Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

The time that all parents fear has arrived and I now understand what my old man went through 25 odd years ago.

My 16.5 year old son who has raced MX for the last 5 years has decided that he wants to go road riding when he can get his L's in 4 months or so.
He's also looking to go racing but that's a whole different story.

Anyway, he started saying he wanted a CBR250r the other night. After removing the shovel from his skull I think I've convinced him that something starting with a K might be more appropriate. This means that he's now in the market over the next four months for a bike (albeit with no money but we'll sort that out)

Having not had a great deal to do with the mini kwaka's I'd be grateful for any info on particular models that might be better than others or any specific issues to watch out for. I've bought plenty of bikes in the past so don't need the normal stuff but anything that might be specific to watch out for with the Kwaka's.

Any info would be much appreciated.

I was told that the ones sold new in Melbourne late last year were assembled in Taiwan or Korea or somewhere by Terry who is the Qld importer of most out grey stuff. He reckons the older models imported from Japan with @ 20oooks were better option n build quality. Also the truck driver (Krusty Fergusonss Company) who delivered Janelles ZXR400 from Madkaws to here said that most the ZX2rs he'd delivered from that SuMotos had been returned via his company for one thing or another. Something about the son running Sumotos n not giving a hoot about Quality bikes or customer relations.
NB. This is all hear say as i have had no personal dealings in this regard.

fantastic choice!!

i'm on my Ls and ride a '91make, '99 compliance ZXR250C.
basically any ZX2 u find will be one of these, just complianced later.

it had 23K on the clock when ibought it and it's an awesome bike to ride.
i got it for about $4K with reg with not as much as a scratch on it.
add on leathers, helmet, boots and ins and it was just under $6K.

soft suspension is the main concern though a 16yo shouldn't have too much trouble with that.

check out http://www.importmc.com.au for factory colours.
safest going with that.

cheers, vince

I agree with Vince on this one...

I found my mates ZX2R a much better bike to ride than the CBR250.

yeah get im a zx2r. They seem a heap better bike than the babyblade.
"...cats in the cradle..."

Ment wrote:"...cats in the cradle..."

Ahhh good reference. Let me say, his chances of borrowing the keys to the 10 are less than zero..... Although I'm at work and he's home from school today, and he knows where the key is...... Doh!

Glen wrote:

Ment wrote:"...cats in the cradle..."

Ahhh good reference. Let me say, his chances of borrowing the keys to the 10 are less than zero..... Although I'm at work and he's home from school today, and he knows where the key is...... Doh!

my advice is to carry the keys at ALL times.
shower, toilet everywhere. i can remember taking my stepdads ex aus superbike fzr1000 out a couple of times while they were at work just cause i knew where the key was.
I didnt want to you see it just kept egging me on. better to be safe eh?

Pontikat wrote:I was told that the ones sold new in Melbourne late last year were assembled in Taiwan or Korea or somewhere by Terry who is the Qld importer of most out grey stuff.

Malaysia, from what I understand, using stockpiles of unused parts from Akashi. The factory is supposed to be a proper Kawasaki plant whose day job is turning out 125's and whatnot for the Southeast Asian market.

A mate got one (paid out of his arse for it, too), and the only problems with it have been premature corrosion on the fasteners, which are, obviously, locally-sourced. He warped one of his front discs, but that's probably something to do with the ridiculously low thickness they come in from stock.

His pipe hasn't rusted, the paint hasn't flaked off either his wheels or his frame and nothing much seems to be in a hurry to fall off. I've done a valve clearance and a couple of carb balance services on it, and it appeared pretty well put together; the wiring doesn't appear dodgy, for example.

One thing going for them, though, is that they have fully-adjustable forks (compression on only one leg, though), as opposed to the Japan-built bikes' preload and rebound only.

Chances are that this Malaysian factory isn't just turning out these bikes just because of an Aussie gray importer. There's a bloke on another board who has one of these new-build ZXR250's, and he's in Argentina!

