Kawasaki-KLX300

2000 Kawasaki KLX 300

KLX300 is the most powerful in its class. More horsepower and torque than the XR250R and DR250. Don't get too excited, though, because the 24 ponies it puts out makes a very smooth and linear power curve. This is mainly thanks to the Keihin CVK 34mm constant velocity carburetor. It uses the pull of vacuum to move the slide up, which takes away any "snap" the bike would have. It simply robs torque and horsepower that this bike could've had.

2005 Kawasaki KLX 300

Although the KLX300R has motocross-style suspension, it does not perform exactly like it. It's a smaller and cheaper version of it. You can't tune the forks and shock as you would be able to on a race bike. With that said, many KLX owners have swapped out the stock forks for a pair from an older KX250 (there may be a future article on how to do this if I get enough responses). With some adjusting of what clickers I had, the bike was finally riding like it should. I'm a light rider, and I had to have the clickers almost all the way in for it to be stiff enough. I do occasionally jump the bike, but its main use was riding single track trails, so the suspension couldn't be too harsh. If you weigh over 150 lbs (68 kg) you'll probably need to get stiffer springs, and it will be well worth it once the bike is set-up the way you want.