The seller refers to this example as a “time capsule” and it’s a genuinely adequate term to describe this all original unrestored machine. These old Kawi’s are just booming with character with their unique bodywork and this ’79 125 example is certainly no exception. Despite the KH125 obviously being designed as a commuter bike, it nonetheless made for one hell of a little road racer when all dressed up with full plastics.
Information on the KH125’s race-spec model is pretty limited, however the stock version of the little 123cc single engine made 12hp and 65ft/lbs of torque and had a top speed of 65mph and a quarter mile acceleration time of 19-seconds. The two-stroke power plant was wrapped in a steel-cradle chassis and was married to a five-speed transmission. The entire bike – in stock trim – weighed in at just 210.5lbs, but you can safely assume the race example boasts slightly better numbers than the ones mentioned above.
The KH125 had a more than twenty-year production run and in that time proved itself to be a reliable little budget scoot. Though the seller fails to list any, I’m confident this example has been modified in a lot of ways to better cater to track application. The KH125 would finally have the plug pulled in 1998, although a KH100 model did enter protection alongside the 125 from 76′ (the year after the 125 debuted) until 1990.
Because this is an unrestored original model, it wears its original paint complete with a pink to purple gradient Kawasaki logo on the tank that wonderfully foreshadowed the style the next decade would unleash. The thin green bodywork is just dripping with 70’s and 80’s Kawi flavor and the high-mounted exhaust running along the left-side of the machine is unequivocally that of a two-stroke racer.
You can find this near-pristine 1979 Kawasaki KH125 Road Racer for sale here on Craigslist in Glendora, California with a price of $6,500.