I think roll-ons give a better or more equal way to test bikes side by side. Drag racing is very much down to rider skill, the guy on the KTM is pretty lame off the line & holds onto the gears well after the rev limiter kicks in!! I think the KTM would be way faster with a good pilot.

I've had more drag races with cbr250's than I can remember (very popular bike in Thailand), psychologically it's all about getting infront with a fast launch, then the inexperienced guy behind desperately holds onto the gears hitting the limiter trying to catch up, instead of changing gear just after the peak torque curve fades & peak hp is achieved.......haha plus i'm cheating with a stealth 331 big bore kit that they don't know about & really leave them for dust!!

 

I smoked a crf250l and his friend the constricted klx250s just a few months back.. The honda looked at the kawasaki 3 times as I passed, I'm pretty sure that's code for "what the heck?"

Its the LED turn signals I swear, at least 10 hp+

 

Light weight low hp bikes drag race. If only one bike was modified would there be an advantage. I'd think skill level would be worth as much as anything, rider wt. is a factor as 10lbs. is worth about a 1 hp. Gears would help as much as engine mods, but the Kawi wins.

 

Guess I'll have to taunt someone locally into a race to find out. No weight or expertise theory, just 1-2-3 GO!

 

I have owned both the 2012 klx, and 2013 crf250L...kawi...jetted,fmf powercore 4,drilled airbox lid.Honda...fmf powercore4,fuel programmer...Honda had a lil better lower end but the Kawi topped out better up top..the Honda kinda puttered off...Honda starts easy,comfy,lower ride..kawi more power.

 

Now we need someone from where the KLX is FI to do the comparison to the CRF250L. Stock vs stock.

 

Rider weight will have as much to do with it as the bike itself. If you weigh 30 lbs more than the other guy, you're in trouble, and vice versa. I used to drag race sport quads at the sand dunes, and I usually had an advantage because I weighed only about 150 at the time (164 now), compared to most of them being at or over 200 lbs.

Stock for stock and all other things being equal, I'd put my money on the CRF by a hair.

Rob

 

It's been almost 40 yrs but as I recall racing a much heavier friend from a 1st gear roll on other wise identical bikes back then, it seems the weight difference was mostly apparent in the first 50' or so when we'd swap bikes and race again

If the CRF is indeed so much heavier than the KLX, the Kaw rider had a built in edge

 

Mod for mod which is faster? klx351 tm36-68 pumper with 13/42 gearing low rolling resistant tires.......and a turbo

 

I owned (until about 6 months ago) a 2011 CBR250R, and currently (as of about 1.5 months ago) own a 2014 Ninja 300 and there is just no comparison, the Ninja absolutely blows away the CBR250. Based on the specs I've seen (as long as they don't change), when the 2015 CBR300R comes out, it will still be way short on HP/acceleration on the Ninja 300. The Ninja is something like 40HP and the CBR300 is supposed to around 30HP. It's almost $1000 cheaper, though. I really like the CBR, but I like the Ninja even more. With the CBR250, I was always thinking of 'upgrading' (to a more powerful bike), but with the Ninja I'm only thinking about little add-ons for the bike (like the Musarri exhaust I put on.), but no need to 'upgrade' the bike itself. The Honda was very well put together, maybe even better than the Ninja, but fell into the typical '250' class, where you learn on it, then want something bigger.

On the original topic, my gut feeling would be that the KLX would beat the CRF in a drag, but there was a review/comparison (KLX VS CRF VS WR) somewhere and I think they listed 0-60 times), I just can't seem to find it now.