2020 Kawasaki KLX230 First Look

Kawasaki announced a KLX230 model for 2020, a new dual-sport motorcycle slotting in alongside the KLX250 that is also returning for 2020. But is there room for two KLX models separated by just 16cc? Kawasaki seems to think so.

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2020 Kawasaki KX250 First Look

Just once I’d like to hear a manufacturer come out and say, well, this new one’s a little slower and heavier than the existing model. That never happens. The thoroughly redesigned KX250, Kawi says, is the MOST POWERFUL KX250 TO DATE, in 23-point type! Now it’s packing an even more oversquare and revvier engine with World Superbike-derived finger-type cam followers, housed in a new and improved aluminum frame, suspended by the latest in KYB suspension components. It’s all topped off with Kawi’s excellent Ergo-Fit system of adjustable footpegs and handlebar position, and embellished with fresh new plastic. How much would you expect to pay? $7,799.

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2019 Yamaha YZ250FX Review

In 2015, after Euro brands had been long dominating enduro and GNCC-type racing, Yamaha stepped into the game with a serious contender, a closed-course off-road competition model to do battle with the Austrians and others from tree to tree around an enduro course. The Yamaha YZ250FX is heavily based on the YZ250F motocross bike, but has been outfitted with essential off-road racing components, some of which would be costly to impossible to build out yourself. For 2019, the field is becoming more crowded with Honda’s new CRF250RX and KTM’s 250 XC-F. How does the Yamaha stack up to an increasingly competitive class? We made our way to the California desert to find out.

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2019 Honda CRF250RX Review

Not all that long ago, if you wanted an off-road competition bike, you were stuck converting a motocrosser for off-road duty. More recently, if you were looking for a high-performance trail bike, you could either build out an “X” model, or start with a motocrosser and deal with the shortcomings of each where they may fall. My first real dirtbike, aside from the clapped out vintage machines my friends and I would tinker on in our youth, was a KX250F converted for trail duty. It was a great dirtbike to learn on and grow with out in the desert, but it had a fairly substantial list of modifications to get it to that point. With the Honda CRF250RX, the market for GNCC racer-types and avid trail riders alike receives a new performance-based model for 2019.

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Countersteer: Riding In The Sand

Not a week ago, I was barreling down a tight road in Baja comprised of deep sand at about 70 mph. I love riding in the sand. It doesn’t intimidate me, and I enjoy it. You see, I began riding off-road in southern California where the sand is deep and rocks are aplenty. To quote Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, “Oh, you think darkness sand is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark sand; I was born in it, molded by it.” I’m no pro desert racer, but I was living out fantasies of being one for the last seven days in Mexico. As I ripped through deep sandy trails, I thought back to an analogy someone once told me.

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2019 Honda CRF450X Review – First Ride

There’s really no other bike in the off-road dirtbiking world that carries more clout than the Honda CRF450X, except for possibly the XR650R or XR400R models the 450X was designed to replace. Originally introduced in 2005, the CRF450X went on to win the 2006 Baja 1000 in its first attempt. Since then, it’s become the winningest bike in Baja 1000 history, with 11 wins at the 1000 and nine at the Baja 500. As if that weren’t impressive enough, Honda-mounted teams have won 20 of the last 21 Baja 1000s. So, to say Honda knows a thing or two about building a competitive, well-rounded dirtbike would be a massive understatement.

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MO Video: Riding a Fine Line

Two wheels can take you places four wheels cannot – for various reasons obviously, but mostly because of their size. Simply put, motorcycles can squeeze into tighter spaces and ride along narrower paths.

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Let's Jump Over A Freeway!

Kyle Katsandris is quickly becoming an internet sensation after posting the video below. What’s so special about the it? Oh nothing – just the fact that Katsandris jumped across a California freeway in broad daylight. To save you the suspense, yes, he landed successfully and no, nobody was harmed in the process. In fact, we wonder how many car drivers below, droning along on the empty freeway, even noticed the second or two there was a man flying over them on a dirt bike.

