Kawasaki S1
Quite possibly the coolest learner 250 ever - according to our own Steve Cooper.
We've said, they've said and you've probably said - Kawasaki's triple cylinder S1 250cc learner of the 1970s is without doubt the sexiest of the lot.
Yamaha's RDS handled better, Suzuki's GTS went faster and Honda's CBS were more economical yet nothing, but nothing, looked or sounded like the smallest capacity three-pot stroker from the Kawasaki brand. This machine, without argument, exists simply because marketing teams out-trumped the Engineering and R&D teams at Kawasaki's product planning meetings as the Psychedelic Sixties clicked over into the Glam Rock 70s.
Know that there were no genuinely logical reasons to build a three cylinder 250 and marvel at the persuasive powers of those smart-arse wise-guys. They were able to sell negative spin about Kawasaki's A1 250 and A7 350, even though they were exceedingly potent disc-valve twins. This pair of machines had earned a phenomenal reputation for decent handling allied to stunningly crisp performance. The duo had the potential to be the top sellers of their respective capacity brackets and had only failed to sell dramatically more because of a poor distribution set up that was only parlous at best. With a decent marketing campaign and a better infrastructure, Kawasaki could arguably have kept the twosome running as long as Suzuki managed with their GT250. However, within Kawasaki there was a perceived golden opportunity there for the taking - as long as the main ;)
protagonists were willing to take a gamble.
Kawasaki had launched the manic, rabid and frankly lunatic Hl, Mach Ill, 500 triple in 1968 as much as a publicity generating vehicle as anything else. Its phenomenal success was due in no small part to the hyperbole that the Press built around the bike and the PR guys back at base could see the innate value of a broader and bolder model line-up. Why not build an entire range of piston-ported, two-stroke triples? Ultimately it wouldn't matter whether the bikes spawned by the 500 were necessarily class leaders because they'd all be tarred with the same brush, guilty by association, partners in crime, etc. Unwittingly, Kawasaki had rediscovered one of Oscar Widle's famous lines: "There's only one thing worse than being talked about and that's not being talked about!"
Sl triple production began in March 1971 for the 1972 model year and launch in America even though very few were actually sold there; Kawasaki's USA focus was very much on the remarkably similar S2 350. From 72 on the Sl triple was an object of supreme desire for learner riders around the globe. Here was the most number of cylinders you could have on a 250; the bike sounded like nothing else that was 'beginner compliant'; and that asymmetric tail-end just added to the kudos. That so few early Sls were sold in Britain was largely down to a very patchy dealer network allied to a rather vague and nebulous spares supply network. Things changed for the better just as the entire range of machines was rebranded and Kawasaki themselves took over UK distribution circa 1976. When the Sl became the KH250 the bike gradually changed over its now limited lifetime, mirroring the various upgrades perpetuated across the various other models.
The 250, in KH guise, managed to hold on until 1980 in the UK sales sheets, but by then was beginning to look and feel a little tired. The move to 125cc learner machines did little for the residual value or desirability of the bikes and the quarter-litre junior triple rapidly fell from grace. And yet despite all of this the original S series 250s retained an ethereal kudos - they were something rather special.
Four decades later the bike is massively in demand and remains the cheapest (a relative term) of the legendary triples, but why would you want one now? Listen to one fire up and tell us it's not an experience to be enjoyed. Tweak the throttle and savour that sensory overload of aural delights. Now, if you're lucky, throw a leg over the seat then tap it into gear, let out the clutch and delight in what is a singularly unique experience: nothing that sported L-plates felt, sounded or ran like a Kawasaki SL/KH250. The rasping exhaust note, the howl of the intake system, the ride ... there's really absolutely nothing like it. Without dispute the Sl wasn't the fastest, the best-handling or most economical of the early to mid-1970s learner-legal 250s, but none of that matters. It's the looks, the sounds, the sensations... oh, and the myths that grab you every time.
Did Kawasaki's marketing people make the right call? Should the Sl triple have replaced and supplanted the technically more competent and possibly faster Al twin? If you are reading this now with a smile on your face or wry inward grin, then you already know the answer!