1981Kawasaki KH 250

26 fields on record

The 1981 Kawasaki KH 250 is a Japanese sports bike powered by a 249cc air-cooled two-stroke engine making 28 hp. It has a 5-speed gearbox and a 14-litre tank.

Capacity: 249.0 ccm
Engine: Not on record
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Gearbox: 5-speed
Dry weight: 157.0 kg
Seat height: Not on record
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Power: 28.0 HP (20.9 kW) @ 7500 RPM

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Other years 1980 1981

How it rides

Editorial estimate from the spec sheet - not lab tested

Off-road & trail5%

Cornering80%

City riding25%

Daily riding20%

Touring10%

Two-up25%

Track75%

Best for: Sport bike built for its class - everyday, practical use.
Built for: A sport bike from Kawasaki, built around a 249cc engine - a real production model, but this profile is formula-generated from its class and spec sheet rather than individually reviewed.
Not ideal for: Not for serious performance or off-road use.

Scores are derived from the spec sheet using the same model across every bike, so they compare like for like.

Reliability & safety

Bike Reliability score, safety recalls and owner complaints

Bike Reliability

How the score works →

out of 100Average

The Kawasaki KH 250 passed its annual roadworthiness test first time 86.3% of the time, 0.8 points above expected for bikes of the same age and mileage. That beats 51% of models.

Bikes first registered in 1981 have 63 tests, too few for their own score, so this covers every year.

86.3%Passed first time

5.2%Failed outright

8.5%Fixed during test

19,000Typical miles

728Tests

Pass rate by miles ridden

0-10k

93.2%

10-20k

82.4%

20-30k

86.7%

30-40k

91.2%

All years of this model.

Score by year first registered

197919801982

Against its rivals · ranks 2 of 6

#	Model (all years)	Score	Tests
1	Yamaha RD 350	56 Average	16,292
2	Kawasaki KH 250	51 Average	728
3	Moto Morini 3 1/2 S	43 Average	112
4	Yamaha RD 350 LC YPVS	36 Below average	128
5	Suzuki GN 400 TD	23 Below average	516
6	Kawasaki GPZ 400	12 Poor	535

Rivals are the most-viewed bikes on MotorcycleDB in the same category and engine size, from within three years of this model.

From British annual roadworthiness tests, 2005-2025. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (DVSA MOT test data, Great Britain). How Bike Reliability works.