1987 Kawasaki KMX 125

[Marty Lad]

Hi all, recently bought this KMX 125 as a project from a guy in Nottingham, plan is to do a few runs on it including Paddy Dakar later in the year. Few things to be done to it including MOT but it's not bad for being 30 years old. First bike I've had and its pretty easy to ride, starts first kick and goes well enough to keep me interested. Pic when I got it:

Awful looking graphics removed and tank plastics taken off:

And the look I'm going for (retro trails / scrambler)

Hope it interests a few on here, all comments / experiences appreciated. Cheers

 

[gizmo98]

They’re still a good looking wee bike

 

[gav525]

That is class! Perfect for the Paddy Dakar an all, you’ll have great fun!

 

[Chris666]

That's in awesome shape for a bike as old as me Wish I could say the same

 

[Marty Lad]

That is class! Perfect for the Paddy Dakar an all, you’ll have great fun!

Yea looking forward to it, you did it last year didn't you? Did a search for it in here and saw your thread. How'd you find it?

 

[Marty Lad]

Yea it's definitely not bad for its age, been round a few corners in its time but seems to have been well looked after!

That's in awesome shape for a bike as old as me Wish I could say the same

 

[gav525]

Yea looking forward to it, you did it last year didn't you? Did a search for it in here and saw your thread. How'd you find it?

Yep, I did it on the old Tengai which is basically a KLR650. Brilliant fun, not too serious and plenty if laughs.

I was lucky I ended up falling in with a group of guys from Longford who kept me right, are you going alone or in a group? In my group there were quite a few 125s and there was nothing they couldn’t do, made me think that my Tengai was maybe a bit big for my first time off-road.

One thing I am glad of is that I didn’t buy a BMW GS or Africa Twin as it would have been way too heavy for me when I came off!

I’d be doing it again this year if it wasn’t for work preventing me.

Take plenty photos and get them up on here afterwards

 

[Marty Lad]

Yep, I did it on the old Tengai which is basically a KLR650. Brilliant fun, not too serious and plenty if laughs.

I was lucky I ended up falling in with a group of guys from Longford who kept me right, are you going alone or in a group? In my group there were quite a few 125s and there was nothing they couldn’t do, made me think that my Tengai was maybe a bit big for my first time off-road.

One thing I am glad of is that I didn’t buy a BMW GS or Africa Twin as it would have been way too heavy for me when I came off!

I’d be doing it again this year if it wasn’t for work preventing me.

Take plenty photos and get them up on here afterwards

There's a group of us going, funny one of the other guys has an Africa twin and another has a GS, I'm limited to a 125 as I don't have a bike licence but I think this will suit well by the sounds of it. How tough is the course? Are there many difficult technical / boggy bits or is it mainly lanes?

 

[gav525]

There's a group of us going, funny one of the other guys has an Africa twin and another has a GS, I'm limited to a 125 as I don't have a bike licence but I think this will suit well by the sounds of it. How tough is the course? Are there many difficult technical / boggy bits or is it mainly lanes?

The guys on the big bikes will be grand if they’ve been off-road before like. And the course is easy enough, even with the rain we had it wasn’t overly bad, mostly grit and gravel, some roads, and then some muddy bits. Make sure you have good tyres, that’s the best advice I can give you!
Some of the waypoints are at the top of hard trails like, but just one of the group needs to get up to get the numbers off the marker. A few of them have punches though so you all need to get to them and punch the cards.

Also there’s an optional trials part where you can get extra team points for attempting, I didn’t do it in the end as I knew I’d fall off lol

 

[Marty Lad]

The guys on the big bikes will be grand if they’ve been off-road before like. And the course is easy enough, even with the rain we had it wasn’t overly bad, mostly grit and gravel, some roads, and then some muddy bits. Make sure you have good tyres, that’s the best advice I can give you!
Some of the waypoints are at the top of hard trails like, but just one of the group needs to get up to get the numbers off the marker. A few of them have punches though so you all need to get to them and punch the cards.

