KDXRIDER.NET

Hey guys...just trying to find out some of the History behind the KDx, not for any reason other then sh*ts and giggles. has this bike won any championships? is it really a "legendary" bike as kawasaki claims...whats the info on this mysterious and very un publicised bike...?

Do a search on Jeff Fredett

http://www.frpoffroad.com/kdxposed/

Need I say more !?!?

When Penton was king, riders had allot of complaints about rider position ergonomics, gear ratios, power delivery, weight and the like. Kawasaki US was very interested in the growing sport of GNCC, Hare Scrambles and the like.

Kawasaki US took these issues to Ma Kaw and they developed a bike that would address all of the riders issues and as a prototype, Kawasaki US brought this Frankenstein to these races and put it up against the top bikes of the day and continued to tweak it until a production model could be feasable to produce.

The KDX was born. Early on the bike was very popular and won many races and caught the fancy of a young Jeff Fredette. A legend was born and Kawasaki continued to develop the 200cc bike until 1995. The 200c has been the same since 1995 and is in it's final configuration.

In 1997 Ma Kaw released a 220cc torque monster 2 stroke for those who wanted more bottom end to compete with Honda 4 strokes of the day. Let's face it, 2 strokes are still king.

1997 was the last year that Kawasaki stopped R&D on the KDX as KTM's and 4 wheelers had started becoming popular in the states and their following had become strong by 1998 and was cutting severely into the KDX's sales. The age of the KDX had started diminishing. This largely due to misguided attempts to fit in and not following their heads when purchasing a true purpose bike.

IMHO and all that!~

Great write-up Indawoods!!! I did not know any of that background!!

All this was happening along the same time that Jack Penton was importing KTM's under his own name.....

what does R&D stand fr again??? lol

Research & Devel opment

Part of this has come to mind from other threads...but...

I've talked with thumper (big and small) riders, KTM 2T riders, some of them BIG punkin 2T riders that have said the same thing:

"If I'd known.....'

or..

"I wish I had one'a those..."(pointing to the KDX)

Also, I get asked repeatedly, 'You still HAVE that?'

I don't get most of it.

Inda wrote:This largely due to misguided attempts to fit in and not following their heads when purchasing a true purpose bike.

Amen!

I ride in the woods. The KDX is tailor-made for such. WHY get some other bike? It makes absolutely no sense a'tall.

Last poker run we got stacked up in a couple of spots. Got to watch mostly young guys on too big-a-bike not make it on some quite simple uphills. They'd get tossed by roots, stall out on the grade or loop things because they didn't have the bottom-end they needed or had way too much bottom end to control.

Sure. Mostly rider problems. But a forgiving bike is, well, more forgiving than a punishing monster bike (maybe a 380 punkin? Or a CRF450?).

After the goobers got mostly out of the way...up went my KDX, piece of cake. Right behind me, up comes Wibby..piece of cake. I think both of us wondered what the heck the problem was with the snarl behind us.

This post doesn't add anything to the historical facts of the matter..but it does speak to the WHY of there BEING any in the first place!!

There are perfectly acceptable reasons for getting a different bike. Considering where the KDX is 'supposed' to be used and HOW it should be used, it's not easy choosing a better woods bike.

Yep. This all a completely biased and mostly subjective point of view.

So?

Indawoods wrote:All this was happening along the same time that Jack Penton was importing KTM's under his own name.....

This is gonna' make me sound really dumb . . . and I guess my excuse is being out of the sport for a while . . . but is the reason for Penton's disappearance the arrival of the KTM?? The two are "connected"?

'Knew a guy with a Penton 400 back in my youthful MX days. I remember it being ridiculously gutsy (my YZ250 seemed puny by comparison). Of course, he always seemed to be working on it.

I guess thay are.... Penton's concern was bulletproof bikes. That meant weight in those days....