GP’s Classic Steel #54: 2001 KX250

For this week’s GP’s Classic Steel we are going to take a look back at the bike that took Ricky Carmichael to his first 250 Supercross title, the 2001 Kawasaki KX250.

For this week’s GP’s Classic Steel we are going to take a look back at the bike that took Ricky Carmichael to his first 250 Supercross title, the 2001 Kawasaki KX250.

The Jolly Green Giant. Late 90’s and early 2000’s KX250’s were big, heavy and brutally fast. They offered a hard-hitting motor, housed in a solid (if not particularly nimble) chassis.

The 2001 Kawasaki KX250 was the third year for Kawasaki’s latest deuce-and-a –half motocross design. Originally debuted in 1999, the machine was basically a refined ’94 KX250 wrapped in new bodywork.  In ’99, it was good enough to take the title of best 250 two-stroke, but the competition was quickly gaining steam. Riders still praised its torquey power plant, but bemoaned its girthy chassis, anemic brakes and mushy suspension. As the new decade began, the KX was starting to feel like a machine rooted in the nineties, while all the competition was roosting away into the new decade.

 

The KX’s 249cc mill pumped out 42.4 horsepower on the dyno. That put it 4 hp north of the lowely Husky 250CR (sorry JT), but nearly 3 hp behind the rocket-fast Honda. On the track, its excellent torque and meaty midrange made it a very effective motocross weapon.

In truth, it is not hard to see why Kawasaki had stayed with this formula for so long. Throughout the nineties, Kawasaki’s recipe of meaty low-to-mid power, mated to ultra-plush suspension and a stable chassis, had served them well. They had reeled off several Motocross and Supercross titles and captured more than their fair share of shootout victories. It was a proven design, which made green the color to have throughout much of the grunge decade. Unfortunately, however, success often breeds complacency, and Kawasaki got sucked into this trap as the decade came to an end. As the competition pushed the envelope in design and performance, Team Green stubbornly held onto the same basic machine year after year. By the time the 2001 KX250 made its debut, that tried and true ’94 chassis was beginning to show its age.

With Ricky Carmichael at the controls, a highly modified KX (reportedly 20 pounds lighter than the stock KX) ripped off 13 consecutive Supercross victories (a record that still stands) on his way to the 2001 Supercross title.

Originally debuted on the ’90 KX line, Kawasaki’s steel perimeter frame had been quite big news at the time. Perimeter frames had been used for many years on road race machines, but had never crossed over to the off road world. The perimeter design offered excellent structural integrity and very little flex, but it also tended to be wider and larger overall than more traditional off-road designs. On the KX, the new chassis offered excellent stability and a solid feel, but lacked finesse in the corners. It was a big bike and felt every bit of it.

Over the next few years, Kawasaki would refine the KX250 into a serious motocross weapon.  By the mid-nineties, KX’s were some of the best bikes available, racking up victories in the magazines and on the track. They offered snappy, hard hitting motors, workman-like chassis’ and plush suspension. They were still big, tall and heavy bikes, but most riders were willing to overlook that to get to that awesome motor.

As the nineties came to a close, Yamaha began to nip at Kawasaki’s heels. After several years of playing second fiddle to Honda and Kawasaki, the boys in blue nailed the mark with the 2000 YZ250. It offered the wide, usable powerband of the KX, bolted to a chassis that could turn rings around the big green machine. It was Kawasaki’s first shootout loss since 1996 and a sign that the 250 landscape was changing.  Honda was finally getting a handle on their alloy framed CR’s, Suzuki was introducing a Supercross scalpel in their new RM250 and Yamaha had refined their proven YZ250 into a nearly perfect motocross weapon. If Kawasaki was going to take back the title of best 250 in the land, they would have to pull out all the stops in 2001.

From 1997 through 2000, Kawasaki owned the best motor in motocross. They were fast, super responsive and fun to ride. The 2001 version offered less burst and a smoother spread of horses than its punchy predecessors.  It was still an excellent motocross motor, but no longer the king. By ’01, the incredibly wide spread of the YZ250 had claimed the crown of “Motor of Doom”.

Starting in 1997, Kawasaki began produced some of the best 250 motors on the track. They featured lightning-fast throttle response and hard-hitting deliveries. Where the Honda came on soft and shrieked to an ear splitting top-end blast, the Kawi churned, grunted and blasted its way around the track. It was perfect for the quick bursts needed in motocross and gave the KX a lively feel. For 2001, Kawasaki changed the flywheel, modified the porting and changed the expansion chamber on their proven 249cc mill. The result was a mellower power house for ’01. It still came on strong from the first crack of the throttle, but hit with less authority. In the middle, it surged instead of barked, before pulling into a decent top-end hook. It was still fast, but smoother than previous KX’s. This new easier-to-ride power spread lacked the top-end pull of the rocket-fast Honda, but was still very effective on track. For Kawasaki, the real problem was Yamaha, who was now beating the KX at their own game.

One of the nice features on the ’01 KX were these rubber mounted bar clamps. They were reversible and could be used to adjust the riding position for different pilots.

