Kawasaki KDX 200SR

MY HOW THEY howled. The punters, that is, not the bikes. Last winter Kawasaki announced they would no longer bring in the very bike most beloved of club-class enduro riders and all-round mucky buggers everywhere. The KDX200 would be replaced instead, decreed Big Green, by the new KDX250 -the one with upside-downers and the garish Kerrang stickers like the ZZRs.

At £3014, the 250 was to be about 600 quid dearer than the 200, but price wasn't the problem. The big 'un was a balls-out 58bhp motocrosser with lights, a serious piece of off-road psychosis with a seat height up in the heavens; the 200, on the other hand, was Mr Softee, 37bhp-worth of tame, rideable, reliable cleandirty underwear, if you see what I mean. You'd have to be good (or nuts) to make anything of the 250's potential; most off-road riders aren't that good, and they're not afraid to admit it. Bring back the 200.

Kawasaki - who presumably had their ear to the ground and were worried it might get knobbly tracks all over it - eventually relented and belatedly brought a batch of 200s in for us also-rans to complement the 250s they'd already ordered for the bonkers end of the market. I bought a 200, 'cos I'm bonkers but not very good with it. Ask anyone.

Now in its third year — although its air-cooled predecessor was a class favourite too - the '91 KDX is really a '90 KDX in any colour you want as long as it's puke - sorry, lime-green. Just like Dave Thorpe's. Er, Dave Thorpe's bike that is...

Compared to the KMX200 the 'D' is a claimed seven bhp stronger; it's the same weight - it loses some peripherals but gains pounds thanks to beefier suspension kit with oodles more travel, adjustment and all-round efficiency; there's a much stiffer chassis with quicker-steering, more racer-orientated geometry. And, above all, the KDX comes standard with knobblies, which are as much a revelation on dirt as slicks are on tarmac, and you can't get slicks for the KMX's 17in rear hoop.

Gas the KMX200 in a moment of panic, and the chances are it'll either do not very much or dump you on your ear. Gas the KDX and miraculously, it straightens itself out, lofts the front end over that gully, or otherwise somehow gets you out of bother. (Even when it doesn't, the get-offs are more spectacular and always worth a round of applause from your mates). Particularly at speed, the KDX steers and stops accurately where the KMX is ragged and vague. In short, the KDX is a genuine competition tool where the KMX is merely a competent all-rounder. It instantly makes you a better rider.

Mechanically, the KDX shares the same basic KIPS-equipped water-cooled, six-speed configuration with the KMX, but the engines are totally different. The 'D' is seven cc bigger and more crucially has less oversquare dimensions, allowing more cylinder wall area to cram full of ports. At 35mm the Keihin carb is nine mm bigger, and the exhaust system has the sort of volume that makes strokers lose their asthma, without ripping the environment apart with stray decibels. And its transfer port bulges are unquestionably sexier. I'm also told that slapping on a KX250 motocross silencer does it no harm at all.

Just as important, given it's Joe Clubman's appeal, the KDX has earned a reputation for being bullet-proof, and holds its value better than most ofF-roaders. Water pump seals sometimes go allowing coolant into the gearbox. This is easily spotted, showing up as a pale, creamy emulsion through the sight-glass, a bit like baby vomit. A new seal takes about an hour to slot in. The standard chain is crap and should be thrown away and replaced by an O-ring (unless you like buying sprockets), and Renthal 'bars aren't a bad idea either. And for some reason it seems to eat rear pads.

Strictly speaking, KDX's aren't street legal, but are easy enough in practice for an individual to register. The authorities seem prepared to overlook the plastic tank - Porsches have got 'em after all. You're supposed to add a speedo (an odometer and trip is standard), brake light and horn, although the second-hand one I bought had none of these. Mind you, it was registered as a scooter combination.

The KDX200 is without doubt the best bike in its class. This isn't really as big a deal as it sounds, as it's in a class of one; no other bike attempts to combine — at any price - a tractable (but not slow) two-stroke engine, a chassis with serious off-road capabilities and a saddle you don't need to be Godzilla to climb on. There's nothing radical about the KDX, but nothing else comes close to meeting the same honest formula. It'll never sell remotely as well, but it's not for nothing that the off-road fraternity regards it as fondly as a certain class of headbanger loves LCs. In it's small green way, it's a classic. CD