Kawasaki Joins the Club

KAWASAKI JOINS THE CLUB

Last but not least, Kawasaki finally has a big-bore moto-Thumper heading to the showroom floor for'06. Spotted during final testing in the All-Japan MX Championship, the KX450F pictured here is dramatically different from last year's prototype (Roundup, July, 2004). It seems Kawi may have run into a little trouble in the initial go-around, because the design of the new bike with its twin-spar aluminum frame (similar to the Honda CRF45OR and Suzuki RM-Z450) is dramatically different from the previous version's alloy semi-double-cradle backbone. The four-valve, dohc liquid-cooled powerplant, however, appears largely the same. Its little brother, the KX25OF, also underwent major revisions for'06, the most significant being an all-new aluminum frame. While the two new four-strokes look like a matched duo, the 250 is fitted with Showa suspension front and rear, while the 450 retains Kawasaki's familiar Kayaba pieces.

Ryan Dudek