It’s fast, it’s green and it’s ready to set the race tracks alight … it is Kawasaki’s new 2011-model KX250F and it will be available in New Zealand in early September.

The popular 250cc four-stroke has had a make-over for the upcoming race season, bound to ensure the familiar green of the Kawasaki brand continues to decorate and dominate the podiums both here and overseas.

The 2011 version of the bullet-proof KX250F has undergone its most significant changes since Kawasaki first introduced the four-stroke.

The outstanding success of the carburetted model Kawasaki since its introduction has been truly enormous, with multiple AMA Supercross Lites and Motocross Lites championships to its credit in the United States, not to mention multiple titles and hundreds of podium finishes across the Tasman and in Europe and Asia too.

With factory tuning and fuel injection, the changes are designed to keep expert riders at the front of the pack. The KX250F base package provides an excellent platform for race-experienced riders to win races in the top classes.

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Design of the highly rigid aluminium frame, suspension components and settings focused on ensuring control is maintained during high-speed riding – especially in straight lines – to enable experienced racers to ride flat out.

To ensure the lime green racers continue to run at the front, Kawasaki engineers made a number of engine and chassis changes to further increase the KX250F’s winning potential.

It has a more powerful, fuel-injected engine, with factory tuning — specifications that are on par with the bikes that Kawasaki’s factory racers use to such potent effect.

Features include strong power at all rpm levels, quick throttle response, superb over-rev characteristics, high-performance piston with bridged-box bottom (unique Kawasaki feature among mass-production models) straight from the factory racers, lightweight battery-less fuel injection system, exhaust revisions to meet stricter noise regulations, stronger low-mid torque allows riders to corner a gear higher (which means less gear shifting), and a KX FI Calibration Kit (option), identical to that used by the factory teams.

Designed with motocross racers in mind – where potent power-to-weigh ratios are an important factor — the fuel injection system incorporates a small lightweight ECU and operates without a battery, to further eliminate unnecessary weight. And, of course, fuel injection eliminates the need to adjust engine settings to suit track and climate conditions.

The Separate Function front Fork (SFF) offers significantly reduced friction to realise smooth fork action and firm damping performance — the first time this has been used on a mass-production motocross bike. The left fork tube contains the damping assembly, while the right fork tube has the spring spring.

The benefits of this include reduced friction (-25%) for increased riding comfort, enhanced control and the front suspension includes a preload adjuster, which simplifies the task of setting fork preload or front ride height and means suspension jobs are quicker and easier.

The KX FI Calibration Kit is the same kit used by Kawasaki’s works teams in Europe and the US. The kit enables expert riders to adjust engine characteristics (by rewriting actual data maps) to suit their preference, record riding data, and analyse their riding data to further fine-tune their settings.

New Zealand Team Green dealers will have the FI calibration kit and can tune your FI system to suit your type of riding or to match modifications such as exhaust system change.

Kawasaki Motorcycle Distributors, New Zealand, will have one of these bikes making its debut Kiwi appearance, on display at the Speedshow in Auckland on July 24-25.

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