Once upon a time, when I was still a little sotong back in the 80's, I started developing an interest in bikes.

But I wasn't really interested in the kapchais becoz I felt they were a little dinky, nor was I interested in the big capacity monsters since they were a only dream which were too impossible to reach.

During this time, the 135cc -> 150cc 2 stroke machines reigned supreme.

The Honda Raider,

the Yamaha RX-Z,

and the al-mighty Suzuki TXR Gamma, which ruled KL.

These were the best sport bikes you could get for a very reasonable amount of money, and the weapon of choice for the Rempits (which were actually a cool bunch of ppl back then, who were extremely passionate about bikes). They would rather starve to death to save up enough for the downpayment of a new bike, than to not own one at all. However, this was before the purity of their spirit were corrupted by the bohsia/bohjan and illegal racing culture, which totally screwed up the whole biking community.

Several years down the road, Kawasaki launched the 150cc revolution by releasing the

Kawasaki Ninja 150 KR.

This bike turned the 135cc scene obsolete overnight, and every teen who just got their B2 license had this on their wish list. The full fairing look was unheard of at that time, and the performance was totally amazing so to speak.

The first time I tried this bike, I scared myself senseless; but in a good way.

The Kawasaki Ninja went through several evolutions along the way.

It went naked for a while; in the guise of the Victor.

Followed by the much bulkier KRZ.

Kawasaki was king of the hill at this point.

But not for long.

Yamaha was quietly crafting it's downfall by releasing the

Yamaha TZM, which turned out to be another overnight success.

The rempits embraced the TZM like ducks to water. And for good reason. This was the most advanced bike money could buy at that time. The styling, sledgehammer performance and rock solid stability had no peers.

Nor would Honda stay quiet for long.

Thus, the Honda NSR150RR was released into the wild. This bike was the closest you could get to purchasing a race replica of the NSR bike Doohan was using in GP 500 at that time. It was a sleek machine, and challenged the TZM with claws baring.

I loved the NSR for it's clean lines which belied it's brutal acceleration.

During this period, Kawasaki who lost the 2-stroke mantel decided to branch out to 4-stroke sports bike as well.

Which saw the introduction of the Kawasaki ZZR-250. Which was a very capable bike, albeit a little boring.

Taking note of this, Kawasaki then launched the

monstrous ZXR250 instead. This 250cc 4-cylinder beast had no peers and destroyed every other bike on M'sia soil with it's 18,000rpm redline (that's F1 territory). If the engine revved any higher, the rider would probably see the puny pistons fly right thru his gas tank. Unfortunately, reliability was an issue and maintenance was a killer. Thus it ended up as a rare species.

Around the mid 90s, the government started discouraging the use of 2-stroke bikes due to noise and air pollution issues.

And this started the decline, and eventual near death of the 150cc sport bike market. Which was taken over by scooters.

Suzuki tried to revive the movement, with a four stroke offering.

The FXR150. Which was pretty far ahead of it's days in technology, but the market just didn't warm up to the idea of a 4 stroke sport cruiser. And so it died several years later as well.

Kawasaki then attempted a second revival, but this time in

the form of a 2-stroke back to basics 150cc screamer. The Kawasaki KRR ZX-150. Unfortunately, the 2-stroke days are well and truly dead, so only a handful of these super fun machines were sold.

Naza was smart enough to acknowledge this fact, and decided to try it's luck with the 250cc market instead.

But it's first offering, the naked Naza 250 Blade (which is actually a rebadged Hyosung Comet), wasn't inspiring enough to tintilate the M'sia buyers.

So it was back to the drawing board, and the 250 Blade was subjected to some beautifying plastic surgery.

Thus, the Naza Blade 250R was borned. A full fairing quarter liter bike which was essentially the same as it's naked sibling. But, a slight difference in looks alone was enough to kickstart sales for Naza.

And that helped the rivival of the 150cc market, which saw the launch of

the Honda CBR150 (which looks horrible IMHO)

and the Yamaha FZ150i, the first fuel injected 150cc bike (but have a really anorexic look).

The bike market seems to be recovering, with manufacturers starting to have more confidence in launching new models. And that is good news for the biking community.

Kawasaki decided to hit the iron while it's hot.

And that saw the introduction of the latest Kawasaki Ninja 250R. Which looks absolutely gorgeous in Kawasaki's lime green and an even better price to boot. 19K ++ for a spankin new quarter litre bike is a bargain in these crazy times.

It's essentially an evolution of the Kawasaki ZZR250, but who cares when the bike looks this good?

So there you have it, 20 years of biking history condensed down to 1 entry.

*Note : All photos ripped without permission from various sources from the internet; due to difficulty in nailing down official photos for some of the older models. All photo credits belong to them.