Tiptoeing through traffic on the Kawasaki KLX250SF

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Riding the dotted line to work on Kawasaki’s new lightweight supermoto, I observed a phenomenon I’d eagerly anticipated for years. Cars are getting shorter. If there’s any silver lining to the darkening cloud of the U.S. economy, it’s that people are dumping their SUVs and Hummers for more sensible sedans and hatchbacks. It just took me some time in the KLX250SF’s 33.9-inch saddle to realize it. The annoying handlebar jockeying I’d learned to live with astride some of the industry’s taller products? That was gone, for the most part, along with the fear of needing to gun ‘n’ run it after unfortunate, ram-like entanglements with jutting, TV-sized mirrors.

A street-oriented dual sport intended for short commutes, the KLX250SF is a trend within a trend within a trend. A lightweight supermoto, it joins its Japanese competitors in one of the most popular genres of modern dual sporting -- a genre that saw an enormous spike in popularity last summer when gas topped $4 per gallon and riders threw a leg over for transportation as much as for fun. Now that gas prices have returned from the stratosphere and credit’s frozen over, the dual-sport-as-transportation rage has been damped, but that could change this summer, as gas prices continue their slow but upward creep and banks stop hoarding their bailout money.

Like its direct competition -- the Honda CRF230M and the Yamaha WR250X -- the Kawasaki KLX250SF is an electric-starting, six-speed single that’s easy on the pocketbook and light on its feet. Quick off the line, it’s a little wanting on the top end for much freeway riding, but it’s nimble and gamine on congested streets. Being so tall, it’s easy to see past the gridlock. Being so narrow and lightweight, it’s even easier to tiptoe right through it, wheeling down the white paint to get to the front of the line.

That said, the KLX250SF may be happiest when it’s burning rubber and flashing its rear from on high. Rolling on 17-inch radial street tires, which, depending on how the bike’s ridden, may require frequent replacing, it employs a 300-mm semi-floating petal disc brake out front, which is more than sufficient for stoppies, or just plain stopping, on this 80ish-mph, 302-pound ride.

A wham, bam, thank you ma’am sort of machine, the KLX250SF is, at $5,299, a cheap and easy date as street bikes go. Dressed in black and ready for action, it is, however, a little over-styled. One look at its bodywork, and it’s clear the KLX250SF’s designers don’t subscribe to the Pythagorean theorem or any other theory of classic geometry. The five sides of its mad-scientist mirrors are all different lengths. The fender above its spoked front wheel arches like a cholita’s overplucked eyebrow. The bike as a whole seems to beg for someone to rip it apart with her bare hands and assemble it into something really useful when it’s parked, like a robotic housecleaner.

Perhaps for the bike’s update.

2009 Kawasaki KLX250SF

Base price: $5,299
Powertrain: carbureted, liquid-cooled, four-stroke, single cylinder, four valves per cylinder, DOHC, six speed
Displacement: 249 cc
Seat height: 33.9 inches
Curb weight: 302 pounds
Road test MPG: 63 (based on 212 miles traveled)

-- Susan Carpenter