UK History
KH125 - Brief Model History
Most of the information below and on the model pages, comes from various sources including service manuals, advertising, magazine extracts, photographs, micro-fiches and very kind contributors who worked with these bikes back in the day.
The KH Series of bikes was introduced in Japan in the early 1970's mainly consisting of the 'mad' triple two strokes, KH500, KH400 and the KH250. The smallest in the series was the KH100 single. By 1976 the KH125 had also been added to the KH stable. (Below a Galaxy Silver K1)
UK KH125 A1-A4
The KH125 A1 was introduced into the UK in 1977 followed by the A2, A3 & A4. The 'A' series KH125's had rounded headlights and tail-lights, curved tanks and more rounded engine cases. The 'round' theme was continued in the standard mirrors, circular clocks and the round indicator units. It had a 6 speed gearbox. The last of the 'A' series came out in 1981/2. The original A1 colours were 'Flame Orange' and 'Prussian Blue' though by the A4 there had been a number of interesting colour schemes including Candy Lime Green and Persimmon Red.
In 1982 the story gets a little fuzzy. An A5 version was released in parts of continental Europe and Australia but a number of documents I've seen don't list this version in the UK, probably because the K series was already on sale here. Also, a KH125 'D' version with different styling was released between 1982 and 1985 and this was definitely not officially available at local UK Kawasaki dealers. The 'D' engine and 5 speed gearbox was put into the K-series KH125s from 1982. (Below an advert for an A1).
Power Output
The UK was supplied with a different carburettor compared to the rest of the European market due to British regulations. In the UK, a Mikuni VM19SC was used instead of the Mikuni VM22SC. The UK version of the ‘K’ series got around 12Hp from the little two-stroke engine, two horsepower down on European neighbours who had a giddy 14Hp on tap! The KH125 in Britain basically had the same power as the KH100. In magazine tests, the top speed with standard kit (optimistically, downhill and with a following wind) for the 'A' and 'K' series was an indicated 72 mph and 74 mph respectively.
KH125 K1-K10 & L1 Ex
1982 saw the release of the first of the restyled 'K' series KH125's in the UK. The curvy feel of the 'A' series was replaced by squares and angles. The tank was more slab-sided, the headlight, indicators and tail-light became rectangular, the instruments boxed in, the side panels more triangular, a chrome grab rail was added, the engine cases redesigned and the standard mirrors squared off. The K1 and K2 ('82 & '83) were virtually identical with the same colour schemes. I haven’t found a distinct division between K1 & K2 in terms of frame numbers as the microfiche list both as going up to frame number 001600. The rest of the 'K' series had a much more useful numbering system.
The KH125EX L1 from 1984 was a kind of ‘odd-one-out’. It’s identical to the rest of the ‘K’ series but had cast wheels rather than the usual spokes. There were new side panel badges with KH125EX and Polar White paint which was only available on the L1. (The same cast wheels appeared on the KH100EX available in the UK). (Below an L1-Ex with alloy wheels in rare Polar White).
The 'K' series continued between 1984 and 1991 with the K3 to K6. There were colour scheme changes with the series being dominated by 'Sunbeam Red' and 'Ebony', the most common colours shared by most of the 'K' series. There was very little in terms of mechanical changes.
The most notable change to the 'K' series came with the K7 in 1992 when the electrical system was upgraded from the rather feeble 6v to 12v. K9 and K10 were offered in the UK in 1994 and 1997 respectively. What of the 1993 K8? I have no information on any version called K8 though some online pattern parts dealers mistakenly put K8 on their sites as a logical run from K7-K9. The frame number difference between the start of K7 & K9 is only 1500 units and this suggests that a K8 was rather unlikely. If you know better please let me know, thanks!
The K10 KH125 was finally withdrawn from Kawasaki dealerships in 1998. It was the end of a long model history in the UK though the KH125 continued to be sold in Asia and South America with the model name 'GTO' and 'GTO Speedster'. (Below is a collection of 1970's KH125 adverts from Japan).