Also there’s an optional trials part where you can get extra team points for attempting, I didn’t do it in the end as I knew I’d fall off lol

Sounds like it'll be fun whatever happens then, was there much falling off lol

 

[gav525]

Sounds like it'll be fun whatever happens then, was there much falling off lol

Lol yep, but that was mainly due to my crap back tyre. Came off 3 times I think, but all comical slow speed stuff. Think one year they had a guy badly hurt but sure, could happen anywhere. Wear plenty body armour you’ll be grand, and good goggles as a fair few branches get you in the face!

 

[Marty Lad]

Lol yep, but that was mainly due to my crap back tyre. Came off 3 times I think, but all comical slow speed stuff. Think one year they had a guy badly hurt but sure, could happen anywhere. Wear plenty body armour you’ll be grand, and good goggles as a fair few branches get you in the face!

The tyres aren't bad on this but I think I'll get a new back one and keep the one that's on as a spare. No bother, I used to have a racing quad so I still have all the gear knocking about, knew I was keeping it for something!

 

[ilovequo]

Lovely
My dads got a KMX200 in the shed with 1000 miles on it. Owned from new. Unfortunately the years haven't been kind, really needs painted and new graphics!

 

[Marty Lad]

For sale by any chance?

Lovely
My dads got a KMX200 in the shed with 1000 miles on it. Owned from new. Unfortunately the years haven't been kind, really needs painted and new graphics!

 

[Marty Lad]

Had to put a new tube in the front as it was torn slightly at the valve so was always going down:

 

[mn5587]

Fantastic wee bike! My first bike was a KMX125 and I commuted on it for a year and did a bit of off roading too. I can't tell if you have the restricted expansion exhaust on it; get it replaced with the unrestricted version if it does.
A recurring issue was the back tyre/tube would slip on the rim and rip the valve off (probably more to being young, silly and not maintaining tyre pressures)

Health to Ride

 

[Marty Lad]

Fantastic wee bike! My first bike was a KMX125 and I commuted on it for a year and did a bit of off roading too. I can't tell if you have the restricted expansion exhaust on it; get it replaced with the unrestricted version if it does.
A recurring issue was the back tyre/tube would slip on the rim and rip the valve off (probably more to being young, silly and not maintaining tyre pressures)

Health to Ride

Cheers, concentrating on getting it into good running order at the minute as it's been stood a while. How are they off road?

 

[mn5587]

Cheers, concentrating on getting it into good running order at the minute as it's been stood a while. How are they off road?

I found it dead on, just get the rear jacked up on the adjuster and meatier tyres

 

[Marty Lad]

I found it dead on, just get the rear jacked up on the adjuster and meatier tyres

Good stuff, yea tyres are deffo on the list

 

[DriftnSlide]

Buy a couple of rim locks for the tyres on ebay or somewhere. You'll be tortured with the same valve problem otherwise' especialy if your off roading.
HTR always were a nice wee popular bike.

 

[Simon998]

An aftermarket expansion pipe really wakens them up.

I'm sure the guys over on 2strokeforum will probably be able to help with any queries.

Found this after a quick search -

The standard front pipe has a washer welded in, a gianelli pipe is only about 70 quid, DEP pipes are cooler and stronger, though twice as much or you could modify the original.The KIPS mechanism ( under the cover on the right hand side of the engine) needs a softer spring (part no.391291001) and a new collar(part no.921431001) the carb also needs a new airscrew (part no.160141031).

 

[natogreen16v]

I had a KMX 125 for my 2nd ever field bike. Think Iwas maybe 7 or 8. I loved it. Those pictures take me back

 

[Marty Lad]

An aftermarket expansion pipe really wakens them up.

I'm sure the guys over on 2strokeforum will probably be able to help with any queries.

Found this after a quick search -

I'll have to look into what's been done, feels fairly lively as it is for a 125

 

[Marty Lad]

Buy a couple of rim locks for the tyres on ebay or somewhere. You'll be tortured with the same valve problem otherwise' especialy if your off roading.
HTR always were a nice wee popular bike.

Thanks for the advice, I didn't know about the rimlocks as I've only ever been into quads before this and they had a different setup for locking the beads. The wheels have holes opposite the valves already so looks like they won't be hard to fit

 

[DriftnSlide]

Its worth checking the rim bands are good on the wheels aswell. They can perish on older spoked wheels and cause punctures. Wrap a lot of tape round them if they're bad.