I saw one of these when I was leafing through an old copy of Bike Magazine- a motorbike mag- and thought that looks "Right". It's the way that some bikes look like they are going to be a good ride. I'd never heard of a K.M.B 450 though and the only Kawasaki pushbikes I was aware of were those bargain kids full suspension jobbies that are dressed up to look like a motorcross bike with no engine. This was clearly a machine of quality though and the more I found out about it the more I wanted one. Defender- retrobike member- has one and gave a pretty good reccomendation, so when I saw one on Ebay in Wigan I bid on it. I got it cheap, probably because people associate Kawasaki's with chain store and internet only bikes.
It'd been outside for three years but was in better condition than my 1991 Marin Muirwoods that had apparantly been in a back yard for ten! It had some bad scratches on it but Kawasaki Racing lime green is an easy colour to get hold of. When I tilted it onto it's back wheel to get it down some steps though a load of rusty water poured out of the chain stay drain holes onto my feet.
So far it is a bit hard to tell how it rides, the front tyre was underinflated, with a kinked tyre valve- they really annoy me, the left and right elastomers were screwed into different depths and the headset had worked loose. I haven't used it since I got it home, I don't really want to give it much stick until I get replacements for the perished rubber fork gaiters, as I'm not sure about the quality of the chroming on the fork sliders. So for the moment it's been pushed right down the to do list. But I still think it has promise.

they had a topend one that was going to be a re-badged pace

do remember them in my local kawa dealers tho

good looking bike

SPECS

Frame: Tange plain gauge Chromalloy steel, Ritchey dropouts, gear cable routing via top tube and seat tube/ seat stay.

Fork: RST 400 elastomer suspension fork.

Headset: Dia-Compe 1, 1/8th"

Stem: Kawasaki branded one bolt [hidden] aheadset style/

Handlebar: Aluminium

Grips: SRAM gripshift 300i

Brakes: Shimano STX RC cantilever.

Brake Pads: Shimano M system

Brake Cables: Not known

Cantilever cable hangers: cast aluminium fork brace/ cantilever mount [front]
"Marin Afterburner" style crescent tube above seat stay brace [rear]

Brake Levers: Dia-Compe SS4

Shifters: SRAM Gripshifters

Front Derailleur: Shimano STX

Rear Derailleur: Shimano STX

Derailleur Cables: routed via top tube and seat tube/ seat stay.

Cassette: 7 speed Shimano

Chain:Not known

Cranks: Shimano STX

Crank Bolts: Allenhead

Chainrings: Shimano STX

Chainring bolts: Allenhead

Bottom Bracket: Sealed unit

Pedals: Steel and resin, missing their original toe clips.

Hub Skewers: Sovos [Front], Shimano [Back]

Rims: Araya VP20

Hubs: Sovos [Front],
Shimano STX Parallax [Rear]

Nipples:

Spokes: 36, look like stainless at back but not front

Tyres: Maxxis Cobra rear [Thought to be original], Kenda front.

Tubes:26" Shraeder

Saddle: "Kawasaki" branded cover, Velo base.

Seatpost: Aluminium microadjustable [Seized at moment].

Seatpost Binder: Rubber sheathed Q.R skewer

Weight:

Hi Rich,
Great to see it on the forum , it looks very original if a bit used, I would say the paint has faded a bit?
As I mentioned to you mine's slightly altered with V brakes in place of the canti's, more road friendly tyres and a different saddle
I'll have to get mine out and take a photo of it sometime
The tubes tend to move in the tyres as the valve stems as they're not secured with a locking screw etc.
The paint colour isn't the same as Kawasaki (bike) green, best to match it by comparason rather



Edited for spelling!

Any progress on this? Interesting bike, but a pretty full-on project I'd guess Fingers crossed it hasn't lost too much metal out of the stays.

I never even knew Kawasaki delved into mtb's.....

Today I have learned something..

Most of them were made by Pacific Cycles, my KMB450 certainly was, with the highest spec (X1?)being a rebadged Pace

Pace? As in...square tubed??

I remember these too

There was an MX shop up the road from my mates house which had some in

Pretty ahead of its time I suppose before Porsche BMW and Merc started marketing bikes as lifestyle accessories

I see Landrover are at it now but as far as I can tell theirs are rubbish

Like the bike, hope it works out well for you!

Good news is if the forks are buggered you can replacements very easily on here

TBH early RST forks aren't likely to be worth any effort, just stash 'em away somewhere

Yes, exactly, it was a RC200 F8 if IRC

There have been a wide range of Land Rover bikes over the years, some have been very good and others not so good, I haven't seen the current range up close to make a call on them yet .
Land Rover bikes pre date Kawasaki's first try, I have a couple of Land Rover Moulton, APB's and a pair of Land Rover Pashley XCB's.
Whilst not being true mountain bikes they are/were quality bikes and British made.
I also have a genuine Land Rover Kona G4 Challenge bike from 2003, they got absolutely trashed apparently so Land Rover got some specially made to a much higher spec for the 2006 G4 Challenge.
The bikes for the cancelled 2009 G4 Challenge were also specially made to a higher spec than the ones they sold to the public.

Didn't know that history

Going on direct observation alone I'm afarid!

I saw a Land Rover branded bike the other day, it was BAD

It was a bit like this (only the forks were even worse):

http://www.bikelandrover.co.uk/products ... nce-trail/

The Kwakker bikes looked pretty good we all had a good play with them in the shop BITD

BTW my first build on here was a British Eagle (All XT beautifully made) same name could be found on a £100 BSO from ASDA 10 years later

Good find mate, will watch with interest on it's progress

Yep,
I took it out of the garage the other day and now it's in the hall! I'd been too busy with other bikes and stuff- boxes all over- but I'm sensing that now it's time has come.

KMB is now almost presentable. I've fixed up the gears- not impressed with Gripshift, so I may fit thumbies soon- sorted the brakes, swapped the front wheel for an identical one out of my Marin and replaced some of the non- safety rusted bolts with some anodized purple jobbies salvaged from some motorbike engine cases.
I've ridden it to work each day this week and fingers crossed will be riding it on the Cake Run on Saturday. Watch this space!