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Church Of MO – 2010 Kawasaki KLX110 & KLX110L Review

Kawasaki’s KLX110 has long been a great little dirtbike for the munchkins, and with the addition of the KLX110L, even the bigger kids (aka, parents) can join in on the fun. Both models are still in Kawasaki’s lineup, only $200 more than they were in 2010, when MO’s Alfonse Palaima got to ride them at Fox’s backyard dirt track. How did a grown child like Fonsie take to the little Kawi? Read on to find out. And for more pics, be sure to click the photo gallery.

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Church Of MO – 2008 Zero X Electric Motorcycle Review

Eight years ago we were the first to get a ride on a Zero electric motorcycle, the 2008 Zero X. Back then Zero was a very different company than it is today – Neal Saiki is gone, the machines are immensely more evolved, and they now look like motorcycles rather than converted mountain bikes – but reading Mark Gardiner’s and Micky Dymond’s positive thoughts about the 2008 Zero X confirms the impressive performance of electrics. Even crude ones. By today’s electric motorcycle standards the X is hardly worth mentioning, but for historical value – and as a measuring stick for progress – the X is hugely important. In only eight years Zero Motorcycles has greatly increased power and range, while lowering prices at the same time (government incentives also help). Zero’s make reasonable commuters or trail bikes for some people, and it started with the Zero X. Read about it below, and be sure to check out the photo gallery for more shots. 

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MO Survey: What's The Best Kind Of Motorcycle?

We’ve traveled down this path before when we asked what types of bikes our readers have owned. What we learned there, frankly, didn’t surprise us too much. You’ve owned a bunch of different motorcycles. That makes you a lot like us. We like motorcycles – all motorcycles. As an industry friend once said about our profession, “All motorcycles good; we investigate.”

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Church Of MO – 2007 BMW G 650 X Series

If you’re BMW, what do you do when you have a successful mid-displacement Single and want to diversify your model lineup? The answer seems simple: Stick it in as many new models as you can. The result is the topic of this week’s Church of MO feature. Prior to 2007 this was the dilemma BMW faced, and its answer came to life in the 2007 G 650 X series of motorcycles, ridden and reviewed by former MOron, Pete Brissette. So, instead of expanding the lineup with one new bike, BMW added three: the G650 Xchallenge, G650 Xmoto and G650 Xcountry. Here’s Pete to tell you more about them. And for more pictures of all three, be sure to check out the accompanying photo gallery.

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Reader's Choice Best Dirtbike of 2015: Honda CRF450R

Unlike the Harley-Davidson LiveWire, your choice for Best Electric, there’s nothing shocking about the Honda CRF450R, and yet its popularity is certainly understandable. Big Red’s sleek and slick big-bore moto thumper has been the model of consistency since its debut 15 years ago, and Honda has never strayed from the basic elements that make it a perennial contender.

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2015 Yamaha WR250F First Ride Review

After riding Yamaha’s all-new 2015 WR250F at Cahuilla Creek Motocross Park in Anza, California, let’s just put it this way: If you’ve been waiting to sell your trusty pre-2014 Yamaha WR250F in the hope that Yamaha would introduce an all-new machine based around its AMA National Motocross Championship-winning rearward-inclined engine technology, the wait is over. It’s time to get your classified ad ready and get that old blue machine sold, because like its YZ250F sister, the 2015 WR250F is so radically improved that it practically obsoletes the previous model. It’s effectively a YZ250F that you can ride anywhere your trails take you. A year in the waiting – Yamaha didn’t sell a 2014 WR250F – the new WR’s 249cc DOHC four-stroke Single is virtually identical to the class-conquering 2014 YZ250F motocrosser, except that it’s tuned for enduro competition and aggressive trail riding and fitted with the required emissions and sound equipment to make it EPA-legal and CARB Green Sticker-certified.

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2015 Yamaha YZ450F Review

Yamaha attempted to defy conventional wisdom in the 450cc class when it introduced an entirely different YZ450F in 2010. The all-new YZ’s rearward-slanted cylinder and reversed cylinder head engine architecture, while not completely original, was a radical departure from the contemporary crop of 450cc contenders.

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