just looked at the specs you guys are right, honda porked it out and wussified the susp travel for the "I need to touch both feet" crowd.

 

the motor is strong in mid but underwhelming over all better road cruser very smooth if your dealer doesn't have one to ride ride a cbr250 same motor for the power it felt heavier and more cumbersome than the xr650l due the lack of grunt in the 250that the 650 uses to make up for its weight but the fuel economy is supposed to be great but i think that will be less of a factor when the after market gets ahold of it if it does, i just don't see this bike hitting the same crowd as the klx captuers unless you bleed red for Hondas personaly i buy what fits me best to what i want mechanically and hou it feels being 6'3'' the klx is much more comfortable and the fact there is no fuel pump and injectors to mess with makes for peice of mind on the trail

 

I can't understand why everyone is so hell-bent over the FI thing.

I'll take something I can fix on the trail, over something that I'll have to push 20 miles if something goes wrong with it out in the wilderness. I've been riding snowmobiles for a long time - all carb'd! When the FI units are running fine, they're great, but when they aren't, you're screwed!!! I have ridden with folks with new FI machines and watched them just about pull till their arms fell off, trying to get their machines started. There's little (if anything) you can do in the field to fix FI issue... if you even know how to fix it. You just yank till it atarts, or you tow it out. Neither are very good options IMHO.

My good old carb'd KLX gives me ZERO problems from about 4,600 to over 10,000 feet, with NO jetting changes.

Why would anyone want to pay more for something that does the same thing? Moreover - why would you want to pay more for something that could potentially strand you miles and miles from civilization???

I can see folks (maybe) wanting FI on a street-only Motard, but not on an off-road bike. No thanks!!! Kudos to Kawi for understanding that!

 

I'm not hellbent on FI by any means, but I'm not really concerned about it. The achilles heel of FI is the fuel pump, but with the exception of a very few models in the vast field of FI bikes out there, they're pretty darned reliable. Fuel cleanliness and fuel level seem to be the biggest issue for in-tank fuel pumps. The KTM690 is one of the biggest offenders I've seen on ADV, but even there when you compare it against the total numbers sold, it's relatively small. The Japanese bikes seem to have a better overall handle on it.

As far as carbs go, I certainly have no issue with them either. They work. I've added aftermarket FI systems to a couple of my vehicles and have always liked FI. I'm not sure I'd ever have a carb on any of my street vehicles anymore unless it was some kind of specialty vehicle like a rat rod or such. Eventually the carb will go away on most everything, so we'd better get used to it.

 

I don't know why they went back to green and white, I think the green or red and black looks sharp.

 

i relly like the new colors

 

I hope you guys aren't expecting many big changes to the KLX. If you look at Kawasaki's track record, you'll see they build the same bikes for years and years and years.

Look at the first gen Concours, EX250, EX500, KLR, etc. I had a 2004 Ninja 250 that was literally identical to a bike from 1987.

 

I certainly wasn't expecting much if anything new on the KLX or WRR, but I was hoping for a little more on this new Honda. I was at least hoping for an equal in terms of off road potential and similar weight.

 

+1

While i understand why Kawi isn't updating the KLX and thats fine, if it ain't broke don't fix it....


BUT since this is basically an entirely new bike from Honda they had the opportunity to one up the competition and make thier new offering stand out, but they seemed to have dropped the ball and made a bike somewhere between thier air cooled 230 and the KLX and nowhere near the WRR as it stands from the factory.

 

honda should have just thaken the x modles and put lights on them for road use i may have jumped ship to have a crf450xl