A bit of history of the bikes and the racing. Supermotard grew in Europe from the made-for-TV Wide World of Sports challenge called Superbikers, put on in the U.S.. They got championship caliber racers from flat track, like Jay Springsteen, MX, like Steve Wise, and roadracers, like Doug Chandler. Bikes started mainly as flattrackers, but quickly the MX bikes with flat track wheels proved best on both dirt and pavement. ABC dropped the once a year event, but the French were totally taken with it and it lived on and matured in Europe. Unfortunately here in the U.S. the AMA has pretty well hosed it up. Best spectator racing on par with dirt track.

By the way is motocross, enduro, and trials anything more than "a bunch of kids tearing up" some field or woods? You really sound like you don't have a clue at times, but I know that likely isn't true, you are a bit narrow minded though.

On the road the supermoto and dual sport bikes can do literally everything, only sacrificing comfort and high speed in the long run. The tires mainly went as 17s due to the European influence and availability of a variety of tires, including slicks cut to suit the dirt. Knobbies aren't going to work well on pavement and pavement treads aren't going to be optimal in the dirt segments. That would be the reason for 17s versus the 19" flat track tires or 18/21 off road tires. For the road rider, though, the road tires also can last, flat track tires, besides being limited in choice, don't last long on pavement since they are tailored for flat track and not DOT.

As for tires and rim size, again, outside of racing, it is about choice of tires available and what is preferred. You are limiting things too much. A rider that rides a lot of road and little dirt, plus no real hard trails and mud, will prefer the longer lasting wide selection of tires offered by the 17" tires, from the super sport tires to the coarser treaded tires like the current big block and Avon Distanzia. They work for what those riders do the most - and last longer. The dual sport tires are preferred by riders that actually will do more and rougher off road. My own dual sport 650 will smoke a set of decent dual sport tires in 4000 miles. I think it could easily add a couple thousand if the tires were street tread. I push the dual sport tires pretty hard, but I am pretty certain it could be pushed a bit harder if I had 17s with even a sport touring compound. Plus I would actually have a decent variety of choices.

That is what you are ignoring, the varieties of riding others do. I could push all your arguments for why it is wrong to not run knobbies on all dual sport bikes. They will grip better and do better off road. It is foolish to ride street bikes with longer travel suspension - adventure bikes - because the singles are so much lighter and easier to ride on dirt/gravel surfaces. Of course that is ignoring what each rider wants to do with said bikes. Clearly there are times when some are out of their element, but the thing is if I planned to do the Al-Can highway style riding but occasionally hitting some rough trails maybe less than1% of the time I'd be a fool to ride a KLX250 over a KLR650 or one of the big twins... and vice versa.

Your argument could be leveled at adventure bikes versus touring or dual sport bikes along with arguing against sport models since a standard can easily do everything they do. They just can't quite hit the fringe for the fringe rider. Same with tire treads.

My friend rides his SM more often like a street bike - actually sport bike - but then hits the dirt/gravel roads and some relatively light trails. So should he have a CBR600RR or a KLX250 when that DRz400SM does both more than adequately? That is the point. It may not work for you or me, but it is right for him. Actually with the advent of the KLX250 in my garage the 650 has a set of 17" rims waiting to lace up for the road. It will be mainly road use, but can cover some of the stuff the 250 does if it pops up.

It is what a rider does. Fact is a Supermoto with long lasting street tires, light weight, quick maneuverability and all makes more sense for city riding than almost every bike over 500cc.

But the real fact is most riders like the fun of the ride and some like the look of the bike... sound familiar? Couldn't be why BMW sold their Dakar series, or Honda's Repsol series, along with all the other specials that look like race bikes. It is really easy to have a competition looking SM or dual sport bike for the personal gratification. Fact is I run a 4.10-18 on the back of my 250, mainly due to the ability to take less power when digging into soft surfaces, but after installing it I REALLY like the fact that it now has a lighter MX style look in the rear end. Image is a nice thing - the thing that makes you want to sometimes just sit and look at the bike while sipping a cold one and maybe puffing on a stogie.

 

Hey KLX678, maybe put in a one sentence "Cliffnote" as a post script? - for instance, I think I read enough to cliffnote the above:

Motard - Cool, Good.
Dual Sport - Cool, Good

 

It's not required reading... but there will be a quiz!

 

OP here. For the record, I really like my bike. The smooth power delivery is very useful in the woods. This afternoon I was in the woods and I had the bike crest a short, very steep hill ( more like a bmx jump track now that i'm thinking about it) with the front tire pointing at 11:00 while the rear wheel was 1.5 feet in the air. I landed smoother than I anticipated. The forks were within a half inch of bottoming (I have a zip tie to measure sag on the fork).

I'm not complaining so much as trying to understand what is holding the bike back from being a little snappier so i can modify it.

The more I ride it, the more I like it. And I guess that's the truest sign of a great bike.

 

Yesterday I took my snorkel off.. I still don't have a KX replacement one, just took the original one off to see what it's like.

Not sure if it's more pokey or not, but it sure sounds like it is!

Reminds me of my Fantic Caballero in my youth, with a lovely "Booooorp" noise as you open it up (I should add that the Fantic was a 2 stroke)

Still nice and quiet when poodling though.

But yeah, I'm also finding the more I ride it the more i like it.

(I have always disliked Kawasaki in terms of dumb-*** design when it comes to maintenance or fitting racks and such though, and no change there so far... I think I'm going to have to pay someone to do some welding if I'm going to put a decent rack/pannier system on this thing.

8mm bolts Mr Kawasaki, seriously?)