My first bike was a ZXR250-A2; 1990 model, with the bugeyed headlights, metal vacuum tubes and the twin square tail lights, but with the pressed-up swingarm with block chain adjusters. Only prob I had with it was electrical; stator died, took the reg/rec with it, which, in turn, killed the battery. Stator rewind, a new reg and battery, and it was schweet. Nothing else whatsoever went wrong with it in the 20-odd thousand km I put on it, and it taught me more about riding a bike properly than a blink-and-it-does-it BabyBlade ever could..

The only bugbear with them is that silly 18" rear wheel Kawasaki stuck it with; luckily, Dunlop still make GPR-70's in a 150-60/18. Pegs, levers, handlebars, and mirrors are all stock ZXR fare, so spare parts are abundant.

Ment wrote:my advice is to carry the keys to the ten at ALL times.
shower, toilet everywhere.

I concur... I was a nasty 16yr old...

strutto wrote:

Ment wrote:my advice is to carry the keys to the ten at ALL times.
shower, toilet everywhere.

I concur... I was a nasty 16yr old...

Now you two are just messin' with my head..... Cruel. Very cruel!!!!

I recon the ZX2 is tops.

IMO it really is a race bike set up, twin discs, large low profile tyre/rim combo. Alot of the second hand ones around have very soft suspension.
I was 109kg's dry plus gear when I had my ZX2, and i used to commute daily with back pack, and tank bag, or lappy with or without tank bag. And it was great.. In the end it just wasn't enough power and I was pushing it quites hard.. with the weight the clutch was abit soft, but she got up ok.. top speed i saw was 200 with a couple gears to go. It saw 19,000RPM daily for 6-9 months and did 16,000K's before I traded it in (9,000 on the clock when i bought it).

Mine had the zx7 sace rep paint job, and a full race exhaust. which was excessively loud, but certainly made it go alot better.

Great looking bikes I recon.. CBaaah's are just way to common, and that's only cause it's a honda and they have the race reputation.. and that's not even with a 250.. yet they're popular because of it.

Here are some pics of my old beast...
http://www.tunedloud.com/tuned/zx2r/

http://www.tunedloud.com/tuned/zx2r/clean.html


My only tip is "Shop around..." alot are over priced for what you get which is the same for anything, and with 6+ months up your sleeve, you might even find a dropped bike and be able to fix it up and save a grand or 2.

Vic motor wreckers are good for parts in vic.. they do alot of fairings too, which include the ZX2.. i've checked already.

Dan wrote: you might even find a dropped bike and be able to fix it up and save a grand or 2.

This was one of the options I was considering, particularly if I end up funding part of it. Always good to put some sweat into your first bike I reckon.

If I could pick any paint scheme it would be your old one, looked sensational.

If I could pick any paint scheme it would be your old one, looked sensational.

agreed. that looks awesome.
mine's to retro.
but i like this one too.

ok i have a zx2r and would be happy to answer any q?
1st off i have a zxr2c
it was made in 2000
and complied in 2002
so im guessing its one of those made wherever.
well i wasnt payong 6 grand for a 15 year old bike when i could pay about the same for a nearly brandnew one
mine had 7000km on it when i bought it and is got me through my ls and ps.
its a great bike with a heap of go but it is also a vr=ery forgiving bike.
a couple of times i have thought to myself if i was on a bigger bike i wouldnt of got through that. so they are great to learn on

as for cbrs there likr a commodore
as common as assholes everyone has got one?

as for brakes yes i too have had warped disks they are very thin and well why wouldnt u make them easily warped so u can charge an arm and a legf for replacements but i got some made up i have been meaning to do a report on them to include on site but havnt had much time at moment but got new ones made a mm thicker and they fitted ok.

apart from that my bike has run flawless
for any more info just give me a buzz

Thanks for the info folks. I've got a bit of time so I'll start looking around and see how things go.