Factory Kawasak rider for a day….
By Axel Martin – Images Kane O’Rourke
After the introductions had been done at the Empire Kawasaki ProMX Team launch, followed by a quick bite of lunch, it was time to ride.
As a baseline I decided to start out on a stock 2023 KX250. And it was some baseline! I was shocked at the torque from the new model. It felt like a completely different bike power-wise to the 2022 KX that I ride regularly around the City MX Track. There was so much more bottom end, and it then carried that power right through the rev range.
The ergonomics of the bike just felt so natural to sit on. You could go straight from a bike like a Honda or Yamaha and feel right at home on the Kawasaki. Thanks to a relatively long wheelbase, the Kawasaki gives you great stability both through corners and in the air.
The suspension felt great. 48 mm KYB forks take on the braking bumps with aplomb, ensuring the front gets plenty of grip when going into a rut or out of a bumpy corner.
Overall I was amazed at how good the bike was straight out of the box, with the power and manoeuvrability a racer needs. If you want to get the full run down on all the tweaks that Kawasaki made to the KX250 for 2023 then check our preview of the model here.
However, I was still left with the burning question… how does it compare to a race modified Empire Motorsport KX250, and are all their mods necessary for the average club racer?
First cab off the rank was Haruki Yokoyama’s race bike. This was a 2022 bike, but still had all the fruit on it as raced last season. It was like staring at my dream and easily the best-looking bike there, looked like it was going fast sitting in the pits.
What made this bike special was all of the trick parts, like the xTrig triple clamps making sure the Showa A Kit suspension effectiveness was maximised. And a trick Pro Circuit TI-6 pipe.
All of this external work is all for nothing though if it doesn’t have the power to back it all up. This is where the engine work and Vortex ECU come in, pushing the KX250 beyond the revs of a standard bike to squeeze every little bit of power they can out of the engine. Which is much more important with a 250 compared to the monster grunt being pumped out by a modern 450 and is more than enough for all but the best.
The first thing I noticed riding the bike was how tall the pegs were. I measure six-foot, so a fair bit bigger than Haruki, and his ergo set-up didn’t mix very well with my lanky body. However, I put that aside and hit the track feeling like I was on a KX85. Did I mention it was a tight fit…
The wow factor though was the fact that it had almost never-ending power, the bike kept making real strong power right up to the limiter. It felt more like a 350 than the standard 250s I am used to.
All this power is useless if you can’t steer it, and that’s where the A Kit Showa forks and shock came in. Keeping in mind that it was nowhere close to being set up for me, but the bike still handled amazingly, like it was on rails. I pulled in after a few laps though because the bike was just too small for me and started to give me cramps.
I stood there after my ride looking at all of the other bikes and another one then really stood out to me.
This was Jai’s (Constantinou) bike. It had the KYB A Kit forks and Pro Circuit pipe, but the real showpiece was a new set of factory Dunlops. These tyres are way better than the stock rubber you and I get to use. I found them almost impossible to lose grip on and they gave me so much feel, so planted to the ground. Unlike the standard tyres that slipped and slid the whole way around the track.
I preferred Jai’s bike over Haruki’s. It may not have had quite as many visibly trick parts but the biggest difference was the set-up, and the better basis that is the 2023 model. Although there are not a huge amount of differences between last year and this year spec’ wise, the changes made have lifted the level of the bike as a whole.
After a blast on Taylah’s bike, which was super soft, and then Cambell’s, I was completely exhausted, but content that I had just fulfilled a dream that I have had ever since I knew what a factory bike was.
I still had the question, are all these modifications worth it? Well in my opinion you don’t need A Kit suspension to race at C- or B-grade level, the most I would do for those two classes is a pipe and tuned suspension
However for an A grader, I would splash a bit more cash to get the top of the line A Kit suspension because I felt the difference coming out of corners and leaning the bike into ruts was unreal.
All in all, I was amazed at just how completely different all five bikes were purely through their own individual set-up choices. It really illustrated the level of tunability that the works riders have, and how the team works with the rider to make them as comfortable as possible, to make the bike theirs.
The KX250F is an amazing bike, but after Empire Kawasaki have been let loose on them, they take them up to a whole new level.
A big thanks to Empire Kawasaki and Kawasaki Motors Australia for making one of this teenager’s dreams come true… Factory for a day is way better than zero days..
