Kawasaki KLX 250R

The Kawasaki KLX250R has talent. It was built to dominate enduros, but is so good it can do roads and motocross too

THE CLUTCH OF relatives watching their husbands, daughters and grandchildren do battle round a tight motocross track were confused by the new KLX250R. Droning like a Lancaster bomber at 20,000ft it sounded like a four-stroke, and it had a road number plate. Yet the KLX was ahead of half the field of ring-dinging two-strokes.

Four-stroke road bikes ridden by chubby club riders are not meant to be competitive motocrossers. The spectating relatives said that either the result was a fluke, the rider was motocross champ Kurt Nicoll with a cushion down his front or the KLX was something special.

In the next race the KLX came 12th, after an awful start proved the rider certainly was not Kurt Nicoll. The KLX is something special. It is an enduro bike that easily becomes road legal (as our test bike did) yet holds its own on a motocross track.

From the specifications, the first give away that great things should be expected of the KLX is the weight. At 104kg it is just 7kg (151b, or one small gut) heavier than a competitive 250cc motocross race bike. That is phenomenal.

Motocross bikes are minimalist machines comprising lightweight two-stroke engines, the trickest suspension this side of a GP pit lane and a smattering of chassis. For a four-stroke, road legal bike to get anywhere near their weight is breathtaking.

More perspective comes from road bike comparisons. Yamaha's saucy little TDR125 weighs 133kg, and Cagiva's exotic Mito Lawson II weighs a creditable 121kg. These expensive 125cc two-strokes are fatso blubber-bellies compared to the KLX.

With the chassis, it is easy to see where the KLX lost weight over other road legal machines. Rather than copying the style of its KX motocross frames and suspension, Kawasaki has actually given the KLX the genuine articles.

The perimeter frame looks identical to the KX125's except for the KLX's non-detachable sub-frame, and suspension comes from the balls-out enduro machine the KDX. No weight has been lost to the motocrossers in the chassis department.

Fathoming how Kawasaki made the KLX's engine such a featherweight is trickier. The key is compactness, not exotic materials. Kawasaki started with the KLR250 trail bike engine, then changed or pared down anything that smacked of porkiness.

Valve stems were narrowed, one of the two balance shafts was ditched, and the cylinder bore was electro-fusion plated so a steel liner would not be needed. The KLX engine is over 7kg lighter than the already slimline KLR's. It feels light too. In a straight line, a very low first gear (impractical for road use) followed by five others in close ratio mean acceleration is brisk bordering on the vertical. In the first four gears it makes Honda's rip-snorting FireBlade feel as frisky as a sedated pensioner.

But it's off-road corners where the KLX shows its motocross pedigree. No four-stroke road bike has ever handled dirt like the KLX. And we're not just talking pretty green lanes here. The KLX can handle full-bore, jump infested motocross tracks.

Its frisky feel, light weight and slimness are enough to immediately engender enough confidence to sling the bike onto its ear going into a rutted corner, snap the throttle open — and crash. The point is that on the KLX you think you're good enough to do it. Irri-tatingly, there are lots of people who are and they go very quickly on KLXs.

Steering geometry is close to the KX125's, which means it's fast. On road or dirt a nudge of the outside knee is all it takes to send the KLX swooping. Stability does not seem to be a problem though - over a mish-mash of tarmac potholes, sand, and Puddles of Uncertain Depth, the KLX reached an indicated 65mph with no bar wobblies.

On standard settings the suspension is too soft for motocross, but racers report that once the compression damping at the rear is wound up to just below maximum, it is firm enough for moderate riders to go fast. For green laners the suspension represents plushness and sophistication beyond their wildest dreams.

The final surprise the KLX has in store is power. Its greatest four-stroke rival, Suzuki's DR350, is an exceptionally fine and worthy bike but is a damp flannel when it comes to top-end power. Not so the KLX. There's no defined powerband, just a steadily steep climb that carries real punch at the top.

It never rivals the two-strokes for outright power (KX125s produce close to 40bhp, the KLX 32bhp), but the midrange is so strong that the lack of neck-twanging kick is not a problem unless you're good enough to miss it. For most, lap times improve and enjoyment increases because the KLX motor is so easy to use. Where others are thrashing up and down gearboxes or murdering clutches, the KLX rider just drones past.

Off-road brilliance

On the road, the upshot of all this off-road brilliance is that the KLX is fun, but nothing special. Knobbly tyres rule out cornering larks bar the odd slide, the front brake can work the knobbly hard but would struggle with a road tyre and the low gearing gives an indicated 75mph flat out.

Sure, the wheelies come easily, but if you actually want to get somewhere without pratting about, the KLX is slow. Make your KLX road legal to travel from trail to trail (or motocross track to enduro race), but don't do it to get a satisfactory 30-mile commuter.

The other niggle is starting. From cold it was fine, but once hot the engine was a pig to start. The automatic decompression system saves the fiddly lever pulling that makes the DR350 a chore to start, but after the twentieth kick, love for the KLX begins to wane.

Kawasaki has issued dealers with a carburation adjustment that apparently sorts out the starting problems, and the official road version of the KLX - the KLX250G, available April 1994 - will have this modification as standard. Gear ratios aside, this looks likely to be the only advantage Kawasaki UK's road-going KLXs will have over converted ones like our test bike.

Official road versions will have detuned engines, heavier chassis parts and less of a go-for-it attitude. They will probably still kick the trusty DR350 into touch, but why not have the real thing?

By making a KLX250R road legal, you get the most sought after enduro tool in Britain, a handy short distance commuter and a passable motocrosser. That puts it in a class of one. □