The original KLX prototype

[gtmpaul]

I know it's in bloody french but I'm sure someone can translate

[LWC82PE]

Hi, If possible can you please email me a full size readable copy of this to [email protected] That would be greatly appreciated thanks.

[farmer58za]

I would love to get hold of that prototype.
It would make a great pair with this one which is serial #00001
http://s215.photobucket.com/albums/cc198/farmer58za/?action=view&current=IMG_3408.jpg&newest=1Regards
David

[Davey Crocket]

You know there's something about South Efrika and low Vin/chassis/engine numbers....about 10 years ago I was working accross the road from one of your ex countryman and we got talking about VMX bikes...he raced MX back in the day (70's) and told me about the bikes they had.....remembers the vin numbers on their MXB Yamaha's where the first 10 bikes made....co-incidence? or is that a common thing over there. I think their later RM's where the same. Could it be that the Southern hemisphere customers (Aus, NZ, SA) got production bikes before the northern hemisphere as we where in summer when they came out?....to test the waters so to speak so if anything is going to break they have a short window to rectify it, I know KTM use Aussie for that now and of course we are such a small market if the bikes do break then theres not so much cost involved. I know NZ use to get Huskies through Tim Gibbs before anywon else....interesting.....they where also the first to get the new YZ400 four stroke....couple of months before the Aussies even.

[firko]

Australia (and, it seems South Africa) was the testing ground for many of the early Japanese bikes. They'd release them here in what was then considered the commercial backblocks to test the market and see if there were any previously unseen reliability or quality control issues before they were released into the real world American and European markets. The Yamaha DT1 was being tested in this country a year before its release, and I believe they were released here a couple of months prior to world release. The #1 frame/engine number bike has been found along with a number with a few with numbers under 100 which would point to us at least getting the first shipment. I don't know whether we got them first but I clearly remember seeing and sitting on an SC500 Yamaha before I'd read anything about them in any of the overseas press. We at first thought they were super trick 'works bikes' bought into the country for the 'factory' riders to use. Sadly, were were proved wrong on that one .

We often got Maicos way before the Americans got them. I had my '74 LTR 440 in late 1973 yet the Americans didn't get them in any significant number until 6 moths later...hence the "74 1/2" tag while we merely called them the '74 model'.

[Hoony]

..................... The Yamaha DT1 was being tested in this country a year before its release, and I believe they were released here a couple of months prior to world release. The #1 frame/engine number bike has been found along with a number with a few with numbers under 100 which would point to us at least getting the first shipment.

Got any more to add to this Firko ? as the story sounds interesting.

[firko]

Not much Hoony...apparently the bike had been used by the factory for advance testing out in Woop Woop and was supposed to have been destroyed once its use was up. Instead it was stuck away in a farmers shed until being rediscovered about 15 years ago. The bloke who told me the story was making moves to try and buy it but the bike and the owner had dropped from sight. I've seen photos of the bike (a roughy) and its numbers so I've got no reason to doubt the bloke who told me (a respected journo, now departed). To quote X Files....'The truth is out there' .

[bazza]

Firko was that journalist P.J.Reed?

[farmer58za]

This KLX actually came from the 'States.
I borrowed it in 2003 to ride in an AHRMA event, then subsequently bought it in 2004, rode it again in another event in 2006 and only sent it "home" this year. The bike was owned by one of the Kawasaki USA staff.

Nontheless, the low Southern Hemisphere VIN number theory is most probably correct. In the '70's we appeared to be getting the latest jap stuff early. I remember the first KX250A4's which were given to sponsored riders and billed as "works bikes". It's likely that those were very low VIN numbers.

Not many KLX's were sold here. Probably because of their "play bike" image.

Regards
David

[firko]

Firko was that journalist P.J.Reed?

No Bazza, PJ Read is still very much alive. He's cut back on muckraking journalism and is now operating a hairdressing salon out of his girlfriends homes in Kirribilli and Canberra.

[bazza]

thought i saw a MX5 outside!!