HI everybody, it's Peter, and in this video I'm gonna give a full in-depth review of the Kawasaki KLX 300 and I'm gonna gonna compare it to the Kawasaki KX 300 SM or the supermodel. So basically the dual sport versus the supermodel. And the reason I'm doing this is because you guys let me know in the comments of one of the previous videos I did, you wanted to know some of the similarities and differences between these two bikes. And I've done previous videos on these bikes and I wanna thank Jim Gilbert's PowerSports who gives me complete access to the Kawasaki lineup because I keep saying in every video, if you have questions, let me know when the comments below because I'll come back and answer it in a future video. And that's exactly what I'm doing right here today. So in my previous video of the KLX 300, it was actually the more dirt bike style color scheme.

This one's the new digit camo, which I'm a big fan of. But I talked about this being a mini adventure bike, kind of a do-it-all and this one being sort of more of an in-town sport bike, but they're really almost exactly the same bikes. And I will point out a lot of the key differences. There are some small differences that may or may not make a difference to you. So I'll make sure I point those out to you in this video. But we'll talk about those differences and how they relate, you know, putting street tires on this bike, how does it matter to you as a rider? And maybe I can help you sort of clarify which one might be better for you. So a lot of people looking at these bikes are new riders and one thing to remember is this one's gonna have a little bit lower seat height just because it has smaller wheels. 

We'll get into some of the specifics about that. But if you really want a lower seat height, this is sort of your only option. You could also switch bikes completely if you didn't want a supermoto and just wanted a lower seat height in this type of thing. There is the KLX two 30, which is available in a two 30 s, which is a shorter or lower to the ground vehicle as well. So if seat height was the only thing that mattered, there are options for you, especially if you wanted to stay with something like this. But the 300 cc size point is a really nice size point for just everyday driving. Now I talked about this being a sport bike for the city and really that's because beside me off camera here is also the Ninja 400. That's a different style of sport bike and you may wanna know why you want this over that.

We'll also try to cover this, cover that in this video. So let's take a closer look at some of the details on these bikes and we can then point out some of the differences and we'll talk about why one might be better for you than the other. Let's get a closer look. So the obvious difference between these two bikes is the tires. It's not just the front tires, it's the rear tires as well, but you really notice it on the front because this one has a 21 inch front tire with nobbies. This one is a 17 inch with street tires. Now 17 inches is an important thing because pretty much every modern sport bike has 17 inch wheels with the tires that correspond with that. So you can really, you know, change these tires up and stay within that sport bike class. But the difference in riding on this is you're gonna have better lean angles with more

Confidence at speed. Now that being said, you still have a long suspension travel bike. This is going to feel a lot different than something like a Ninja 400. If you're used to riding a dirt bike but plan on transitioning to primarily road riding with a license bike, then this is a good option because it gives you a whole different style of riding than something like a ninja, but it feels familiar to you for a dirt bike style and you can corner in the same way, but you can really get those lean angles down With this. Obviously with this one here you've got those 21 inch circumference. So again, that raises the bike off the ground a little bit more. So it's about an inch and a half, just a hair over an inch and a half, uh, more ground clearance on this bike. But you also with those nobbies can basically go anywhere Now at the limit when you're really leaning this bike over, you will feel the nobby tires give you a little less grip.

The reality is with a bike on this style and the size, you're probably not leaning it over far enough to have to worry about, but there is absolutely a handling difference between these two. Now you still have some front protection underneath here if you wanna jump off curbs in town, that kind of thing, you can do it on this bike. I wouldn't recommend doing that on a Ninja 400 or something like that. So that's gonna give you the biggest difference. But there are some subtle differences here as well. Let's talk about those. Taking a look at the rear wheel of the KLX 300, again, not the super modal obviously here. One thing to note is that the rear tire is smaller than the front tire. So this is an 18 inch rear tire. However, it is still larger than the rear tire on the super modal. 

