P84
SHOOTOUT
2018 450 MOTOCROSS SHOOTOUT
Despite the fork, most of our testers thought that the
KX was still a solid and quick-handling machine that, as
one tester put it, "felt pretty stable and planted most of
the time." The others generally agreed.
Most felt that the KX turned well, as long as there
was a berm around. Flat turns, the KX's front end felt
lost as it hunted around for something to stick its front
wheel in. Better tires would benefit the KX.
There are only two bikes—the KTM and Husqvarna—
that are lighter than Kawasaki. The KX is six pounds
lighter than the Yamaha, 10 pounds lighter than the
Honda, and 11 pounds lighter than the Suzuki; yet, our
testers said that it didn't really feel lighter on the track.
One flat out said that the KX felt the heaviest of the
group; there are many factors for this—overall balance,
weight bias, vibration, power characteristics, CG, ergos,
you name it.
The KX has a lot of adjustability; you can fine-tune
the position of the handlebars better than most, and
it's the only bike of the six with footpegs that you can
adjust (they can be lowered five millimeters) but few
(if any) of our testers actually took advantage of this
feature. But it's nice to know that you can, especially
if you're on the tall side. The KX has launch control (in
fact, it was the first 450 to have it, now they all do), and
adjustable engine mapping via quick-change couplers
(which is, again, nothing new to the KX). For super-fine
tuning, Kawasaki offers, as an accessory, its handheld
KX FI Calibration Kit.
The KX is the only bike other than the Suzuki that
relies on manual kick starting.
The bottom line is the KX450F is still a solid moto-
crosser, but the fact that it doesn't have starting button
and has an air fork (that just doesn't perform nearly as
well as the other forks do) would make us think twice
about buying one, even if it is still an overall sound and
competitive motorcycle on the track.
GEAR ID'd
BRETT METCALFE
GEARSET: FLY
BOOTS: SIDI CROSSFIRE II
HELMET: M2R
GOGGLES: DRAGON
