Front wheel - too small, too twitchy, always feels like the bike is looking for somewhere to crash. Hate it. Poor tyre choice in 100/80-17 too though pretty sure 110/70 would fit which allows proper modern radials to be fitted.
Front brake - works okay until it gums up, which is at least annually and if you really want to keep it working then you'll be cleaning out the seal grooves before winter and again after winter. Worse than anything else I've owned in this respect. Also seems to eat brake pads compared to anything else I've had, if a set last 15K they've done very well.
Front suspension - hateful, incredibly soft below 15MPH and then solid with hydraulic lock above 25MPH, little wonder YSS and even Ohlins supply upgrade kits for the internals. Don't appear to rebound to follow road imperfections, just rattles over everything providing little mechanical grip. Also the paint flakes off after a couple of winters and the chrome really suffers too.
Headlight - can't say, I've never experienced the original.
Front mudguard - too small, obviously. Works after a fashion.
Steering head bearings - notchy by about 12K, not yet replaced.
Koso DB-02R dash - not standard fitment (obviously) but actually really impressive, perfectly reliable and it hasn't even fogged up inside. Well done Koso.
Mirrors - can't see a lot out of them, my elbows are in the way. They also fill up with water in the rain which then pisses out all over my hands when I pull the bars straight. No joke.
Horn - perfectly average, no particular qualms.
Frame - Seems stiff enough, does really threaten to speed wobble at 80MPH or above but hasn't quite gone through with it just yet. This might be due to the notchy head bearings. Could use more rake on the front I suspect. Also the bike already had rust on the welds when I bought it at one year old and 3200 miles, which obviously didn't get any better:
Engine - punchy in the midrange, gasping at the upper end of the revs and frankly I don't believe Kawasaki when they suggest peak torque is at about 8K RPM, I think it's better at 6K. Perfectly reliable so far though the valve clearances have closed up. After reading about Yamaha MT-07 riders having coolant pipes burst and other such problems this seems like a fine unit. Very little vibration but what there is seems very busy, likely due to being scattered by the balancer - I prefer a straight uppy downy vibration rather than all around like this. It can also have a really good go at shaking the chain off the sprockets as you would expect from an injected 250 4 stroke single with a compression ratio of 11.3:1 and a rear wheel that doesn't have any cush rubbers. No really, it doesn't. This bike is cheap. Also the alloy furs up in a way I have never seen before:
It reminds me of one of those "grow your own crystal" kits. Pathetic.
Gearbox - crunchy and heavy but that may be due to my insistence on using cheap car oil. Hasn't missed a change or slipped out of gear yet. 6 of them is too many when there is no power band to stay in (though I understand they have to follow fashion), combined with the crunchiness I actually find it a bit of a hindrance to fast town work and it's a nightmare to try and change down from top to first in a hurry. The change becomes particularly bad when the chain is dry or loose, which happens quite often with an open chain.
Clutch - light, linear bite, no hint of wear or slippage so far. No drag, no overheating, nothing bad to say about it.
Fuelling - snatchy at low revs, feels very slightly lean the rest of the time but when the bike does 85MPH and averages 85MPG then I'll live with it. The lack of cush rubbers is probably the real reason it seems so bad. Also the engine braking becomes significantly less below 3K RPM when the injector comes back in which is quite annoying because you then have to brake harder to stop where you were expecting to stop.
Fuel tank - 11L is too small though the bike will do about 180 miles before needing to be filled up. No signs of rust anywhere yet which is a pleasant surprise when compared to the state of the rest of the machine.
Seat - Not as uncomfortable as it looks, which isn't saying a lot. Grippy, works okay I guess. Purgatory after ~120 miles but what seat isn't?
Side stand - pretty much perfect, the prong is in exactly the right place where I can find it even in the dark and the angle is fine, very secure.
Centre stand - non-existent, a ridiculous omission for a road going motorcycle. It's going to make the steering head bearing job a lot more difficult than it needed to be.
Rear suspension - hateful, barely sags under my 70kg and again is solid with hydraulic lock above about 20MPH. Doesn't rebound to follow road imperfections, doesn't do much of anything. Has barely softened so far. I keep it on the third/middle setting for preload because I can't adjust it while the shock is attached to the bike, even with the special tools that Kawasaki provide in the tool kit - pathetic design. Also had to free up the linkage at ~7400 miles as every bush was absolutely solid. Currently amazed the whole lot doesn't slop about already. On the plus side, no leaks yet!
