Kawaski 250EX running costs

[Supermac Jr]

I getting ready to sell the bike (upgrade) and was going through all the service invoices. Turns out the over the last four years I've traveled around 65,000km, serviced the bike 12 times, currently on the 4th set of tires, a few sets of brake pads, two light bulbs...

Total spend around $3,800 - That works out to $0.06/km (excl insurance, fuel, depreciation)

Cheap as chips

[SMOKEU]

I'm lucky if a headlight bulb lasts me 1000km.

[Akzle]

thank you, OP. for re-enforcing what no-one cares about: motorcycling costs money but is fun.
(just wait until you get a big-boy bike)

what are you upgrading to?

I'm lucky if a headlight bulb lasts me 1000km.
yeah. it's fucked. sort it out. there's this black electrician down' your ways that'd probly do it cheap...i think he's an illegal immigrant. maybe a terrorist. but he'll fix your bike.

[SMOKEU]

yeah. it's fucked. sort it out. there's this black electrician down' your ways that'd probly do it cheap...i think he's an illegal immigrant. maybe a terrorist. but he'll fix your bike.

What's this guys number? It seems totally legit to me from what you've said so far.

[sootie]

I getting ready to sell the bike (upgrade) and was going through all the service invoices. Turns out the over the last four years I've traveled around 65,000km, serviced the bike 12 times, currently on the 4th set of tires, a few sets of brake pads, two light bulbs...

Total spend around $3,800 - That works out to $0.06/km (excl insurance, fuel, depreciation)

Cheap as chips
It is a Kawasaki mate.
The motorcycle design engineers share a facility with Kawasaki aircraft designers. People who design flying machines tend to have some quite good ideas on how to build things to be reliable, and easy to service.
Kawasaki is a very old & experienced Japanese manufacturing company with a very big name to protect in Japan.
I suspect they only make motorcycles to advertise themselves to westerners! They make serious money from ship building, aircraft, & a host of other things. I don't think they want any "dud" motorbike models going out with their name on them. Kawasaki never really do promote themselves much, but I am fairly sure that a lot of Honda & Suzuki motor vehicles are assembled by Kawasaki robots. (yet another division!)
Kawasaki also seem to have a bit of bad luck in their ventures, but that is another story - have a read up on the company! (See Kawasaki Heavy Industries.)
PS: My last few bikes have been Kwakas - I would complain about the light bulbs. The Kawasakis I have had all use great charging systems & should not do that. Battery in my present bike is going in to its 18th year of use!

[sootie]

I'm lucky if a headlight bulb lasts me 1000km.

Have you had a look at how high your charging system takes the battery voltage when it is fully charged?
I once owned an OMC outboard which could float a fully charged battery up to 16.5 Volts!
The charging system was really crude on that.
Later I found out that these engines had a habit of blowing up the CD electronic ignition sytem they used.
I wonder why? :yawn:

[SMOKEU]

Have you had a look at how high your charging system takes the battery voltage when it is fully charged?
I once owned an OMC outboard which could float a fully charged battery up to 16.5 Volts!
The charging system was really crude on that.
Later I found out that these engines had a habit of blowing up the CD electronic ignition sytem they used.
I wonder why? :yawn:

Mine isn't over volting the battery. While the engine is running with a fully charged battery, the voltage is just under 14V, and the voltage drops as the revs increase.

[sootie]

Mine isn't over volting the battery. While the engine is running with a fully charged battery, the voltage is just under 14V, and the voltage drops as the revs increase.

That sounds pretty ideal. Someone told me that NZ has been importing some fairly dodgy automotive bulbs from China in recent years. I am not sure if that has anything to do with your regular headlight burnout, but I think I have only blown one bike headlamp bulb and one car bulb in the last few decades.

A lot of bikes (older & off road particularly) use charging alternators with no field current control - very crude.
It becomes very unsatisfactory once you start getting an electrical load which can vary a lot with rider usage.
My little scooter struggles. Full time headlight usage makes it hard to maintain the battery charge with a lot of heavy traffic usage. I often use the throttle to keep the idle speed up deliberately. I would not be surprised at that thing popping the odd bulb!

[sil3nt]

(just wait until you get a big-boy bike)When are you getting yours?

[Akzle]

When are you getting yours?

when i can afford it mann..

but tbh i think 750 is enough.
certainly can't see the need for anything bigger than a thou...

[ducatilover]

It is a Kawasaki mate.
The motorcycle design engineers share a facility with Kawasaki aircraft designers.

GPZ400R = blew the gearbox, 16,000km on the clock
ZZR400K = main bearings and rod bearings at 64,000km
ZZR600D = 2 stators, 4 reg recs withing 3000km

:laugh: I love my Kawakas

[cheshirecat]

Prob get a bit cheaper but haven't worked it out yet. Do my own oil, brake fluids and coolant. Pads last 5/60,000k, no workshop servicing required since none needed. No cam chain to change either. Still on original 94 bulbs. One rectifier 14 years ago.

[sootie]

GPZ400R = blew the gearbox, 16,000km on the clock
ZZR400K = main bearings and rod bearings at 64,000km
ZZR600D = 2 stators, 4 reg recs withing 3000km

:laugh: I love my Kawakas

How do you get on with Ducatis?
One of my mates has one which needs servicing every second time he fills the gas tank!
Sometimes he uses my Kawasaki tool kit to get it going again at the side of the road!
It looks pretty, but I don't like the engineering much. I have an Italian designed scooter with
fairly average engineering throughout, but I will admit it has grown on me!
Must admit, your statistics above have me surprised - tell me more!

During WW2 most of the Zero engines came from Mitsubishi, but a few were made by Kawasaki.
The Jap pilots apparently fought over who got them. They reckoned when a US Corsair filled you full of 50 calibre machine gun holes the Kwaka donkey might still get you home.

