Hi. I am Garry from Worthing (on the coast south of London), England. I am buying a 1997 Estrella that has been imported from Japan. I have wanted an Estrella for nearly 20 years since I saw one at a motorcycle show. I am very much looking forward to riding it. Are there any other Estrella owners in the UK?

Hi Garry,

There are at least two other Estrellas in the UK ...
http://www.kawasaki-estrella.com/html/i-e-britain.html

I don't know if they still own their Estrellas.
The contact was about 10 years ago ...

Best regards
Andreas

Hi Garry!

Have fun with Your Japanese Estrella!
And please tell uns, if it is difficult to import an Estrella from Japan.

Cheers
from Italy

Soulie

Here is my Estrella. It just arrived today. The engine and other mechanical parts are very good, but the paint and chrome need some attention. A winter project to tidy it up! It is a 1997 model, and I bought it from a local motorcycle shop that imports from Japan and registers bikes for the UK. I am a happy Estrellian!!
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Soulie. The shop I bought it from imported the bike and did all the paperwork for me.

congratulations - he did a good job!

Hi Garry,

have fun with Your Estrella, riding and polishing!
Can You tell us, how much You paid?

Cheers
Soulie

Thank you Ella.
Soulie, I paid GBP£2,400. That included the importing costs and registering in the Uk, MOT, and road tax, and delivery to me.

Thanks Garry!

I've never seen one, with this paint job. It looks like dax should get his hands on it.
He's our specialist in polishing.
Have a look at the timing-chain, once You take off the gasolene-tank.

Cheers
Soulie

Hi Garry,

Your Estrella seems to be a 1994 or 1995 Estrells B3 or B4 ...
Colour: Candy Wine Red / Paerl Alpine White (2Q)

But Germans can approve that there is no quality difference between a 1994 or 1997 Estella!
Your Estrella might already have carburretor heating (single electric cable under the carburretor).

The Estella seems to be 99% original (which is very rare for Japanese Estrellas - many were customized).

Have a lot of fun with your Estrella!

Hello Cadfael
The shop I bought it from have imported 4 Estrellas, all in different condition, some good, some not so good!
I wanted the red/white one with dual seat, but the engine and mechanics were in bad condition, and the bike was only good for spares.
So I selected another one (orange/white) and asked them to swop the paintwork over so I could have it in red/white.

Hi Soulie.
If Dax lived in the UK I would be in contact with him to polish it!!!
It is running very nicely, but I will take your advice and look at the timing chain.

One question I have.
Where is the best place to buy Estrella parts (as I think there are some pieces that will need to be replaced)?

Hi Garry,

Orange/White would be 1992-1994 ...

Does your Estrella have a carburretor heating?
It was introduces about 1994/95 (1995 in Germany) ...

Here is my page about the models ...
http://www.kawasaki-estrella.com/html/i-serienmodelle.html

And here you find the FRAME ID numbers (not motor ID numbers!)
http://www.kawasaki-estrella.com/html/i-m-id-numbers.html

In 1997 the tank, lamp and fender were metallic red (tank with silver) ...
Your Estrella is definately a "B" version and no "C" or "D" ...

As I already wrote: The age of an Estrella (1992 - 1997) has no influence of its quality!
Only the individual motorbike quality counts!

Zitat

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Where is the best place to buy Estrella parts

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We have a shop in Germany, specialized in Kawasaki W 650 / 800 and Estrella.
I can recommend them. Very friendly and correct people.
But I don't know about their English.
Their name is Dötsch in Hildburghausen
Phone 0049-3685 70 33 12
They have a homepage, maybe I can find it.

Yepp: http://www.zweirad-doetsch.de/w650-w800/

Good choice Garry.

there are probably good and professional addresses for Kawasaki R&O in the UK as well. Kawa European hub for spare part sits somewhere in the Netherlands - as fas as I know.

http://www.cmsnl.com/kawasaki-bj250_model12147/

Good spare parts webpage with easy handling.

@Soulie,

Doetsch Hildburghausen is most likely the worst address one could think of for a colleague from UK. In particular as these guys are constantly unable to cope with small requests (resulting in little coin). Maybe they did better in good old times but currently cannot recommend them.

Regards

Scharlachdorn

I have checked the frame number.
It is definitely a BJ250B from 1992.

Thank you everyone for the contact details for parts suppliers.
If there are any more contacts, I will be happy to receive them

I have ridden the bike a lot in the last few days.
It is perfect for riding in town, but does not like the faster roads!!!
Two discs brakes on a low powered 250cc bike is excessive, but very efficient.
The handling is also very good.
I think I will be very happy with it, and will replace the rusty parts over the winter time.
It has been registered with a 1997 number-plate here in the UK, but I think it will confuse the licencing centre if I tell them it is actually 1992, so I will leave it as it is!

I look forward to being a part of this happy owners group.