1975 Kawasaki KD175 Road Test - 5-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article

Description

1975 Kawasaki KD175 Road Test - 5-Page Vintage Motorcycle Article
Original, vintage magazine article
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
KAWASAKI
Kawasaki’s KD 175 stripper
play bike is a production
concept of a decade-old
idea. Its use is restricted
and its practicality confusing.
KD175
• If you started counting heads of off-
road riders in America, you’d better be
able to count to four million. This enor-
mous number covers all sorts of riders—
from pussycat trailriders to the dedicated
mud-treaders, rock-splitters and cliff-
climbers. For this diverse group, manu-
facturers build three basic types of mo-
torcycles. dual-purpose, street-legal trail
machines; genuine enduro bikes with
speedometers and headlights; and racing
machines for motocross and cross-
country competition.
These days, however, manufacturers
must do more than build motorcycles for
particular kinds of enthusiasts Increas-
ingly, the industry must develop machines
which also meet legislative or bureau-
cratic promulgations directed at motor-
cycles. A manufacturer may deal with
government regulations in a couple of
ways. A new product can meet every
current, legal requirement point-for-point,
or can be built to side-step and escape—
at least temporarily—current or impending
restrictions. With the KD 175, Kawasaki
has taken the second option.
Though it may look like an outgrowth
of the decade-old, home-made play bike,
the KD 175 certainly isn’t Rather the new
175 is a brainchild of Kawasaki’s market-
ing department which wanted a motorcy-
cle designed to out-flank legal restrictions
on the sale and use of current street-legal
trail bikes. Kawasaki’s American market-
ing department believes that strict licens-
ing, emission requirements, and more
sophisticated customers will eventually
shrink the market for the traditional dual-
purpose two-stroke motorcycle. Further-
more, these same marketeers think that
competition-type enduro bikes may even-
tually become illegal in off-road riding
areas. While other companies may view
the future of off-road motorcyling in
slightly different terms, there’s a general
agreement on the direction of change:
new off-road motorcyles will show in-
creasing specialization.
In a sense, the KD 175, is a stripper.
Kawasaki tossed out all items not essen-
tial to either off-road competition or street
riding The KD has no equipment which
makes its companion bike, the KS Enduro,
a street-legal motorcycle. Basically,
though, the KS and KD bikes share fun-
damental mechanical components.
KD and KS 175 engines are updates
The new carburetor cover eliminates access to
the clutch and requires attention to air leaks.
PHOTOGRAPHY DALE BOLLER. PAUL R. HALESWORTH. JIMMY ELLIS
The long saddle is comfortable. Air intake and
oil tank access are under the slip-off seat.
of the older F-7 units. The old and new
engines produce the same amount of
power (F-7. 15.11 bhp and 11.37 Ibs/ft
torque; KD: 15.25 bhp and 10.93 Ibs/ft
torque.) To its credit KD does have a
slightly broader power range and will rev
500 rpm higher than the F-7
The KD resembles the F-7 in many
ways. The bore and stroke dimensions,
as well as the compression ratio, are the
same. Straight-cut gears drive the clutch...
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