[ducatilover]

How do you get on with Ducatis?
One of my mates has one which needs servicing every second time he fills the gas tank!
Sometimes he uses my Kawasaki tool kit to get it going again at the side of the road!
It looks pretty, but I don't like the engineering much. I have an Italian designed scooter with
fairly average engineering throughout, but I will admit it has grown on me!
Must admit, your statistics above have me surprised - tell me more!



I get along with them fine, mind you, I don't own one :facepalm: They're not very hard to work on anyway, they're like Lego.
The Italians seem to make pretty things, then forget what they were doing and stuff the rest up, I love 'em.

Just a bunch of shitty reg/recs. Both original Kwak stators died very quickly, then I would one pole backwards whilst half pissed... the stator I wound and Bogan on here fixed is fine though, has been working well for quite some time.
I've found Kawasakis of that era are just a ballistic engine, nice frame and the rest is an afterthough, the wiring in ZZR4/6s is shit :no: But, I'm persistent.

[sootie]

I get along with them fine, mind you, I don't own one :facepalm: They're not very hard to work on anyway, they're like Lego.
The Italians seem to make pretty things, then forget what they were doing and stuff the rest up, I love 'em.

Just a bunch of shitty reg/recs. Both original Kwak stators died very quickly, then I would one pole backwards whilst half pissed... the stator I wound and Bogan on here fixed is fine though, has been working well for quite some time.
I've found Kawasakis of that era are just a ballistic engine, nice frame and the rest is an afterthough, the wiring in ZZR4/6s is shit :no: But, I'm persistent.

My main bike is a 94 ZZR1100. It has nearly been around the clock (like its owner) but I think it may go for ever. It is the best motorcycle engine I have ever known. You can ride beside a push bike & talk to its rider, or cruise it all day at pretty much any speed you like. I regard the handling as good, but there is better around. The c of g is a bit high, but it is a sport cruiser, not a true sport bike. At legal speeds (this is hard) it does about 4.7l/100km. This is actually slightly better than my Piaggio Fly 150cc Italian scooter can manage at any speed I have tried! I have had no electrical problems, and a previous owner must have stored it outside quite a bit. There is a bit of corosion around some electrical plugs. When I got the bike at 70,000 it had obviously had almost no maintenance done to it at all and that has made it a sweeter machine.
Ducatis are like Leggo - I like that - shall pass on to my mate at a suitable moment!

[ducatilover]

My main bike is a 94 ZZR1100. It has nearly been around the clock (like its owner) but I think it may go for ever. It is the best motorcycle engine I have ever known. You can ride beside a push bike & talk to its rider, or cruise it all day at pretty much any speed you like. I regard the handling as good, but there is better around. The c of g is a bit high, but it is a sport cruiser, not a true sport bike. At legal speeds (this is hard) it does about 4.7l/100km. This is actually slightly better than my Piaggio Fly 150cc Italian scooter can manage at any speed I have tried! I have had no electrical problems, and a previous owner must have stored it outside quite a bit. There is a bit of corosion around some electrical plugs. When I got the bike at 70,000 it had obviously had almost no maintenance done to it at all and that has made it a sweeter machine.
Ducatis are like Leggo - I like that - shall pass on to my mate at a suitable moment!

The only bad part 'bout them was early ones had soft cams and ate themselves easily, but 98% of those have been fixed. Lovely bike them.
That's using less gas than my 600 :blink: My ZZR was a very well maintained bike ('till I messed with it :D )

[EJK]

If Kawasakis are reliable, then how good is Honda?

[sootie]

If Kawasakis are reliable, then how good is Honda?

The last Honda I owned was a 1981 model I think. I sincerely believe that they have greatly improved their engineering since then. My last Suzuki was even earlier than that. I can tell you though that at that time the Kwakas packed more power per cc, were more reliable, had better electrical systems, and were just better engineered in everything I looked at including ease of servicing. I think they have always been marketed less agressively. Nowdays, I think all the major brands are pretty good.

I do find it interesting though that Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha basically make nearly all their money from motor vehicles. With Kawasaki it seems to be a minor offshoot of enthusiasts who associate with the aviation industry. You can see this in some of their engineering.

Incidently, Kawasaki hold a number of contracts for the Japanese military. One of them is for supply of a long range recconaisance aircraft to fullfill the role previously played by US supplied Orion P3s. A review showed that it beat the Orion on every point of evaluation. What I can't understand is why Japan has made no attempt to manufacture these for export. Again - typical Kawasaki.

[GSF]

Incidently, Kawasaki hold a number of contracts for the Japanese military. One of them is for supply of a long range recconaisance aircraft to fullfill the role previously played by US supplied Orion P3s. A review showed that it beat the Orion on every point of evaluation. What I can't understand is why Japan has made no attempt to manufacture these for export. Again - typical Kawasaki.

From what I understand the Japanese have had a self-imposed ban on military exports for the last 40 years. It's only been in the last few months they've been thinking of binning it due to some potentially lucrative contracts with Lockheed Martin.

[sootie]

From what I understand the Japanese have had a self-imposed ban on military exports for the last 40 years. It's only been in the last few months they've been thinking of binning it due to some potentially lucrative contracts with Lockheed Martin.

I guess that would explain it. The Kawasaki aircraft involved here though is mainly being used for long range search & rescue work. It sounds like a little honey of a machine which would sell very well to most countries if they ever get the OK. The Orions are a very old design now.

Kawasaki seem to have had a long history of getting themselves in to funny corners like this with aircraft and with motorcycles! Lockheed Martin (think Skunk Works!) are another interesting company with their new developments.