Kawasaki KF450 KX250

Green Day: Kawasaki works MX racers

In all probability, not many of us will ever reach factory rider status so the best we can do is dream about it. Ogling a factory bike is nothing to be ashamed of either, and what about those team trucks, they stir the imagination don't they? They're brightly painted, with sponsor's signage on every panel and as they rumble past you can't help wonder what exotic machinery might lurk within.

And on we dream, imagining that one day a team driver will suddenly spot us out of the corner of his eye as he drives through Hicksville. He'd pull up, climb down from the cab in the sky and says, "Hi kid. I'm a factory mechanic. Gotta coupla race bikes in the truck too. Hows about we head out to your place and you can ride 'em?"

Yeah right. Then you wake up.

We decided to make that dream come true for a change. It was time to put things right, just for the little bloke out there. Fortunately, Kawasaki's head motocross technician Charlie Costanzo and I go way back (met him months ago actually) so I decided to pull a few strings and see if anything happened. I was straight up front with Charlie when I said it'd be good for a little bloke like me to test ride one of their bikes, so us folk from Hicksville would finally know what it was like to ride a factory bike.

Time went by and I'd given up on my audacious plan, and perhaps even my new friendship, when blow me down if I didn't get a call from Charlie and it went like this: "Hey Dave, it's Charlie, I'll be heading back to Brisbane from the Wonthaggi round of the Nokia Nationals next week. How'd you like to test ride Dan Reardon's and Mitch Hoad's race bikes? We'll come up the New England highway and divert out to your place in the team truck. Whaddya think, can we stay for the night?"

BLIMEY IT'S HAPPENING
Isn't it funny the way things go sometimes? The bright green Team Kawasaki truck chockers with factory race bikes straight from the Nokia Nationals was coming to my place, and wouldn't you know it, I was down and out with an old war wound. So what did I do? I gave up my ride and 30 minutes of fame, that's what I bloody well did.

I'd give a couple of kiddies a chance instead. I'm decent like that. Number one son, Nick has always helped me with bike tests so he got a Guernsey, plus another young bloke who I've known since he was on mother's milk, Pete Horwood. He'd get a ride as well. Needless to say they now owe me big time.

PETE HORWOOD
"It was dry, slippery and hardpack out on the track but this was the first time I'd ever ridden a factory bike and I was pretty excited so wasn't going to let that bother me. After Nick had finished riding Dan Reardon's bike it was my turn and I took the first couple of laps at half pace, trying to get a feel for it.

"The first thing I noticed with this bike was how strong the front brake was and in fact I nearly went over the hangers. Once I felt comfortable I found that I could push much harder than expected into corners, and I thought that the brakes on my KTM were good! Reardon's motor was also very impressive. It was very aggressive off the bottom, snapping on almost like a two-stroke 250, but at the same time applying the power to the ground. The transition of power from bottom to mid range was very good and it was obvious that this bike was designed to be ridden hard by a good pro rider.

"The suspension did a good job of applying the power to the ground in the slippery conditions and it soaked up braking bumps with ease. The suspension wasn't rockhard either, like you might expect from a fast guy like Dan Reardon. I think he weighs about 75kg, which is a bit heavier than me but I liked his setup.

"Mitch Hoad's KX250F was the same as Reardon's 450, very easy on the eye with lots of trick bits everywhere. My first lap on this bike told me that you weren't going anywhere fast unless you were prepared to use three quarter throttle and up. This bike just didn't seem to run out of power in the top end and the more you revved it the faster it went.

"I didn't quite gel with Hoad's suspension setup as it was a little too stiff for my liking, and the rebound seemed to be set really fast. The bars were laid way back, which didn't suit me either, but other than that it was a very impressive bike, especially the motor. Hoad's mechanic Marty Blake told me it makes eight more horsepower than a stock KX250F."

NICK SUTHERLAND
"Since Pete was still mucking about getting his gear on, I was the first one to ride and I was obviously a bit nervous about crashing, especially when Charlie turned to me and said that no one but Dan Reardon had ever ridden this bike. Charlie told me to be especially careful of the front brake and he was right. It was really strong and it took me a couple of laps to get used to it. There was nothing else about this bike that was hard to get used to though, and I wasn't nervous at all after the first couple of laps.

"We've got a standard KX450F at home but this bike felt nothing at all like our stock bike. It was unreal to ride though, as everything was just set up so well. The controls were spot on for me too. The bar position, the levers, the brake pedal and shifter, yeah that stuff was just perfect. The power was really usable, it wasn't intimidating at all, but it certainly had some go. I only weigh 60kg so the suspension was a bit too stiff for me. It was good on the jumps and supercross sections but as soon as I got into some rough natural bumps it started to pitch me about. I guess that can be expected.

"I thought that we were only going to ride Dan Reardon's bike but when Charlie asked Marty Blake to go and grab Mitch Hoad's 250F out of the truck, my heart started racing because really, that was the bike I wanted to ride. I'd been playing around with my own KX250F for a few laps just before Marty handed me Hoad's bike so it was a good chance to compare between stock and factory.

"The first thing I notice was that the bars were laid back a long way, but I got used to that in a couple of laps. The power on this bike was unreal; it just seemed to have more of everything, everywhere compared to my stock bike. Where my stocker would hit its limit, this thing would just keep revving, I loved it. Charlie told me that they run factory Michelin tyres and I'm sure that's why it hooked up so well, it just didn't slip out at all.

"The suspension seemed a bit stiff, but that just makes me wonder if the suspension on my bike could be too soft. Overall I just loved this bike but unfortunately it made my stocker feel a bit ordinary. I guess I'll just have to get used to it again."

Of course I'm healed up now. Err, Charlie, any chance of a re-run?

(Story: Dirt Bike Trader mag)