COMPARISON I 2021 HONDA CRF300L VS. KAWASAKI KLX300
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to plant both feet firmly on the
ground when not in motion, and
there is no easy fix if you can't.
At right around 35 inches, both
bikes are middle of the road in
this department, but the top of
the Honda's seat is approximately
half an inch closer to the ground
than the Kawasaki's, 34.6 inches
versus 35.2 inches. A quick visit
to your local dealer will reveal
which bike fits you better. Just
swing a leg over them and sit. No
test ride is needed.
SUSPENSION :::
Okay, now things start separat-
ing themselves. When it comes
to suspension, there is a clear
winner here. Remember the extra
$350 you spent on the Kawa-
saki? Well, here is what you get
for that extra dough—superior
suspension.
Kawasaki stepped up (as it
had in previous years with the
KLX250) by fitting the KLX300
with pretty darn good suspension
components. Up front, you'll find
a fairly high-tech 43mm upside-
down (USD) cartridge fork.
The "cartridge" part is key here
because the cartridge design
makes it possible to adjust damp-
ing, in this case, both rebound,
and compression, via 16 "clicks"
each. The cartridge also prevents
the mixture of oil and air for more
consistent damping. The Honda's
forks are also 43mm USD forks
but are cartridge-less and, as a
result, non-adjustable.
In the back, both bikes feature
single-shock units that ride on
linkages. Kawasaki labels its link-
age system Uni-Trak and Honda's
Pro-Link. Despite the names, they
are similar in the overall design.
The Kawasaki, however, gets a
more sophisticated shock that
features a piggyback reservoir (to
help keep the shock fluid cool
for better consistency and perfor-
mance) and spring preload and,
like the fork, offers 16-way com-
pression and rebound damping
adjustability. All great stuff that you
Both the CRF300L and KLX300 are street-legal, eliminating having to
load them into a truck to get to your favorite riding spot and letting you ride into
town for refueling (and perhaps more importantly, hamburgers).
