1969 Kawasaki 100 Trail Bike Motorcycle Road Test - 5-Page Vintage Article

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1969 Kawasaki 100 Trail Bike Motorcycle Road Test - 5-Page Vintage Article
Original, vintage magazine advertisement / article.
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm)
Condition: Good
The Trail Bike Racers
Have a New Toy
to Play With.
Not long ago when small bore racing
first became popular here in the United
States, it was treated with a fair amount
of amusement from the larger dis-
placement bike riders. Since that time,
however, things have changed consid-
erably. No longer are the small bikes
classified as a toy, or a fill-in event to
keep the spectators amused between
larger displacement racing events.
The trail bike class has come into its
own. But then again, the word 'trail bike'
is probably a misnomer in this case. The
bike we've tested this month is about as
far removed from an ordinary trail bike as
one can get. It is a full-blown all-out
racing machine that has the same attri-
butes and qualities you would find in a
bigger machine, only it costs far less
money.
We have been hearing stories of this
new Kawasaki for quite some time now.
At some of the local events, this dimin-
utive machine often beat machines three
and four times its size. This in itself was
quite surprising, but then we figured this
is one of those factory one-off specials.
You know, a prototype. When the day
finally came for us to pick up our Kawa-
saki 100 for test purposes we were not
really sure what we were being handed.
We were in for quite a surprise.
For the uninitiated and inexperienced,
the power output of the G31M will
almost be frightening. The engine is quite
peaky and because of this we doubt that
anyone would have much fun riding it off
the road in anything other than an out
and out racing event. It is definitely not a
trail bike, and we emphasize the words
definitely not. While a lot of people will
be attracted to it because of its appear-
ance (it is the most beautiful 100cc
racing machine we have ever run across),
it would be a serious mistake for these
people to choose this particular mount
for their off-road transportation, because
they will be very unhappy later on. Far
better they should get something more
docile and easier to ride in the dirt for just
playing around
While the power does not come on
until you have the engine spinning over
at a fairly good rate, the power range
itself was surprisingly wide. For scram-
bles or TT use, this machine is ideal. For
moto-cross use. a few changes are in
order. First of all the gearing. As the
machine comes from the box it is geared
We d be hard pressed to come up
with a racing machine that was
'way too tall for moto-cross. For most
tracks, our estimate would be 6 to 10
teeth more on the back end. This is
providing the course is rough. The track
we use for testing is fairly smooth and
very fast, but even so. the gearing the
machine comes with wasstill too tall.
The greatest objection we had was the
suspension system It is mediocre The
forks would bottom and top out at the
slightest provocation When coming over
a jump at any speed at all, there would be
a loud clank when the front wheel came
off of the ground on the ascent, and when
the machine came back to earth there
was another loud clank as the forks
compressed and bottomed Also, the
dampening needs more attention, too.
The rear shocks, like the front end are
not adequate for this type of motorcycle.
The springs were fairly stiff for a 1 50 lb.
rider, and the dampening, like the front
end, was not all that it should be. As a
result, it was sometimes difficult to keep
both wheels on the ground when the
going got rough at higher speeds. The
power is rated at 1 8.5 hp at 10,250 rpm.
Also, the maximum torque is claimed to
be 9.75 ft. lbs. at 9750 rpm. Both of
these ratings seemed a bit high, espe-
cially the torque. However, the machine
is a genuine rocket, and it will more than
hold its own with the major portion of the
250's we have ridden lately, and will
really put it on most of the 100cc bikes
around, if not all.
The engine itself is not an all-new unit
or one of those special one-off types from
the factory It is quite conventional in
appearance and if you didn't know any
better you would swear it came from one
of the ordinary trail bikes and was merely
transplanted into the dress. You wouldn't
know the difference, that is, until you
opened the throttle.
One surprising thing was the starting.
It always started on the first kick and it
didn't make any difference if it was hot or
cold. The choke lever up on the handle-
bars has been eliminated, and the choke
actuating rod pokes up through the rub-
ber carburetor cover and has a ring
attached that you merely pull up to
engage the enrichening device on the
carburetor. Once in a while it was neces-
sary (when cold) to use this device to
start the motorcycle.
By looking at the expansion chamber
and stinger you get a pretty good idea as
to the true nature of this engine. The
rather small diameter and fairly short
length of the stinger will give you a clue
as to the peaky nature of this new
Kawasaki.
In an effort to find out just how many
types of events this motorcycle would be
good for, we tried it in various locations
and on a variety of surfaces, to find out
whether or not this motorcycle was
strictly a racer or could be used by the
weekend trail enthusiast. The answer
was quite conclusive. The weekend trail
rider had better look to something else.
The machine is not at all happy on
anything but a fast track. Neither is the
rider. It takes a great deal of effort to ride
this motorcycle on anything but fairly flat
more nicely finished Everything
was first cabin.
As the machine comes from the
crate, it's ready to do battle.
Even the number plates are in-
cluded...
16898