K4 1985-87

Model Details

Frame No from: KH125K-003001; engine No from: KH125DE011501; original colour schemes: Ebony & Sunbeam Red. New graphics on tank and side panels. 6v electrical system.

The KH125 K4 was launched in 1985 with a band new colour scheme. It's clear that Kawasaki still saw the KH125 as being an important model in their UK catalogue. While little, if anything, had changed in terms of the mechanicals from the previous 'K series' bikes, Kawasaki was still implementing a regime of paint and graphics changes every couple of years to keep the punters interested. This made perfect sense, keep the expensive tried and tested mechanical bits the same but refresh the look to keep up with modern tastes.

Kawasaki's UK market continued to be twofold. Firstly, the commuter who wanted cheap, reliable transport to get between home and work. These people weren't necessarily 'in to' motorbikes, they just wanted a no-fuss, fuel stingy mode of transport to get them around as required. There were no CBT rules as yet, so as long as you had 'L' plates fitted and you had a car license, you could ride for as many years as you liked on a 125cc bike. This suited many a factory worker who didn't want to run a car daily or spend extra on increasingly costly petrol. Economically the L plated 125cc made perfect sense and would continue to do so until 1990 and the CBT system.

Secondly, due to the laws in the UK, there were the (usually younger) learner riders who since 1983 couldn't ride anything above a 125cc bike. Previously that had been a 250cc bike but this had been reduced and as a result the 250cc sales market collapsed and the 125cc market now boomed. Learners could ride their 125's for a couple of years before having to lay off a year or take a test, bike or car. In reality many learners didn't take any tests after two years and just kept riding anyway. There were no ANPR cameras so you had to be physically pulled over by plod to get caught. Kawasaki had to ensure that as well as appealing to the commuters they had to tempt the younger learners too, they wanted a 125cc bike that differed as much as possible from their grandfather's step-thru! Updating the graphics and making the bike look like a bigger cc motorcycle was important to this market.

So. while the only notable change was the redesign of the colours and graphics, KH125 K4's were an essential part of the 125cc motorbike scene and seemed to have sold well alongside the usual learner fare such as the MZ TS, Suzuki GP, Honda CG and the Yamaha RS & SR. (If you were rich, or mummy and daddy were, you might have been lucky enough to have been spotted around town on a Suzuki GS, Kawasaki AR or a Yamaha RD!).

The K4 single page brochure featured a KH125 in the new Ebony Black colour scheme, one that was to be the longest lived of all the colour schemes in the UK. The blurb on the back is once again headed up with the 'Performance That Never Quits' tag line and is essentially the same as the K3 in detail with 'black tail light' and 'all weather disc brake' etc.