Kawa KR1 - values, avoid, advice?

Discussion in 'UK Motorcycles' started by sweller, Oct 29, 2003.

  1. sweller

    sweller Guest

    Whilst in the local bike workshop [1] I spotted an interesting little
    '80s two stroke. I quite fancy an insane stroker, methinks.

    It is, I'm told, a KR1. NOT a KR1S as I thought (it has two exhausts,
    one either side - if that helps).

    It's average looking, as I'd expect for a 1988 bike, but has a good (I'm
    told) engine, chassis bearings and suspension. Tyres are looking, well,
    tired. Chain and sprockets look ok. For some reason its lost the
    fairing cooling vent inserts. Commonly removed apparently.

    He said £600, I just shrugged and looked uninterested. Having thought
    about it, it has caught my imagination.

    Values? Horror stories? What sort of things should I be looking for?
    Is it more bonkers than a KR1S?


    [1] Getting an MOT on a mates new bike acquisition [2], whilst he was
    busy riding his Supa 5 into a wall (fortunately whilst I wasn't pillion).
    He walked away [3], forks and front wheel are now jammed against the
    engine.
    [2] Long story.
    [3] How, I don't know. The bollock shaped dent in the tank is as
    impressive as the one on Blaney's Bandit. More so as MZ tanks are hefty
    fucking things.
     
    sweller, Oct 29, 2003
    #1
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  2. sweller

    Lozzo Guest

    sweller wibbled like a little girl....
    Run away. I had one and they are shite. Handle lovely, but shite in the
    reliability stakes. Both KR1 and KR1S had exhausts on both sides. The
    KR1S had more racy looking pipes with a definite stinger type silencer
    fed by a very thin piece of tubing.
    Still not worth touching. You can pick up a reasonable LC for that much,
    and it won't throw itself apart every weekend.
    KR1S was more bonkers.


    Seroiusly, don't bother. There are Gammas and Powervalves out there at
    that money, and they are a much better bet.

    --
    Lozzo
    ZZR1100D, GPZ500S, CB250RS x3.
    BOTAFOT#57/70a, BOTAFOF#57, two#49, MIB#22, TCP#7, BONY#9,
    ANORAK#9, DIAABTCOD#14, UKRMT5BB, IBW#013, MIRTTH#15a/16,
    BotToS#8, GP#2, SBS#10, SH#3, DFV#14, KoBV#3.
    Url for ukrm newbies : http://www.ukrm.net/faq/ukrmscbt.html
    www.mjkleathers.com
     
    Lozzo, Oct 29, 2003
    #2
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  3. sweller

    sweller Guest

    Noted, he was making it out as the ritalin needing sibling to the KR1S.
     
    sweller, Oct 29, 2003
    #3
  4. Lozzo wrote
    Now I wonder about this.

    Given how young you are and the huge number of bikes you have had I
    reckon you have been getting through them at the rate of about one every
    three and a half minutes.

    Given the above I am tempted to suggest that your definition of reliable
    is, "lasts until I sell it?"
     
    steve auvache, Oct 29, 2003
    #4
  5. sweller

    SteveH Guest

    *cough*
     
    SteveH, Oct 29, 2003
    #5
  6. sweller

    Lozzo Guest

    steve auvache wibbled like a little girl....
    I do *lots* of miles on my bikes, over 20,000 so far this year. I get
    through lots of bikes, and I get bored with them quickly. I also used to
    buy and sell them as a sideline. By the time I was 21 I'd bought and
    sold nearly 100 bikes. Trading kept me in free bikes for years.
    Some I've kept for quite a while, others I've shunted out ASAP. I bought
    the KR1 just after I sold my Firestorm because it was only 200 quid but
    needed the chassis parts rebuilding, spent a shedload getting it really
    nice, then proceeded to blow it up almost every time I took it out.

    Reliable is keeping itself together for a reasonable amount of time. The
    KR1 wasn't reliable, and I've heard horror stories from other ex-owners.

    I stuck a Yamaha RD350LC F1 engine in mine, then flogged it.

