VOL. 51 ISSUE 28 JULY 15, 2014 P85
Another nice thing about these
forks is that once you have them
dialed in, they tend to stay that
way, even after sitting in the ga-
rage for a couple of weeks. At
least that is what we have been
told. We shall see later on, and
we shall also see later on how
this fork performs on other
tracks, which is something we're
anxious do, since the Milestone
circuit wasn't extremely rough on
this day. It was hardly a test for
these babies, nor was it for the
KX's new shock.
Last year, the KX had a KYB
shock, now it has a 50mm Showa
shock that has been tuned to
work in harmony with the new
fork. It features 19-position low-
speed compression adjustments
and a four-turn stepless high-
speed compression adjustment. It
also has a 22-way rebound adjust-
ment. Like the fork, the shock has
excellent feel overall. We made
only a few minor adjustments to
suit the Milestone layout.
Probably the next most notice-
able on-track difference we felt
between the '14 KX450F and the
'15 was the new front brake. It
now has a larger 270mm (former-
ly 250mm) front rotor and it really
grabs while still offering excellent
feel. It's a big improvement over
the previous brake.
The only engine change worth
mentioning is the piston. It now
has a bridged-box bottom for
more durability and a new crown
for an increased compression
ratio and improved combustion
efficiency. Kawasaki claims the
result is stronger pull and quicker
revving and it did seem that way,
but the difference wasn't dramat-
ic. Our test riders said the KX still
pulls hard and is very powerful
overall, which isn't anything new
with the KX450F.
All that our one-day ride on the
2015 Kawasaki KX450F really did
was leave us wanting more. Like
we said, we're anxious to get the
bike on a variety of tracks and put
its new suspension to the test. But
from what we can tell so far, the
2015 KX450F is still a KX450F
— and that's a good thing — with
much-improved legs. And that's
an even better thing. CN
(Left) The 2015 KX450F has
improved suspension. (Above)
Kawasaki has not yet announced an
MSRP for the 2015 KX450F.
