OzVMX Forum
Marque Remarks => Kawasaki => Topic started by: BONEHEAD on December 02, 2008, 08:29:44 pm
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GUYS I JUST PURCHASED A KX 250A, are the standard rear shocks ment to be de carbon or are these aftermarket items , i bought this bike at the right price and wish to know more about the GREEN FAMILY.
cheers
BONEHEAD ;D
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Are you talking aftermarket DeCarbon shocks (most likely with a red piggyback reservoir) made in france OR OEM KYB's that had the permission to use the DeCarbon name (to refer to the design of shock) from Dr DeCarbon himself, the inventor of this type of shock.
a photo would answer this question very quickly and easily. :)
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The '75 '76 shocks were De Carbon, which is KYB. Not sure about '74. What year is yours?
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Ask Ken from VMX , he is a specialist in those Kawas. He still has some originals.
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well guys , it looks as they are standard issue, this bike was found at the local wreckers , it appears to have done hardly any work , it still has the sticker for operational use on it , i managed to track down a brand new stator for it , if she fires then she goes to the collection as a racer, including a frehen up , all i need to do is just add plastics an shes ready. for a $ 250 bike , im chuffed . cheers BONEHEAD ;D ;D ;D
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B, they're a great bike. I have one too, but by the sound of it you got yrs in better nick & cheaper. Stock shocks are junk unless you only ride dirt-track. Give only about 5.5" rear travel. Not eligible for pre75 (unless yr in USA where they seem to allow them).
Downpipe was unfashionable in the day so they weren't rated that highly, but engine is great, decent frame geometry, they're fairly light. They could do w an up-pipe for VMX but its not easy to fit as there aint a lot of room above the head. Tank is a bit long so you may find some front-end wash-out, but you can fit a smaller 125 tank & move the seat forward to suit. Stock tires were junk also, adding to the wash-out.
Depending on what springs are in the forks you may benefit by replacing them. Some of the split rate dual spring jobs were too soft on the initial spring & too harsh on the 2nd spring giving impression forks are too harsh. Initial spring sagged quickly too. Can get more travel out of forks if you wish as there's a fair bit of overlap.
Nice looking too w white guards - much better than the black that came on the next (almost identical) model A3. There never was an A2; beats me why.
Enjoy! (but if you want to sell it, let me know)
PS Where abouts are you?
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Sounds like a '75-'76 bike as the '74 had the hammerhead shocks as standard equipment and are easy to recognise. If you send the frame & engine number I can tell you exactly what you have. Great buy no matter which way.
Cheers,
K
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Yeh K, KX250A was 75
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GUYS , by all investigations this is a 79 modle. cheers BONEHEAD. ??? PLEASE REFER TO look what i found in the garden in this forum , its exactly the same bike.
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If that's the case it's an A5, 79 model. First one with the plastic tank. The shocks will have remote reservoirs.
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nope no remote resivours , but i can see the brackets where they are meant to be mounted ,has any one got a pic to compare to, my shocks dont seem to have the capabillity to accommidate remote resivours. ???. cheers BONEHEAD
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The A5 Kawasakis are beautiful bikes . The 250 is one of my favourites , even though I usually prefer European stuff . They are supposed to handle pretty well too .
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can you post a photo of the shocks?
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yep , too many carlton draught,(horse power beer ) :D
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Yeah the bike is a '79 but they're certainly not the std shocks.
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how good she looks for the money i paid, ,i dont intend for this bike to be a queen but i would like to race it , new stator ordered and plastics on the way. just would like to know, why would someone have done away with the remote resivours ? was this normal practice back in the day due to lack of understanding the now then technolgy or was it that the shocks were shite. cheers BONEHEAD. ;D ;D
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i think they could be after market DeCarbons made in france. is that a little allen screw valve up top? is there a sticker there? can you send a more close up photo? i will go look at some brochures/ads i have.
red white blue looks like french flag?
they could be std non external reservoir models. they have internal gas reservoir and piston at the top of the shock body. pretty good shock for their time, worth keeping/rebuilding
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yep made in france and yeas they have the allen screw in the top,the # is stamped A 4179 DE CARRBON 1181, ??? CHEERS BONEHEAD :D
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ok they are definitely aftermarket. i just went looking for some info then and found some of it, but still trying to find more. i will scan it an put it on here either tomorrow or on weekend.
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The std A5 shocks had small diameter remote reservoirs on a long hose that were mounted to the frame tube beside the airbox similar to suzuki's.
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So you got an A5 for $250. Amazing find! Very very nice bike those. Kaw really got it together w that model.
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hope so , cant wait till she runs , just pulled the throttle apart , and i now have to make a cable , looked at the needle setting and its on the bottom slot , just out of curiosity where is it meant to be , i thought i would start in the middle and go from there. any news on the de carbon shocks. ;D
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I wouldn't worry about the standard shocks if you're going to ride it, they weren't that good. I'd put some ohlins or fox airs or yss on it.
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the only things i can find at the moment is about 2 articles on these shocks and 2 or 3 magazine advertisments. i havent found all of them yet but i know i have them, i just have to search throught a lot of magazines to find them. i wont have anything that says anything about the number stamped on th shocks, but i have a friend in france who may know motr about them.