Classic from the crate

With only 1.7 of pushing miles on the clock, this Kawasaki KH250 triple had been stored for 22 years in a warehouse. That explains why Rod Ker wasn't able to ride it but rely on memories of his own example all those years ago.

KAWASAKI'S early foray into motorcycle manufacture involved a thinly-disguised version of the BSA A10 twin, at a time when even the British had moved on to better things. The company then came up with a range of 250 and 350cc two stroke twins which were both fast and innovative.
Unfortunately, this wasn't enough to set them apart from other Japanese two stroke twins made by Suzuki and Yamaha, so Kawasaki went one better - the famous 'Green Meanie' triples had arrived.
Starting in 1969 with the 500cc H1 (which, just to confuse us, was badged as the Mach III and nicknamed Blue Streak), by 1972 the range had been expanded in both directions. At the seriously scary end, the H2 750 boasted 72 bhp and was probably the fastest thing on two wheels. At entry level, there were new 250 and 350cc models, a lot slower but of more relevance to the average punter.
The S1 250 was particularly important in the UK market, which was still dominated by sales of quarter-litre bikes. Nowadays, of course, teenagers have to go through a complicated (and expensive) rigmarole before being allowed near a public road on a machine capable of more than 65 mph.
Back in the carefree Seventies, however, all you needed was a provisional licence, a set of L-plates and a roll of sticky tape to attach same to the fork legs and rear mudguard.
A bit of money helped too, but a couple of hundred quid's worth of 'drip feed' was ample to set you up for a 90 mph bike apprenticeship. Or even a bit more than 90 mph...
The battle to produce a true 100 mph 250 had been raging for years. Ducati and Suzuki were strong contenders in the 1960s but with a claimed 32 bhp, the first S1 triple looked more likely to crack the magic ton than most.
Whether it actually could, or did, is a moot point. For one thing, Kawasaki's sales operation in the UK was so small that S1s were rarer than hen's dentists, so road test evidence is hard to find. For another, S1s were geared for acceleration rather than top speed, so even if the power was there the revs ran out somewhere short of three digits.
Sadly, for those who cared about such things, the succeeding S1-A of 1973 had been redesigned in such a way that even its maker admitted power was down to 28 bhp. The trend continued through S1-B and S1-C variants, but that didn't stop the smallest triple from gaining a reputation as the perfect machine for those with a matching IQ and shoe size.
By this stage Kawasaki had a properly organised UK dealer network. Bike sales were booming and S1s were everywhere, leaving their characteristic trail of noise, blue smoke and oiled-up spark plugs.
Yet the long hot summers of 1975 and '76 were perhaps the heyday of the triples. Already the future for two strokes in general looked less than secure and Kawasaki obviously wasn't going to waste money on a radical redesign.
Technological advances
WHICH brings us to the KH250, released in 1976. On the bright side, it finally had a front disc brake like the opposition - earlier models had relied on a two-leading-shoe drum.
Less happily, in order to cope with new legislation the engine had been detuned again, resulting in a top speed of barely more than 80 mph and an emasculated version of that distinctive screaming exhaust note.
Meanwhile, the all-conquering Z1 was turning into the slower and softer Z900 and more undistinguished four strokes singles and twins were in the pipeline. Kawasakis were becoming boring!
As the last surviving triple, the KH250 increasingly fell by the wayside, running through B1, B2 and B3 versions without any significant modifications except for the inevitable colour/graphics changes. 1979, the all-time boom year for bike sales, saw the B4 appearing in shops, again unchanged save for snappy white and green paintwork.
While the writing was definitely on the wall for the KH by the time the B4 arrived, there was a final B5 model, finished in a lime green colour scheme loosely inspired by Kork Ballington's racing success (on bikes with absolutely nothing in common).
And that was that. No more Green Meanie triples. The end of an era.
Sad though this may seem now from a classic perspective, no-one really cried too much at the time. To shift unsold stock, Kawasaki flogged off the last KH250s for a few hundred quid to dealers.