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SoCal Speedster
Riding and racing the 2018 Kawasaki KX250F throughout the year has been absolutely great. There’s a lot to be said about riding just one bike all year, but the best part has to be knowing that the handling is so predictable. As we all know, predictability of what the bike reacts too is extremely important when it comes to your confidence. With that, the Kawasaki is definitely one of the most confidence-inspiring machines they I’ve ridden in recent years.
Spending hours and hours on the same bike is the way to feel comfortable. After the first few initial rides, I became very familiar with the KX250F’s planted mannerisms and smooth power. There’s really not a lot I did to make the Kawasaki competitive. Right off the bat, I set the sag to 100mm and ran at four turns in on the forks compression. After a rough practice day on a fast Glen Helen raceway course, I tightened up the headset to help with the high speed stability of the front end.
I own a pretty nice 450 thumper that sat in my garage all year thanks to the KX250F’s fun and agile nature. Even on hilly tracks, I opted for the 250F over my personal bike. At my age I ride just for the fun of it, so every time I open up my garage and looked at the bikes I had available to ride I would load up the Kawasaki in the pickup truck and head out. Whether it would be Glen Helen or LACR for a weekend race, the Kawasaki was my choice.
The only maintenance I completed throughout the year was to change the oil every three hours and put in a new air filter every ride. The thing I noticed about the 250F was that you don’t wear out tires as fast, and the chains don’t stretch as much for sure. Everything about the KX-F is super easy to work on; changing the air filter and oil is quick and simple. The motor is just as strong and powerful after putting 40 hours on it. At one point, I got to do a little comparison with the 2019 Yamaha YZ250F. Thinking maybe the KX-F had gotten a little worn out in the power department, I put it to the test against the new Yamaha. After spinning a couple laps on the fresh YZ-F, the Kawasaki felt like the time on the motor was nothing. It was really nice to see a bike run so fresh after 40 hours! I was not happy having to return the Kawasaki as I liked it so much I wanted to buy it for myself. Based on what I’ve seen from this bike, I already can’t wait to ride the new 2019 Kawasaki KX250F!
Tod Sciacqua
Vet Exp
150 lb
50 years old.
Started testing mini bikes when I was 13 years old and never stopped!
