got their hands on 18, but these 250cc two-strokes ended up costing as much as the GPZ600. Basic specifications were 45 horsepower, 26.8 pound feet of torque, a top speed of 112 miles per hour, and just 295 pounds of weight. If you want more information, there’s a page dedicated to the model that’s worth exploring, or you can fight through some ads on Cycle World’s page to see what the wonderful Kevin Cameron had to say about the KR.
This specific example features Honda CBR250RR wheels, Yamaha brakes, a modification to the front fairing (normally a single headlight) to run the dual lights from a Kawi ZX750RR (which is very rare), carbon exhaust silencers, and a few more bits. Find this KR250 replica for sale somewhere in Iowa for $6,500 here on ADVRider (registration required)
This bike-uriousity brought to you by James M!