Latest Ninja Offspring
Latest Ninja offspring
LETTER FROM Japan
With the introduction of the GPz250R, Kawasaki has jumped right into the middle of the highly competitive 250cc sportbike market in Japan. But Kawasaki's entry deviates from standard practice in that class by being a parallel-Twin, whereas all of the GPz250R's competition—Yamaha's FZ250, Suzuki's GF250 and Honda's CBR250—are inline-Fours. This smallest motor cycle in the famous GPz line replaccs the old sohc air-cooled GPz25O parallel-Twin and the same basic machine will be sold in America as the 250 Ninja The new 250 uses an engine that is essentially
one-half of the dohc, liquid-cooled GPz600R four-cylinder powerplant, but with a shortened stroke. But don't think that just because the GPz250R is a Twin, it isn't a high-performance motorcycle. Kawasaki claims the engine pro duces 42 bhp at 1 3~OOO rpm. which is 10 bhp over that of the standard
GPz25O. This easily surpasses the 39 bhp at 12,500 rpm claimed for Honda's V-Twin 250, and is only two bhp shy of the output of Yamaha's inline-Four FZ250. Obvi ously, Kawasaki's intention is pro vide sportbike riders with 250cc performance that befits the GPz's "R" designation.
On a racetrack test ride in Japan, the GPz250R's eight-valve engine proved to be extremely smooth at any rpm, and it revved effortlessly to 14,000 rpm. The power is not all up near redline, either, as the torque is strong in the 3000-to~400O-rpm range. So all that power. combined with its light weight, allowed the bike to accomplish a 13.38-second quarter-mile time (with a slight tailwind i.
J. With its 16-inch wheels, the 250R handles ideally in most every situa tion. The suspension strikes a good balance between riding comfort and sporting requirements. Extravagant, MARVIC-type hollow-spoke wheels show the effort put forth by Kawa saki to keep unsprung weight as low as possible.
tn addition to the body-color vari ations of white, red, black and silver, optional seat colors of yellow. red, black and white are also available and can be combined with any of the body colors. The GPz250R is the timely realization of a super sports motorcycle in a new small form, and it continues the racer replica trend in Japan's motorcycle market. And now that the bike will be available in America, riders in the U.S. will have their first chance in many years to buy an under-500cc racer-replica.
Honda/Harris super-Single
A racing Single from the shop of Tetsu Ikuzawa has been released for competition. This racebike is called the `~TH I R,'~ and its powerplant is an XR600R-based RS600D engine built by HRC for dirt-track racing in America. This four-stroke Single has a claimed 61 bhp at 7000 rpm.
But perhaps of more interest is the TH 1 R frame, which is built by the Harris firm in England. This is the same frame design used by Harris in building Japanese multi-cylinder café racers. It uses Reynolds 531 steel tubing. with a Marzocchi fork, a rear shock by White Power of Holland, the front brake caliper by Lockheed and the rear brake by Brembo. Both the front and rear wheels are Dymags.
On a short circuit in Japan where a lap record of 58 seconds had been set by a GP machine in the 500cc class, and where the 250cc record was one minute flat, the TH I R un officially turned a lap in one minute, four secondsimpressive for a one cylinder four-stroke. -Koichi Hirose