So you have 17 inch front and rear on the super modal 21 and 18 on this bike. So that's just a little bit of a difference. Something to keep in mind again, partly gives you that ground clearance. It gives you just sort of an an angle of attack differently if you're going over a lot of rough terrain, this is sort of what you want and that's sort of the standard size for a modern dirt bike. Now you do also have this piece right here. I don't know if you can sort of see it on camera. You have an extra shield around the caliper's here, grabbing the disc. This piece right here is not on the supermodel and again, it just kind of goes to what this bike is and where it's gonna be traveling. You're gonna have a little bit extra protection there for anything that could come across here. 

And if the bike goes down, again, you've got a bit of a shield there, protecting your brakes, not sort of a huge deal, but it is one little difference that sort of fits the style of this bike. There are a couple other little minor differences, lemme show you them and then we'll go on to the character of each bike. Staying with the KLX 300, you have the steel foot pegs, which are a lot like a dirt bike, that's what a lot of people want. They have a little extra grip uh, with those pointed areas which can really dig into a rubber sold shoe, which a lot of people like on dirt bikes. They do fold up if something goes on. Now let's take a look at the supermodel, which is different, different foot pegs than this one here. So basically the same view on the supermodel here you can see you have a large rubber padded uh, area here on the foot peg. It looks to be probably the same foot peg, very similar it the rubber bolts in that's going

To to help you with vibration. Now it's still a very grippy uh pad but again a different style grip. So if you're driving on the road, pretty much every road bike has the rubber foot pegs to help damp vibrations and that's what this one has here as well. So a little bit more road going, a little bit more vibration dampening in the pegs. So we've showed you the wheels, we've showed you the foot pegs that leads into the riding position and the riding position on these bikes should be the same. But again, you have that extra height here. So this one here, I'm gonna put it off the kickstand just so it can completely compress on the suspension under my weight, if I'm honest, I have to just slightly tippy toe. Now I'm about six feet tall, I think around 32 inch in seam or so.

And it's just a slight bit of tippy toeing. I'm almost flat foot on this bike. So if we get off and compare that directly, same floor, same situation to the supermodel. Let's see the differences here. Jumping across here, I am flat footed for sure. So again, a little bit lower area and the handlebars are different. We're gonna show you the handlebar uh, between the two bikes. It does give to me a little bit different feeling. This feels to me to be a hair narrower, maybe a little more in control. Um, not sure exactly what the difference is in the geometry of it but there is a slightly different feel. Not something that one is gonna be more or less comfortable but definitely uh, you know a slight difference gives you a little bit different feel as well. Taking a look at the dash, it's basically the exact same on this bike as on the super motor. 

We're on the regular KLX here. Again, turn everything on and you have one thing I really like. You have a tachometer across the top, something like the K L R or the KLX 230. This the bike sort of above and below this in that off-road dual sport type uh, bike does not have attack and this one does so good points to them for having attack on this bike. Pretty simple stuff in here. You've got euro dollar, your trip A, your trip B and that's it, but that's probably all you need. This one is orange back lid. Hopefully you can see a little bit of orange back lighting there. The other thing is we talked about the handlebars being different. You have this bar here, we're gonna go over to the super modal in just one second and this bar will not be on the super modal but they're still adjustable in the exact same way. 

Uh, being able to tilt that handlebar the same way. So let's jump over to the super modal. I'll show you that dash it is the same but there's a different color and different handlebar. So looking at the KLX 300 sm again the supermoto same dash exactly blue back lit. I don't know if that's easier or harder to read, but it is a difference there. So if you're ever seeing something online, blue back lit. Lit means that that is the supermoto. And again, there's no bar in here. This is just a uh, brake line in here. There's no extra bar on top here. So again, same adjustments here to if you needed to move the handlebar at all, you can do that. There is one more difference and it's in the shape of the mirrors. So from the handlebar perspective, controls are all the same. Dash is the same other than the back lighting.

