VOLUME 57 ISSUE 30 JULY 28, 2020 P83
We wouldn't
say any 450cc
motocrosser is
"user-friendly," but
the new KX450 is
getting pretty
darn close.
K
awasaki didn't leave a washer
unturned with its prized
motocrosser, the KX450,
giving it a hydraulic clutch—a first for
a Japanese-built motocross bike—an
all-new motor with a new exhaust
system and a redesigned valve train
that features road-race-inspired fin-
ger followers, also giving it a signifi-
cantly updated chassis with a new
coil-spring fork that replaced the
previous pneumatic fork. But all that
happened in 2019 when Kawasaki
dropped the "F" in KX450F. Since
then, the KX450 has seen little
changes. In fact, it didn't get any
updates at all in 2020 and only a
few in 2021. But the changes that its
Supercross championship-winning
KX450 did get sound good to us
and should make a difference on
the track—for the better. Recently,
Kawasaki gave us the keys to the
2021 KX450 to find out.
IT'S
ALL
ABOUT
FEEL
BY CHRIS SIEBENHAAR
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KIT PALMER
KAWASAKI
TAKES
AIM AT
COMFORT
