Owners’ stories: Laurence Kelly and Andrew Samways

Laurence Kelly, owner of the blue KH250: “It was April 1977 and just about to leave Thomas Alleyne’s Boys School and what a brilliant time to be 16 with the sports moped revolution in full swing. All I could think of was getting my provisional licence and buying a bike. My best mate was slightly older than me and his big brother had just purchased a Daytona Orange BMW R90 S. It might have been from Hexagon London but all I knew was it was also a Kawasaki dealer as well. Anyway, he came away with the KH250 for my mate and the Beemer for himself. I received a phone call to go and have a look – oh my God, a two-stroke with three exhausts – it looked and sounded amazing, too. I was instantly hooked. RDS where nice but to my mind these Kawasaki triples were special (and still are!). My friend had to wait 12 weeks until his birthday before he could legally ride it on L plates, but what a lucky boy. It wasn’t until I was 54 that I finally acquired my 250, which is same year, different blue, but sounds just as special as it did back in the day. It’s a 1977 UK bike on an R plate and came via the Kawasaki Triples Club.” Andrew Samways, owner of the red KH250: “YVS621S was first registered in the UK in June 1978 and before I became the owner and brought it back to life it had been off road since June 1981 so may never have had an MOT! I had plenty of leftover parts from past projects and with the help of the big family that is the Kawasaki Triples Club was able to source missing items. Good friends in the club helped do the paintwork and engine building. Many used parts went into it but the crank, pistons and some engine components were new. New taper roller headstock and swing arm bearings were fitted into the repainted frame. Some parts are getting difficult to find and a fuel tank (again through the club) was a good deal but still needed Steve Cooper to do a good clean inside. I was forever trying to filter out particles that were causing hassle on start-ups. The chain guard was a Stafford autojumble find in need of attention but it’s ended up looking good from a distance. Paintwork is from an earlier model but it’s one of my favourite schemes so that’s what I went with. It’s only recently been fully run-in so up until now I’ve been taking it easy. With all the help I’ve had it still adds up to a fair old cost and if I add up those hours in its resurrection it’s never going to be a bike to make me money. But it does give you that good feeling when it chirps into life. These small triples really do have a unique appeal.”