1984 Kawasaki KR250, 249 cc. Registration number H802 GND. F...

Hammer

£3,300

1984 Kawasaki KR250, 249 cc. Registration number H802 GND. Frame number KH250 A 005843. Engine number KR250AE 005935.
Never seen a KR250 before? You're not alone. Even by grey-import standards these Kawasaki tandem twins are rare. It is believed that there are less than 50 in the UK, 30 of those arriving in a batch independently imported by Huddersfield Kawasaki.
They were only sold in Japan, Australia and South Africa got the KR and competed against the Suzuki RG. As well as being one of the rarest 250 two-strokes, the KR is also one of the most technically interesting. Its motor is a dual-crank tandem-twin, with Kawasaki's Rotary Reed Valve Induction System (RRIS), as used on the AR125. This gives it a much broader spread of power than the reed valve only RG - the KVSS power valve equipped KR250S introduced in '86 is claimed to be even more tractable.
The chassis is striking too. There's an adjustable underslung shock, a braced swing arm, adjustable anti-dive forks, triple discs, a hand-welded aluminium frame and styling that gives more than a nod to the GPZ900R. Although complicated it helps the bike to remain very narrow, as exhaust routing and expansion chambers no longer have to run underneath the engine as they do on most parallel-twin engines. In this case, they both exit on the right side of the bike: one down low, the other partly through the tailpiece in flamboyant 1980s style. The round tail lamp is set into the kicked-up tail and the bolt-on hand-fairings are an unusual touch. The 45 hp engine was good for over 110 mph and had a six speed gearbox. As MCN said in 2016 "Starting these Kawasaki’s requires a knack - even in fine fettle, they're notoriously recalcitrant and sometime refuse to fire on one or both cylinders, despite vigorous kicking. Flipping the fuel tap to 'Prime' before prodding the kick starter coaxes it into life."
Our vendor purchased this example from Kawasaki Huddersfield on the 5th of February 1991 and used it sparingly until 1995 when it went into storage with 2,090 miles on the odometer. These are rare machines and this totally original machine will need recommissioning before use.
Sold with the V5.