Swingarm - seems okay so far, no bearing demise to report though I bet there's sod all grease on them from the factory. No rust problems that I am aware of. An interesting design quirk of this machine is that there is no separate torque arm, just a nub on the inside of the swingarm which holds the brake carrier in place. This works a treat on the CBX250RS with a rear drum brake because the plate stays in the centre of the wheel, but with a disc brake you have to line up the brake carrier, get the caliper over the disc and keep the spacer in the wheel while slotting the whole lot onto the nub. Rear wheel installation is incredibly difficult and awkward on this bike.
Rear wheel - no cush rubbers!! The sprocket just bolts straight into the wheel. 'Nuff said.
Exhaust - rotten after 2 years, falling off after 2.5 years so had to replace it for the MOT. The downpipe to the can is stainless which is excellent, shame the actual muffler is so quick rot. Quite like the sound of the original setup though.
Rear mudguard - I'd love one, so fed up of getting a wet back from all the spray off the rear wheel. Honestly come on Kawasaki.
Rear brake - mushy and vague, likely because the footpegs are rubber mounted so the whole lot moves about. A ridiculous design decision, you surely wouldn't rubber mount the front brake lever. Also gums up quite quickly but not as bad as the front brake, figure a yearly clean out.
Number plate hanger - probably the worst bit of the bike, flapped around a lot when I first bought the bike and has only become looser with time. I've tried shimming out the fittings but it just doesn't work very well as a design. Try harder next time please.
Overall fittings and finishings - atrocious quality.
Electrics - totally reliable except that one time a wire almost rotted off the ignition switch, once soldered up everything has been fine even through constant wet conditions including fording rather deep floods. Probably the best thing about the bike after the motor. I suppose I did have to replace the front brake light switch as the original was full of verdigris, again the cost cutting went a little too far but the fix was easy - fit a proper Nissin switch.
So, overall you're probably thinking I hate this bike but that isn't true. It's nowhere near the modern CBX250RS I was hoping for but it is quite useful and has given sterling service for the past 2 years getting me to work and back with no major hassles and nothing has outright failed or fallen off. Reliability counts a lot for something that needs to work and the 250SL has it. Overall I prefer my old CB250 though, I could bungee stuff to the rack or carry a big top box or strap a dry bag to the rear half of the seat, and yet it also got me to work every day just the same. Sure it tops out at 70MPH and only does 80MPG but it has better comfort, better brakes, much nicer suspension and doesn't feel like it's always looking for the nearest ditch for a nice lie down along with far superior quality of materials and finish. If Kawasaki had the imagination to put this motor into a useful chassis I think they'd be on to a winner but I bet actually no one would buy it then either. Ho hum!
Maintenance log since purchase:
3200 miles - bought the thing.
4507 miles - the original chain and front sprocket were absolutely worn out (!). Replaced.
5917 miles - replaced front brake light switch with another I had sitting around.
7173 miles - wire very nearly rotted off the ignition switch. Bodged back together.
7374 miles - original rear TT900 nearly down to the cords, replaced with Mitas MC25 (horrible).
7374 miles - unseized and rebuilt rear suspension linkage.
8095 miles - clean out front caliper, tried to get away without doing a full strip. Didn't work.
8159 miles - new front brake pads, EBC pads worn out and cracking.
8293 miles - clean out and rebuild rear brake caliper.
8470 miles - valve clearance check, all in spec.
10128 miles - clean out and rebuild front caliper again.
10174 miles - clean out and rebuild rear caliper. Again.
10353 miles - new front sprocket. It really eats them.
13124 miles - another rear tyre, Avon Streetrunner this time. It has quite an appetite for rear tyres.
14507 miles - new chain. It seems to eat these as well.
15140 miles - finally fitted a new front tyre, original TT900F finished.
15280 miles - clean out and rebuild the front caliper yet again.
18574 miles - new exhaust muffler, original literally falling off due to rot.
18809 miles - yet another rear tyre, this time a Michelin Pilot Street Radial. Hopefully this one lasts.
18809 miles - new rear brake pads, originals rotting and friction material falling off.
19473 miles - valve clearance check, all four valves need re-shimming.
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