VOLUME 59 ISSUE 38 SEPTEMBER 20, 2022 P91
the midrange of the power. That
feeling continues from the mid
to top-end, and the bike doesn't
require a bunch of intermittent
shifts to get you from section to
section. Instead, gears two and
three seem much longer and
more usable. I still count gears
when I ride, and, on one particu-
lar Perris jump, I could now hit
it in second gear, something I
could usually only do on a 450.
Most 250s force me to grab
third gear on the face of this
jump, but the KX250 provides
a noticeably strong pull from
the bottom to the top of the rpm
range, so I didn't have to shift so
much. Grabbing a gear midair is
easier than doing it on the lead-
up to a jump, and simple nu-
ances like this make the KX250
much easier to ride as you link
sections of the track together.
The bike still has three plug-in
coupler options: rich, standard
and lean. Or if you will: smooth,
standard and aggressive. Being
somewhat big for a 250, I usu-
ally opt for the most aggressive
option on 250Fs. However, the
combination of the Kawi's new
mapping, engine mods, and
gearing gave the bike a little
extra on top while still offer-
ing improved bottom-end pop,
which changed things up a bit.
A rutted track like Perris usu-
ally requires the rider to use the
most inside rut, and low-end pull
is a near necessity for these fast
lines. Forgoing that extra grunt
off the bottom with the aggres-
sive coupler, however, just didn't
