UPDATE – The seller of this beautiful Kawasaki has decided to lower their reserve significantly, so we are relisting it for them! Be sure to take another look at this rare find and don’t forget to cast your high bid below.
Formerly a somewhat quiet manufacturer of dirt bikes without a lot of success in that area, Kawasaki made a very loud noise with their new Uni-Trak KX250-A6 which was introduced for the 1980 model year. Rare to see today, this 1980 Kawasaki KX250-A6 is listed here as a Barn Finds Auction. Reader Andrew has given us an incredible list of maintenance and restoration parts, which can be viewed here, that have been lavished on this beautiful and collectible museum-quality Kawasaki. Get your bids in on this one!
Kawasaki was not known for having the best dirt bikes and motocross motorcycles until the late-1970s when things started turning around. Then in 1980, their new Uni-Trak model came out and things turned way around. They weren’t the best handling motorcycles up until that point but they had great, powerful engines, which as you can imagine isn’t an ideal scenario. Other manufacturers were jumping on the rear mono-shock bandwagon at the same time and Kawasaki had them in 125 cc, 420 cc, and 250 cc models as with this bike.
The strut is hard to see in the photos but it’s sort of visible under the seat if you look carefully. It’s a KYB gas-charged single strut with 3.5-inches of travel and it mounts on the front portion of the Uni-Trak. They need maintenance at certain pivot points and bearings and the seller says that this bike has been updated with many OEM parts including new bearings and seals at the Uni-Trak mounting points and updated needle bearings rather than nylon sleeves which should last a long time, that is if anyone actually rides this museum piece.
This Kawasaki appears to be in like-new or better condition, with a few updates and modifications which can be reversed if the next owner decides to do that. This sounds like a labor of love and it took seven years to complete what was apparently a nut-and-bolt restoration to get this motorcycle to this level. There are 11.8-inches of travel including the KYB strut and Uni-Trak and they’re reportedly great-handling bikes but not world-changing compared to previous models. What they did, however, was to show that this system worked great and that it would evolve over the decades to what a lot of riders are using today.
The engine is Kawasaki’s 249 cc two-stroke single with around 40 horsepower. The seller tells us that it has been totally rebuilt with all-new fasteners and a Wiesco piston and more. If you’d like to own this beautifully-restored 1980 Kawasaki KX250-A6, please be sure to bid and ask any questions in the comments section below. Best of luck to all bidders, someone will be getting possibly the nicest example in existence.
- Location: Carlstadt, New Jersey
- VIN: KX250A600280
- Title Status: Clean
Bid On This Auction
BJ bid $3,100.00 2023-06-07 09:51:25
Chad Cunningham bid $3,000.00 2023-06-06 19:01:08- BJ bid $2,800.00 2023-06-06 16:23:06
- Chad Cunningham bid $2,500.00 2023-06-06 15:39:38
- BJ bid $2,200.00 2023-06-06 15:18:42
- Chad Cunningham bid $2,000.00 2023-06-06 11:45:45
- BJ bid $1,900.00 2023-06-06 09:55:42
- Chad Cunningham bid $1,800.00 2023-06-05 16:23:19
- BJ bid $1,400.00 2023-06-04 07:35:45
Ski Dogg 64 bid $1,300.00 2023-06-01 10:54:15
FORDmanGT bid $1,200.00 2023-05-30 21:36:07
Samm bid $1,000.00 2023-05-30 19:41:18- FORDmanGT bid $250.00 2023-05-30 17:09:08
Oh. Hell. Yeah. This is a gem and takes me right back to to my early teenage years. I had a CR80R, then a YZ125J, and later several YZ250’s (J’s, K’s, and even an H that I bought later in life) but in that day they were all neck and neck and it really boiled down to what color you liked the best, lol.
I would want to ride this thing every day…or, maybe put it on a stand in the middle of my living room so I could just sit and stare at it for hours on end.
I,m With You Mike , I Bought One From Manchester Honda Motorcycles , Ok My Boss Bought It As A Bonus , Man It Was Better Than Nookie
Man this is gonna go way up. That’s a 2-stroke as well. The good days!
I think everyone over 50 will look at this and reflect on their misspent youth. My ridge rider was a 175 Enduro. This was a morning surprise that brought smiles to everybody here. Thanks and good luck to the seller. It looks great.
This had to be about the time that the Japanese started to take some of the fire away from the Europeans. Back in the good ol’ days the bikes to beat were the CZs with Husqvarna right in there. Bultaco, Greeves, and the inventor of the ‘Mono-Shock’ rear suspension, Maico, were all forces to contend with. Yamaha brought out the DT-1 in ‘68 and it actually got some recognition, especially if it had a ‘GYT KIT’ installed. When Maico showed up with the first Mono-Shock its presence was immediately felt. Then the Japanese started using it, and never looked back.
Interesting that the head on this bike has a distinct resemblance to the one on the Maico. If I was a little younger I’d take on another dirt bike but with two bad knees, a bad hip and a bad ankle, I think my dirt bike days are pretty much wrapped up…
I’m still drooling…this is the best example I’ve seen since BITD.
This was the era of falling rate suspensions. They were still figuring out the uni trak and the harder you landed from a jump the softer the suspension got which pitched the rider straight over the bars. My son has a 1981 KDX 175 we bought three years ago. The original owner bailed at speed a few weeks after buying it new and parked it for 40 years. We straightened the bars and he thrashes it every weekend. Tough simple fun bikes.
Is the gas tank original or a reproduction?
This would be a great ride –
I had the 250 watercooled version that succeeded it by a year or two – for trail riding especially, it was one of the best sweetest handling early model motorcross bikes ever ! Mine was the gold swingarm model – very similar styling to this one. Fast usable Engine , smooth working long travel suspension both ends and sweet steering made it awesome is the bush – felt light too
In comparison to a new RM250 81 Yr model i owned some years before it – it steered and rode trail type bumps way better ; a shit load better on fuel too
Dirt bike magizines at the time all raved about how good Suzukis full floater was ; well in the bush over smaller and sharper hits my KX 250 s rear worked noticeably better – no doubt about that
Just a superb all round dirt bike – sadly missed now
Jr
Can – Ams were pretty cool too😎 🇨🇦🇺🇸
Also Hodaka
You kind of don’t want a restored ‘crosser because then you won’t want to ride it as intended. Never had a Kawasaki one; I had a Bultaco Pursang 370.
Time Machine – these were tough bikes that started the Jap bike invasion with mono-shock. It was a game changer and these bikes got better into the 1980s 90s.
“REALLY CLEAN BIKE” What real biker wouldn’t eat a little “DIRT”to get a hold of this bike running or not!!!
“Cast” is the key word there,,,perhaps “submit” would be a better word,,, :),,kidding aside, this was the hottest stick out there. Even a doofus like me could look good on one.
Geo tech is spot on I had a Yamaha 250 enduro then traded it in on a far superior husquvarna 125 that though much smaller handled better and had more torque that was one tough trail bike
The Uni-Trak was Kawasaki’s version of Yamaha’s Mono-Shock, except the Uni-Trak has more pivot points and didn’t work as well as Yamaha’s. Yamaha made a killing on the motocross circuit with their setup and theirs was patented.