Classic test: 1989 KAWASAKI KR1
The testers of the day didn’t hold back the superlatives when the KR1 was launched in 1989. One enthused about a bike “with such reserves of handling, braking and useful power that its limitations are only found in the deepest reaches of rider ability”. The KR1, he concluded, was “a production bike par excellence – one of the best instant racebikes a budding Wayne Gardner could buy”.
Kawasaki’s achievement with the 250cc two-stroke twin was to bring a slice of grand prix style, sound and glamour to the street. On the world’s racetracks in 1989, Honda’s former champ Gardner was taking on Eddie Lawson, Wayne Rainey and Kevin Schwantz on 500cc V4 two-strokes. But it was in the 250cc class that the streetbike battle was raging, as the KR1 arrived to compete with Yamaha’s TZR250 and Suzuki’s RGV250 in a frenzy of screaming engines and smoking exhausts.
Those few years in the late 1980s and early Nineties were the heyday of race-replica quarter-litre strokers. Their rev-happy twin-cylinder engines made 50bhp and gave top speeds of over 125mph. Their aluminium frames helped keep their dry weight below 130kg and their narrow power bands and sweet-steering chassis made every ride down a twisty road an opportunity to imitate
