Craig’s Motorcycles
1991 Kawasaki KDX200F (SR)
The Virago was great as far as it went, but when it came to dirt tracks, it didn't go as far as I wanted it to. I found myself longing to get into bush-bashing again after having been away from it for about fourteen years. I really love the mountains and forests around Melbourne. Giant tree ferns and mountain ash, the tallest hardwood trees in the world, mud, eucalyptus-scented fresh air, two-stroke fumes... Getting out in the thick of it is so good for the soul.
After a lot of searching, in December 2001 I found a bike I could both afford and be excited by—this 1991 KDX200. I owned it for somewhere over two years and had a ball. I'm currently without a dirt machine, but always longing to get back into it.
This KDX200 was an Australian F model, marketed internationally as the SR. It's slightly different to the enduro model (the only kind sold in the US) in that it came with full road compliance and the necessary road bits like blinkers, speedometer and horn. Most of this road stuff had been removed on my bike, but it still had the steel tank.

It had some aftermarket parts including an FMF pipe and muffler, and a 240cc big bore kit (see my KDX tech info page). I rebored the sleeve to the first oversize, replaced some bearings and had to fiddle around with the jetting. I also added some extra high-density seat foam and had the seat re-covered.
This thing was a great little green rocket! It was outrageous really—heaps quicker than the KDX175 I used to own, and it handled even better. The engine made pretty decent torque down low for a small two-stroke and chugged stubbornly up scary slopes. It still had the smaller 28mm PE carby on it. Most of my riding was done in the tight terrain that I prefer so the smaller carby was ideal for finding traction, and actually contributed to a fast pace.
I put Recreational Registration on this bike—a very enlightened piece of state bureaucracy that, for 60 bucks a year, allowed me to ride on bush tracks legally while providing full personal injury cover to me and others, who needed it with me out there on the loose.

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