Yamaha had taken the lessons learned from Kawasaki’s excellent late nineties motors and one upped them, with their new YZ250 mill. The YZ churned out an unbeatable spread of power in 2001 that had all the bases covered. It came on even stronger than the KX down low, then proceeded to keep that power advantage all the way to the rev limiter. It was a true “do-it-all” power plant, which could be lugged or revved with equal effectiveness. The KX was still the second best motocross engine, but it was no match for the omnipotent Y-Zed.

2001 would prove to be the last year for RC on the Factory Kawasaki’s. After spending his entire career on the green machines, he would make the switch to Honda based largely (according to RC) on Kawasaki’s apparent refusal to update the nearly decade old KX design (more cynical fans, would of course, suspect $$$ as the true motivator for the switch).

In 2000, the KX had been undone by its overly soft suspension.  For ’01, Team Green upped the spring rates front and rear in an effort to bring the performance more in line with the competition. The new stiffer settings were a huge improvement and helped give the Kayaba “bladder-style” forks a big bump in performance. They offered good feel and excellent bottoming resistance. Overall, they were rated to have the best combination of bump absorption and ride comfort, and took the title of best silverware in 2001.

The KX’s “bladder-style” KYB forks were the best legs in motocross in 2001. They were stiff enough to take the big hit while still soaking up the small stuff well. Good forks.

In the shock department, the new KX was head and shoulders better than the year before. The 2000 model had been overly soft and hung down in the stroke under acceleration. To combat this, Kawasaki ditched its dubious progressive-rate shock spring and went with a straight-rate 5.0 spring for ’01. This allowed the bike to stay up in the travel and not slam into the stiff portion of the curve on small impacts. By going to a stiffer spring, the shock action was actually plusher, while also providing better control on big hits. Overall, the Yamaha was picked as having the best rear suspension, but the KX was liked by most everyone and finished only a tick off the winning YZ.

Where things started to go south for the KX, was in the chassis department. In the motor and suspension categories, the Kawi was at or near the top of the heap. When it came to handling and overall feel, however, the big green machine was a SUV among sports cars. Never a lightweight, the KX weighed a good 15 pounds more than the lightest bikes in the class. At 235 pounds ready to ride, the KX was actually heavier than a current CRF450R and felt every bit of it. As if the weight alone was not bad enough, the stamped-steel perimeter frame was wider and taller than the competition giving the bike a very “large “feel. It made the YZ and RM feel like 125’s by comparison.

The rear Kayaba shock on the ’01 KX250 featured greatly improved action over the year before. The addition of a stiffer straight-rate spring and some fine-tuning resulted in one of the best rear ends of ’01.

In terms of handling, it behaved the same as nearly every KX since the introduction of their perimeter frame: solid at speed, but clumsy in the corners. Its big and tall chassis preferred to be steered around the outside, as opposed to diving for the inside line. It was better on flat slippery turns than deep berms and did not like to be leaned hard into bends. One thing Kawasaki offered in 2001 to aid the handling of the big Kwacker, was an optional 20” front wheel. The smaller wheels were all the rage for a short time in the early 2000’s and Kawasaki offered this option to improve steering feel and response. This addition did help the old school KX feel more responsive, but it was still no RM in the corners.

Detailing was the one area that had haunted the KX’s throughout the nineties, but the ’01 KX did make inroads in this area. For most riders, the biggest complaints had centered on Kawasaki’s anemic and mushy brakes. Year in and year out, the KX had the worst binders in motocross and no amount of bleeding and fiddling would sort out their spongy action. For ’01, Kawasaki finally did something about this deficiency with a list of changes designed to bring the KX up to speed with the competition. They upped the size of the front caliper’s pistons by 19%, beefed up the piston size in the master cylinder by 1.5mm and spec’d a set of grippier pads. The result was much improved bite and a firmer feel at the lever. It was still not up to the power and feel of the class leading Honda (which ironically, would feel like a drum compared to a 2013 KTM), but far better than previous efforts.

Throughout the nineties, Kawasaki had become synonymous with mushy and unimpressive stopping power. Their bikes required constant bleeding and maintenance to achieve even moderate braking performance. For 2001, Kawasaki made a number of changes to their 220mm front stopper aimed at bumping up its pucker power. Larger pistons in the master cylinder and caliper, as well as grippier pads, helped bring the Kawi up to an acceptable level of stoppage.

Other nice details on the KX included, adjustable rubber-mounted bar clamps, a super trick and durable graphite paint on the expansion chamber and plastic frame guards. On the negative side, were the KX’s handlebars and its overall durability. The stock steel bars appeared to be made of butter and would start to show cracks in the paint from flexing within a few rides.  Overall, the KX seemed to wear out at about four times the rate of the Honda. By mid-season, the KX felt tired and beat, while the CR and YZ still seemed tight and fresh.

By 2001, the venerable KX250 was beginning to show its age.  It still had the motor to run upfront, but needed a serious chassis makeover to take on the best bikes in the class.

The 2001 KX250 was a fantastic 1994 machine, up against ’01 competition. It still had the motor, but lacked the finesse to be a winner out of the crate. It was a big, tall and overweight sumo in a class full of ninja’s. In 2003, Kawasaki would introduce an all-new KX250, but it would never recapture the glory of the mid-nineties KX’s. By 2007, the KX250 would be history, replaced by the new KX450F thumper (a bike that was ironically, still big, fast, and heavy), and a new era of Kawasaki champions.