Original color of my 1973 Kawasaki F11 250

[metalfab24]

[COLOR="blue"[/COLOR]
My future father in law gave me this 1973 Kawasaki F11 250. It has been stored in his barn for 33 years and hasn't ran since. The bike is in really good shape. The bikes odemeter reads there is 3,800 miles on it. All parts are there and all original and none broke. The original color is orange. Of course all the rubber is dry rotted. I have recently cleaned and restored the gas tank, it was surprisingly clean on the insides. I have rebuilt the carb and went through all ignition parts and everything is in working condition. I brought the motor to life once again.
I am doing a complete rebuild of this bike back to its original condition, I want everything in the rebuild to be exact. Paint on tank and fenders is a little faded. I am repainting but what I am trying to learn what the original color of the fenders are supposed to be according to the Frame # or VIN #. The front and rear fenders are silver, and the tank is orange. The finders that are silver look original, they do NOT look painted. I am trying to find info on this. Did Kawasaki release and sell a limited addition color in 1973? Orange and silver? I have seen pictures of my bike in Kawasaki green and Kawasaki orange, BUT cannot find pics of a 1973 Kawasaki F11 250 in Orange and silver in color. So is this the original color? If somebody could inform me or help me learn more about this bike, I would greatly apreciate it. I have all info on the bike if you should ask. Thank you Jeremy

[kawah1c]

First of all: congrats ! Cool bike.

The original colours for the 1973 F11 are Yellow or Candy Red. The front fender should have the same colour as the fuel tank. The F11 has a "Ducktail" painted in the same colour as the fuel tank and front fender and probably a black rear fender below the ducktail. Check your frame and engine numbers and compare them to the ones listed in the pic. Your numbers should be higher.

The 72 F8, which was the predecessor of the F11, was orange. The F8 has a classic rear fender that follows the shape of the rear wheel from the seat and down.





Kawasakis different tank graphics were used for one year only (in most cases). You can tell the year of a kwaka just by looking at the graphics. If it's stock, that is.

[metalfab24]

Thank you so much for the information. So what I get out of your information is that the tank color should match fender color, just like I have been seeing in pictures. So you are saying that there was NEVER a bike released or sold where the tank and fenders were NOT the same color? I am trying to learn as much as possible in rebuilding this bike to its original release. Thanks again and we will chat later. Thanks again Jeremy

[kawah1c]

I can't guarantee you that your bike didn't leave the dealer with the silver fenders. But officially it didn't. There are a lot of examples of bikes from the early days that came in odd colours not mentioned anywhere. Can you post your frame and engine numbers ? Or PM them to me if you don't want everyone to see them. I'm curious !

[metalfab24]

The number on this frame is F11-32764 and engine # is F11E32772. Yes, i am really curious about this too. My future father in law told me he bought the bike brand new and the way the bike was left in the barn is the way it is today. Maybe he forgot that he changed fenders, or maybe somebody did paint them. It just don't look like paint, I guess it could be fenders of another bike that are silver. I am taking your word for it. Thank you so much for your help. We will keep in touch if you don't mind.

[metalfab24]

Another thing I would like to know is, Can I order original decals from Kawasaki or will have to have them scanned at a vinyl, decal print shop and printed that way? I am talking about the decal on the tank and the decal on right oil tank side cover. If you have a answer for this I would greatly apreciate it. You have been good help. Thank you

[gpzrider]

If KAWAH1C can't help you, you didn't need to know it anyway.

[kwright]

You can get reproduction decals for the yellow version at:

http://reproductiondecals.com/defaul...tent.html~main

Select the Kawasaki section from the left side, then look though the list for the "F11 Sidewinder".

Note that if you intend to go with the red version, it's entirely possible they can duplicate those decals, too. Andre at Reproduction Decals does a top-notch job, easy to work with, excellent quality, fast service. I've bought a number of decal sets from him and can personally recommend their products.

The site in general is interesting to look through.

[kawah1c]

OK Jeremy ! Those numbers helped a lot. Your father in law is right about everything exept the year. It's a 1975 F11B. It came in Candy Orange, Candy Ocean Blue and Candy Blue with a Metallic Silver front fender. I guess you have a stock bike on your hands. Go with kwright's advice on the decals. They have some decals for the F11B, but not sure if they have them all. The tank decals are the same as on the F9C, exept maybe the colours. Contact reproductiondecals and they will deliver any colour you want on the 1975 F graphics.

Can you see which colours your tank decals have ? Compare with the F9C decals on the reproductiondecals site.

F9C

[kawah1c]

[metalfab24]

Hey, thank you so very much for your help here. I do have one question for you. I would like to verify that my bike is what you say it is. I would just like to verify it for myself. Can you tell me how to go about this? I beleive you are 100% correct on everything. I just wanted to verify it myself. Thanks again for your info.

[kawah1c]

That's fairly easy to verify. As you can see from the F11B picture, the numbers for the 1975 B model starts with F11E 31700~ and F11-31686~. You have higher numbers. The 1975 F11B was the last version of the F11 series. In 1977 the F11 was replaced with the KE250 (76 saw no new F11 or KE250 according to the rec manual) The KE250 started with a new series of numbers. KE250BE000001~ and KE250B-000001~

[aaron7]

My F11 is factory green, and is a 73... ?

[kawah1c]

My F11 is factory green, and is a 73... ?

Green is 74, but didn't you swap bodywork ? Frame and engine numbers are the best way to determine the year.

[mwelther]

Does the c2tr take fork oil in the front forks...if so, how/where do you put it in?

[aaron7]

^ you fail at forums

[kawah1c]

Yes it does. There's a big nut on top of each fork leg, coming through the upper triple clamp. Remove them and fill. You need to drain the legs first. There should be a small phillips screw low on each of the outer fork leg. Remove them and drain the oil. Remember to support the bike under the frame/engine before you remove the top nuts, or you will get a surprise. You need to figure out how much oil to put in each leg. I don't have that info. If you fill too much oil, the fork will be too stiff.

[mwelther]

thanks!

[aaron7]

While off thread topic, kawah1c... you're in Oslo? Wish I could go to The Inferno Festival next year. You guys get all the good bands haha

[kawah1c]

I want to go too. I always miss that one. Always hearing about it a week after it's over. A friend of mine is running a metal record store ( Sound of Noise ) in Oslo, and he's always having a stand on the festival.