Probably The Nicest Ever !!!!!!!!!

[kas750]

So put us out of our misery, are the stripes correct (orange/blue as per the brochure)?

[TallyB]

Good to see you back Adrian.

[S2Gerald]

Certainly a high price, so you certainly wouldn't want to be spending money putting it 'right', but that's where things get a bit grey and can be a combination of truth, myth and personal choice! It's of little consequence, but those front indicator stems are what we're supplied by Kawasaki if you bought spares; they re cheaper to make as they are a tube and nut combined as opposed to the blended earlier item. It looks like all the exhaust clamps are kh250 and I can't see any spring washers under the nuts. The bike has the early alternator set-up, so would have had the earlier type of cylinder heads fitted originally. Similarly, it would have had a white tailpiece tray, green seat stay and zinc seat hinges and hook. No doubt there othe minor things which most people won't know or care about. If one chose to mimic the brochure, you'd end up with another version again (grey cables, painted fork lowers...). Each to their own......!! I have two S2s and they have many differences between them. I could bore you further about flanged nuts, but that assumes anyone bothered to read this far!!

[Triple Parts]

I read it to the end Gerald

As has been said many times, Kawasaki themselves were not averse to using up parts from another bin, so I always take these things with a pinch of salt. Interesting information though

[TallyB]

I read it all as well. This was not to put doubt on the work done by Adrian but on the claim of Frank that it is "probably the nicest ever".

[johnnymoped]

Certainly a high price, so you certainly wouldn't want to be spending money putting it 'right', but that's where things get a bit grey and can be a combination of truth, myth and personal choice! It's of little consequence, but those front indicator stems are what we're supplied by Kawasaki if you bought spares; they re cheaper to make as they are a tube and nut combined as opposed to the blended earlier item. It looks like all the exhaust clamps are kh250 and I can't see any spring washers under the nuts. The bike has the early alternator set-up, so would have had the earlier type of cylinder heads fitted originally. Similarly, it would have had a white tailpiece tray, green seat stay and zinc seat hinges and hook. No doubt there othe minor things which most people won't know or care about. If one chose to mimic the brochure, you'd end up with another version again (grey cables, painted fork lowers...). Each to their own......!! I have two S2s and they have many differences between them. I could bore you further about flanged nuts, but that assumes anyone bothered to read this far!!

I'm interested in what you are telling us Gerald

[Hogie]

Gerald you are the Wikipedia of S2's so you could have told us all about them flanged nuts and I still would have read every word. l currently have 3 S2's a circa 2,000 series frame number, another 10,000 series and a later one in the 26,000 series. All subtlety different but not as bad as Moto Guzzi as a parts bin special. I have MK2 Le Mans which was obviously planned to be a Mk3 so had a red painted frame. Someone on the production line then thought, we have a lot of MK2 parts left so lets build a couple more Mk2's and painted the frame black over the red. Of course 40 years on the red is now coming through on the frame everywhere revealing the factory's true intention..

[S2Gerald]

I read it all as well. This was not to put doubt on the work done by Adrian but on the claim of Frank that it is "probably the nicest ever".

Quite! Adrian was fastidious as I recall and Frank's claims are usually a bit ott, but so are a lot of other sellers on ebay! There's a story about the front fender, but I'll let Adey tell it if he wants!

[robh1f]

Love stuff like this.....modern...ish day history

[kas750]

I bought the S2 and an RD350B from Nigel McMurray from a wanted ad I placed in Classic bike magazine.
Nigel harked from Newcastle but lived in London and worked for the Church with a "company" house.
He had had decided to retire and with that went the "company house".He had bought an apartment back in his hometown but sadly it had no storage so I was the last port of call before he rang the scrap yard to take the S2 and the RD350B.

Every weekend in the 70's and 80's he rode back to Newcastle and used to stop in Sheffield for a break and this is were he spotted the S2 in the dealers shop window.
As the months went on he would stop and look at the S2 longingly in the shop window but sadly it was way beyond his budget,
One weekend he made his traditional stop in sheffield and to his amazement the S2 had been drastically reduced in price!
The very next day he called the dealer and committed to buy it.
Over the following years he covered over 60,000 miles on the S2 and as you can imagine over that mileage it needed quite a few parts replaced to keep it in service.The S2 was a very rare bike over here back then and spares were always difficult to obtain.With the launch of the KH250 and its popularity many more compatible parts became available and these were used to keep this incredible bike working for it's keep.

When I bought the bike I sympathetically restored it using pretty much all of the parts that Nigel had fitted to keep it roadworthy excluding Geralds front fender,the original had been replaced with one that gave more weather protection back in the day.
This is the most genuine bike that was worked hard all the way through the 70's and 80's and was restored by me using lots of the parts that pounded up the A1 through Hell and high water.
This is the real story of a real genuine bike so the comments about missing washers and other parts does make me smile

[Treeman]

This thread is absolutely brilliant An article in the making

[Olde Coney]

Great story Adie, I remember very well seeing the bike at Nottingham in 2009 and being blown away by how stunning it was

Hope that you are keeping well

[TallyB]

Great history of this bike Adrian.