#Off-roadMotorcycle

Tractoring up the single-track ascent, switchback after switchback with relative ease, a few thoughts ran through my head. One, this thing’s street-legal. Two, it’s kicking ass on this trail. Three, two-strokes aren’t the only machines that can be comfortable doing technical trail work. Admittedly, I’ve become somewhat smitten with my own two-stroke dirtbike, so much so that I had forgotten just how well a four-stroke can handle similar terrain, despite having begun my off-road riding career on a four-stroke 250. 

Remember back in the good ol’ days of 2019 when we were gathering en masse, kissin’ hands and shakin’ babies? I do. Well, way back in September of last year MO had the opportunity to test three new Kawasaki motorcycles: the street-legal KLX230, and the off-road only KLX230R and KLX300R. Shortly after, as is usually the case, my reviews went live on Motorcycle.com to tell you all about the KLX230 and KLX230R. Why wasn’t the KLX300R included? Because I was only able to spend a third of one day riding it and honestly, I believed it deserved a more thorough test because it really is a compelling motorcycle for what I think could be a large audience, and at the low price of $5,499, it becomes even moreso.

For a long time, I didn’t get the adventure boot thing. They’re not off-road boots, nor are they purely street/touring boots. Adventure boots are a combination of the two, though they tend to resemble their off-road counterparts. After putting more than 1,500 miles in the Sidi Adventure 2 adventure boots, I get it. They’re not trying to be motocross boots, and they can be more versatile in certain situations than street-biased footwear.

Suzuki has released its 2019 line-up for motocross, dual-sport, off-road, and youth models. The most news-worthy new models are the in the RM-Z and DR-Z families with the RM-Z250 motocrosser and all-new DR-Z50 youth model. Suzuki has said it focuses on the fundamental performance elements of run, turn, and stop when it comes to the RM-Z line and have been hyperfocused on advancing the 250’s turn capabilities while bringing over technology from the revamped 2018 RM-Z450 to create what Suzuki calls the Winning Balance. The all-new DR-Z50 adds a new youth motorcycle to the market that’s easy and convenient for youngsters to sink their teeth into.