Impressions of the KLX230 motor are “it’s better than expected… by a lot.” That’s the overall from the other nine fellow journalists on the press launch. For comparison, my KTM 250 EXC-F has a bore of 78mm by 52.3mm of stroke yet it feels less refined north of 50 mph than the Kawi. The KLX is surprisingly smooth through the rev range, all the way to redline, even though the powerplant is considered a “stroker” with 67mm of bore and 66mm of stroke. Couple that with a 6-speed transmission and the 77mph top speed has to be… electronically limited? Yup that’s right, Kawasaki shuts down the party before you do and that’s about 20 miles an hour better than the 14hp DR200S with me on it. By my seat of the pants-dynometer, the KLX makes just north of 20hp from its single overhead-twin valve heart. Its 233cc power plant is just “too small” for us power-hungry Americans. The biggest problem facing the KLX is the smallest thing about it. You can also learn the fundamentals properly on a smaller motorcycle. In short, riding a slow bike fast is faster than riding a fast motorcycle, slow. Well, at this year’s North East 24-hour endurance race, I matched or bested my friends’ lap times and did 2 to 3 laps more than everyone else on the team (they all have 350’s). But, it makes you feel like Graham Jarvis as you yell “Jarvis” while blasting by your friends struggling to hold up a full-size dirt bike.The KTM is my “full size” dirt bike that everyone told me would be too small. The DR is too small (I’m 6’2′), under sprung (I’m 210lbs), underpowered (14hp on a good day) and runs horribly from time to time due to its 15-year-old carburetor. Both are perfect reference points to conduct this test. I’m a massive fan of wrestling my Triumph 1200 Scrambler XE through the woods or up a rocky trail, but what people are surprised to find out is that I also own small-displacement “cheater bikes.” Mine happen to be an air-cooled 200cc Suzuki DR and a KTM 250 EXC-F. This brings us right back to the parameters of whether this small dual sport is enough motorcycle for ‘your’ style of adventure. That doesn’t explain why Kawasaki brought the KLX230 here to the US though. Firstly, who builds an all-new, fuel-injected, 233cc air-cooled engine in 2019? Kawasaki did and the obvious answer to “why” is for the Asian Markets.
Is the KLX230 enough? Enough to be a lightweight Adventure Bike? The short answer, hell yeah it can be! There are a few parameters to that enthusiasm, but we’ll get into that as we go through the new 2020 Kawasaki KLX230.