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I was on the Vital MX site reading some of the forum. Many just don't get it, Kawasaki just built the "father" bike for the new "son" 230 or 140. That is a bike a father could buy to have a fun comfortable ride with his younger children and still ride it as the progress onto hotter bikes. Like TNC says, he's ridden with the KTM and Husky riders without problem. As long as they aren't trying to lose you they won't. That's when it's about riding, not one-up-manship. It is a play ride for a semi-serious rider as opposed to a racer for a semi-serious rider.
I don't know how it will sell, but I can see 300/230 and 300/140 combinations being sold a whole lot more than any all in racers. I bet that kind of market is far bigger than most racers and hard off roaders realize. They see the racing market for a hot enduro, but miss the play riding aspect. It is like the ATV market was and may still be, racers for racing, but a full line of ATVs for family fun. We sold far more TRX250s than TRX450s and even though the TRX450 was better in all aspects, the TRX400 was still a strong seller because it was rock solid and could take a pounding. I see this 300 as that kind of bike...
Plus I wonder if that exhaust will work on the KLX250... Pretty cool looking and I bet fairly quiet.
Excited to see they are still making our street legal KLX 250 and now this KLX 230 for smaller folk! Both fuel injected! Gonna finally get around to putting on my Mikuni TM 36-68 this weekend.
I was on the Vital MX site reading some of the forum. Many just don't get it, Kawasaki just built the "father" bike for the new "son" 230 or 140. That is a bike a father could buy to have a fun comfortable ride with his younger children and still ride it as the progress onto hotter bikes. Like TNC says, he's ridden with the KTM and Husky riders without problem. As long as they aren't trying to lose you they won't. That's when it's about riding, not one-up-manship. It is a play ride for a semi-serious rider as opposed to a racer for a semi-serious rider.
I don't know how it will sell, but I can see 300/230 and 300/140 combinations being sold a whole lot more than any all in racers. I bet that kind of market is far bigger than most racers and hard off roaders realize. They see the racing market for a hot enduro, but miss the play riding aspect. It is like the ATV market was and may still be, racers for racing, but a full line of ATVs for family fun. We sold far more TRX250s than TRX450s and even though the TRX450 was better in all aspects, the TRX400 was still a strong seller because it was rock solid and could take a pounding. I see this 300 as that kind of bike...
Plus I wonder if that exhaust will work on the KLX250... Pretty cool looking and I bet fairly quiet.
I was wondering about the exhaust too. The close ups of the rear "subframe" might be different though?
This bike being "detuned" is good in that it will have lower maintenance intervals. Being able be rode 10 or 20 (30?) years like the old hondas with never being taken apart is an attractive aspect
not liking the white front fairing on the 230 though, should have been black or green.
Well this is pretty darned interesting. I just saw some info on that new 230 yesterday, but the KLX300 coming back is very cool. It's good to see some sanity for this category of off road trail bike come to reality. The KTM's and others have gotten way too expensive for a lot of the market, and this is a slice of the market that was wanting.
Looking at the specs and pics, it doesn't look like anything of substance changed at all except for FI. The suspension travel is still basically the same at about 11". This is what I liked about the '06/'07 KLX250S models in that they basically made a street legal KLX300 with a few cc's less displacement.
I would hope that Kaw altered the damping in the fork a little to improve that. It still looks like the same 43mm fork otherwise. It's neat to see it come back.
Well this is pretty darned interesting. I just saw some info on that new 230 yesterday, but the KLX300 coming back is very cool. It's good to see some sanity for this category of off road trail bike come to reality. The KTM's and others have gotten way too expensive for a lot of the market, and this is a slice of the market that was wanting.
Looking at the specs and pics, it doesn't look like anything of substance changed at all except for FI. The suspension travel is still basically the same at about 11". This is what I liked about the '06/'07 KLX250S models in that they basically made a street legal KLX300 with a few cc's less displacement.
I would hope that Kaw altered the damping in the fork a little to improve that. It still looks like the same 43mm fork otherwise. It's neat to see it come back.
Don't say that over at the ADVrider forum. They think everything should be up there with the KTMs. Funny part was when I asked them if they would pay the same money for an equal quality/power/performance Japanese bike the answer was NO. They also do not see that market that both you and I see. The lower cost, yet still proficient performing play bike.
I think it will do great, having that all important magic button on the right handlebar. Electric start added to ATVs helped tremendously and they don't need balancing when kick starting. I think we will see the same here. I think that was what helps the KLX140 too. I wouldn't trade the e-start for a 30 lb savings in weight, it's just that much better for a shorter guy like me.
