DirtyGirl's Kawasaki ZXR 250
Sneak Peek at DirtyGirl's next vintage racebike...
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1989 Kawasaki ZXR 250
And the 'Sneak Peek'...? Well, it has a peak of 19,000 rpm...
Kawasaki's 1989 ZXR 250 looks, to the eye of a Canadian motorcyclist, a lot like a small ZX7 of the same era, and it shares some of the same technology. With a 19,000 RPM redline I imagine it will sound quite different.
The bike I bought was sold originally into the Japanese market, and I got it in OEM street stock condition. The process of preparing it for racing is now underway: Read about the Race Preparation of the ZXR.
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ZXR 250 Specifications
The Kawasaki ZXR 250 is an inline 4 cylinder 4-stroke 250 cc sportbike introduced in 1989.
The specifications to the right are in Japanese, from the original manufacturer's brochure, produced for the Japanese market into which this bike was first introduced, the market into which my ZXR was sold orginally.
More Details:
Displacement: 249 cc
Dry Weight: 144 kg
Wheels:
17" front
18" rear
Stock tire sizes:
Front: 110/70/17
Rear: 140/60/18
See the full-size Japanese ZXR 250 Specifications Page
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ZXR 250 Documentation
ZXR 250 Original Japanese advertising brochure from Kawasaki
Want to see more?
Full size images of each page of the original ZXR brochure are included on the ZXR Documentation page
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More about the ZXR
What the rules say...
As a production based bike produced in the 1989 model year, the ZXR 250 is elegible for Period 4 Lightweight class in the VRRA series. As an unfamiliar model not brought to the Canadian market, it may get a few looks, and perhaps raise some eyebrows too. It's equipped with some pretty trick parts :-)
To quote the VRRA Rules:
"7i. FORKS: Must be original style, size and type in use during the period. Maximum stanchion diameter is 43mm, unless the motorcycle was originally equipped with stanchions of a larger diameter. Any machine using USD* forks must have used them during the period. Forks must be the same brand and type used during, and commercially available to the general public before the cut-off date of December 1989."
* USD = 'upside-down' or inverted forks
So the trick modern looking front end of the ZXR is legal, since it was original factory equipment on a production based bike. It just looks so excessively modern on a vintage race bike, I expect I'll have a lot of explaining to do at first.
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Since streetbikes, unlike racebikes, can be traced in their pedigree through their VIN number, I should be able to establish the provenance of this bike to the satisfaction of the technical committee and my fellow racers.
If you are one of those VRRA racers, and you are in doubt about the provenance of my bike or the original factory equipment on my ZXR, I encourage you to review the Documentation Page showing the original brochure from Kawasaki. And thanks for stopping by my website!
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Kawasaki ZXR250 Pages:
Original Documentation - OEM Specifications - Race Preparations - Carburetors - ZXR main page
See you at the races...
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