Unusually, The Z250 Twin was conceived very much with a UK market in mind. Local laws here meant at the time that as a learner you could ride bikes up to 250cc on ‘L’ plates until you passed your motorcycle test.
The design brief was issued in 1975 and the first prototype sent for evaluation by Kawasaki UK in 1976. Development was continued until 1978 with Kawaski UK involved at every stage unil the Scorpion’s show launch that year. The Kawasaki Z250 came late to a party which was heavily dominated by Honda in the late 1970’s, but eventually became a dynasty of bikes .Click on the brochures for more details of that model
Many of Kawasaki UK’s staff were drawn from previous jobs the British Motorcycle industry and this seems to have led to a lightweight bike with good handling. Ease of maintenance was also quoted in contemporary tests as one of the Z250’s virtues.
The timing of the bikes arrival in 1979 was very fortunate as it coincided with Kawasaki’s double World Championship win with factory rider Kork Ballington. A replica model was added to the range in the factory’s racing colour scheme with special badges and a black engine.
In its final incarnations the twin changed to the belt drive, uni-track suspension Z250T and Gpz305. Alongside the twins Kawasaki produced a small ‘Z’ Single the Kawasaki Z250C and its custom sister the Z250LTD, also a whole range of capable off road singles in the KL250 range
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