Bultaco And Kawasaki Comparison

[michaelmoore]

Since I had the Sherpa T and KT frames handy I shot some photos of them and uploaded them to

http://www.eurospares.com/newadd.htm

so that it would be easy to compare the two.

cheers,

Michael

[swooshdave]

Oh, I just has to do this. I tried to match the photos up but without an exact reference point, aside from the fence in the background this is the best I could do. It's just for fun anyways.

I just want to say that I agree with everyone's opinion, that KT frame is much better suited a scrap metal.

Be sure to click "watch in high quality" for more details.

Enjoy.

Oh, and Michael, I hope you don't mind me stealing your photos...

[michaelmoore]

I don't know if the KT geometry is as bad as some say, because in some places it is nearly identical (according to published numbers) to the Sherpa T. But the KT frame is just a hodgepodge of little brackets and gussets and tubes when compared to the T frame. Smith must have been laughing up his sleeve after foisting that off on Kawasaki, unless of course it was Kawasaki that added all the complication.

I'll see about taking the fork clamps off the Kawasaki and sticking it on the frame fixture so I can take photos of both of them with a common "known dimension" feature in the picture.

That makes it a lot easier to scale them and overlay with a graphics program

cheers,

Michael

[b40rt]

I always felt it was the forks on the KT that let it down, not the geometry !

[woody]

The forks on all the Jap twinshocks let them down, too softly damped and too softly sprung - unless the rider weighs about 10 stone.

I'll be trying a KT in a trial sometime soon and I'm interested to see how it rides. A brief ride on it so far suggests it isn't as bad as people say but time will tell.

I used to go to a classic trial in France each year until it fell victim to the green twats. One year a Swiss rider, Jack Aebi turned up on a standard KT250 that had been in a barn for years, it was original, even the shocks. He won the trial so they can't be that bad.

[swooshdave]

I used to go to a classic trial in France each year until it fell victim to the green twats. One year a Swiss rider, Jack Aebi turned up on a standard KT250 that had been in a barn for years, it was original, even the shocks. He won the trial so they can't be that bad.

A good rider on a KT will beat me on a Bultaco every single time. Lord knows it's happened a million times to me.

The difference in bike usually only makes a difference with the better riders. For someone at my skill level a well running bike is more important than the best-bike-ever.

As soon as I find a Bultaco that I can outride, I'll worry about getting another bike. I don't recommend anyone hold their breath.

Edited September 12, 2008 by swooshdave

[feetupfun]

Oh, I just has to do this. I tried to match the photos up but without an exact reference point, aside from the fence in the background this is the best I could do. It's just for fun anyways.

I just want to say that I agree with everyone's opinion, that KT frame is much better suited a scrap metal.

Be sure to click "watch in high quality" for more details.

Enjoy.

Oh, and Michael, I hope you don't mind me stealing your photos...

Its not Don Smith that created that ugly KT frame, it is just a standard Japanese feature to have an ugly frame. No matter what Don created in the UK for Kawasaki, by the time it became a production bike out of Japan the elegance would have been lost.

The Cota 247 frame design (created by Don Smith and Montesa) is pure elegance.

[b40rt]

The forks on all the Jap twinshocks let them down, too softly damped and too softly sprung - unless the rider weighs about 10 stone.

I'll be trying a KT in a trial sometime soon and I'm interested to see how it rides. A brief ride on it so far suggests it isn't as bad as people say but time will tell.

I used to go to a classic trial in France each year until it fell victim to the green twats. One year a Swiss rider, Jack Aebi turned up on a standard KT250 that had been in a barn for years, it was original, even the shocks. He won the trial so they can't be that bad.

Jack Aebi, he rode in the SSDT didnt he ?

[kt-milly]

Hi Woody, does this mean you'll be buying a KT? Or have you hoovered one up already.... will dust off my gollner special and ride around the classics with ya if thats the case.

[woody]

Yes, managed to get my hands on one after years of trying. It's in standard trim but I'll have to lower the footrests before I can ride it, and it's the metallic green version which will just have to be changed to lime green at some point. I'll be doing some Miller rounds on it, not sure about classics (or should I say traditional) as it's not as well sorted as yours. Be good to see that beasty of yours out again.

B40RT - Yes, the same Jack Aebi that rides SSDT. He's just won the Bilstein classic on his KT and it still looks standard from the picture on todotrial.