    --
    Lozzo
    ZZR1100D, GPZ500S, CB250RS x3.
    BOTAFOT#57/70a, BOTAFOF#57, two#49, MIB#22, TCP#7, BONY#9,
    ANORAK#9, DIAABTCOD#14, UKRMT5BB, IBW#013, MIRTTH#15a/16,
    BotToS#8, GP#2, SBS#10, SH#3, DFV#14, KoBV#3.
    Url for ukrm newbies : http://www.ukrm.net/faq/ukrmscbt.html
    www.mjkleathers.com
     
    Lozzo, Oct 29, 2003
    #6
  7. sweller

    Champ Guest

    While I know that Loz has an enormous amount of additional experience
    with these things, I have been told by people who know, including my
    mate who ran the warranty dept for a big Kwack dealer when these
    things were new, that you can make them hold together as long as:

    - you *always* warm them thoroughly
    - you *always* use top quality 2-stroke oil
    - you make sure you've got the latest set of engine mods fitted
    (likely for a bike of this age).
     
    Champ, Oct 30, 2003
    #7
  8. all of which I did /had to mine and it still ate two pistons and
    locked up on me at a ton.

    trust me. Lozzo speaks the truth in this thing.

    --
    Adie - capable of leading darsy astray.
    (replace spam with nickname to reply)

    Triumph T595 / FZ750
    MRO#11 BOTAFOF#7 BOTAFOT#130 DIAABTCOD#17 MIB#24 YTC#16 BOB#15 UKRMMA#22
     
    Adrienne M Jenn, Oct 30, 2003
    #8
  9. sweller

    Lozzo Guest

    Champ wibbled like a little girl....
    Obligatory on all 2-strokes and something I do with every bike anyway
    Not worth using stuff like Halfords shite in a highly tuned and stressed
    stroker, best quality semi-synth at the very least. Preferably top
    quality fully synth if you can afford it.
    The biggest fault with the KR1 and KR1S was the little pins in the
    piston ring grooves, the ones that hold the piston rings from revolving
    around the piston, kept falling out, causing a seizure when the ring
    ends caught in the ports. I was using genuine Kawasaki pistons bought in
    1999, about 5 years after they stopped production of the KR1S. I'd have
    thought they'd have been Kawasaki's latest engine mods, don't you?

    Another problem they suffered from was the KIPS powervalve linkage is a
    complex rose-jointed affair that sits outside of the engine on the
    cylinder head, exposed to all manner of crap flying off the front wheel.
    If it had been made with decent quality sealed rose-joints then it would
    have been OK. However, Kawasaki in their skintflint wisdom decided to
    make it from the cheapest shit available, which extends to the
    powervalves themselves. These are made from the lightest alloy I've ever
    experienced, they weigh absolutely **** all, and the steel screw that
    holds the operating link to them is made from cottage cheese and seizes
    in the cheapo alloy. When trying to remove them you *will* break two of
    the powervalves when trying to undo the screws, and you'll break the
    other two when trying to do the screws up on refitting.

    When I realised how easily they broke, I made it my mission to lay my
    hands on as many powervalves as possible, and after using 12 during the
    rebuilds I depleted my stocks. This was over 2 months. You just can't
    find useable powervalves in breakers any more either. In contrast, I've
    never damaged a Yamaha powervalve, and I've pulled literally hundreds of
    them out over the years.

    KR1s and KR1Ss are shite when fitted with the Kawasaki engine. Stick a
    Yamaha 350 motor in there and you've got a bike that is reliable with
    the chassis geometry of a genuine KR250 GP bike.

    --
    Lozzo
    ZZR1100D, GPZ500S, CB250RS x3.
    BOTAFOT#57/70a, BOTAFOF#57, two#49, MIB#22, TCP#7, BONY#9,
    ANORAK#9, DIAABTCOD#14, UKRMT5BB, IBW#013, MIRTTH#15a/16,
    BotToS#8, GP#2, SBS#10, SH#3, DFV#14, KoBV#3.
    Url for ukrm newbies : http://www.ukrm.net/faq/ukrmscbt.html
    www.mjkleathers.com
     
    Lozzo, Oct 30, 2003
    #9
  10. sweller

    Mike Buckley Guest


    Back in the good old days of PB I think they ripped apart a KR1(-S?)
    project bike and measured some of the engine parts. They found some
    parts horrendously out, for example when they sat both barrels on the
    crank cases they could see the differences in height with the naked eye.
    Not good.

    Lozzo speaks the truth, avoid. Buy an RS/RGV if you want something a bit
    more modern than a RD.
     
    Mike Buckley, Oct 30, 2003
    #10
  11. sweller

    rod dyno Guest

    If you buy an RGV make sure it's not an RGV250M or N, the powervalves like
    dropping into the cylinder bores.
     
    rod dyno, Oct 30, 2003
    #11
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