But let's just show you those mirrors. On the KLX sm you have these different shape mirrors, more rectangular in shape, the K L X 300 not super modal has round mirrors. So in theory this will give you a little extra width to the side there. I'm not sure if it makes a huge difference in traffic if it's just styling, but in theory they are uh, just a tiny bit wider and that point on the left edge does give you a little bit extra view compared to something like a round mirror, which might give you more up and down view back on the kx. 300 round mirrors pretty typical for the class. Nothing wrong with them, it's pretty standard stuff. One thing that is similar or actually identical on both these bikes that I think a lot of people kind of overlook is the whole rear area here.

This is a bike capable of taking two passengers. You have foot pegs down there just in the corner of your screen. That foot peg would fold down, but you have a little extra piece here and you can see just behind my hand there's a little tab there and a little tab there. You could fit your wallet and your basics in there. But if you wanted to put on extra luggage, those little areas there are on both sides and those are tie downs. This is a bike that can work for you as an everyday bike to take a little bit of extra luggage by just strapping it down to there. A lot of older bikes used to have those all the time. You don't see them as much on newer bikes, but they still are very practical. You can bungee something down with a bungee net, you can get different uh, luggage attachments, attachments like tail bags or other kinds of things and they will have a nice solid point to attach to, uh, again on both sides so that you can take extra stuff with you.

And if these are your everyday bikes and you want to take your lunch with you to work or take something else, uh, around with you, you do have the option to take a little bit of luggage on these, which is rare for the class. So if these bikes are so similar, what are the real differences? Well obviously if you're looking for a bike that's only gonna go on the road, this one should be your bike, right? Well, maybe not. If you're a beginner rider, you're probably not gonna find the limits of this bike any more than you would find the limits of this bike. So it depends on which one you prefer. Riding position again is similar but slightly different here. I've talked about this one in the past about being a sport bike for the city and the differences between something like this and a Ninja 400 is this is very, very nimble and very controllable from intersection to intersection around town. 

And where it's fun is really more at the limits. If you're just driving stop light to stop lights, obeying every traffic law, not accelerating super fast, not cornering at a crazy high speeds, there's really no benefit of this over the ninja or the ninja over this. So you can kind of decide which one you like just based on seating position and style. But at the limits, this one can jump off curbs. This one's gonna be a different bike when you start doing things like wheelies and that kind of thing. So this allows you to just drive differently at the limits. The difference again with this one is this one's almost a mini adventure bike. It gives you the ability to go out and do every kind of riding, even if you're gonna go on dirt roads. You could take this to cross dirt roads, uh, because it's got that long travel suspension. But this one really allows you to go anywhere. If you're a newer rider, there's

A a reason that this one el sells that one by a large margin. Again, these tires are perfectly fine to corner with at normal speeds for most riders. You really need to advance your skills to need this type of tire, which means that this bike allows you to go everywhere. And again, newer riders, if you're not sure the kind of riding you're gonna do, this will allow you to really figure out what you want to do. The other benefit of bikes like these over something like a ninja is the plastics on these are much different. They allow you to drop it, pick it up. You might have some cosmetic damage but you can still continue to go with it. They're fairly light bikes, I think 304 and 302 pounds or within a couple pounds of each other. So no difference either way. The only knock against this as a true adventure bike, as they both have relatively small fuel tanks, which again keeps that higher up weight, relatively light.

It's not the end of the world. You just can't do something like the Klr with its 23 liter fuel tank. You can't go on massive distances, but I think on this kind of bike you're not gonna want it. You're gonna go explore piece to piece to piece. So which one's better for you? Well, it really depends. Don't let the dirt tires sway you from thinking this isn't a great bike on the road. It's still very good as long as you're not at the exact limits. And don't let the street tires tell you that this one can't do anything but street. If you needed to cross rougher terrain, you've still got great suspension to do that. And it really comes down to which one you like the style of and what types of riding you think you're gonna focus on. This one does everything. This one adds a level of sportiness that can really take you beyond the normal skill level of just stoplight a stoplight and have a lot of fun. 

So let me know when the comments below which one you think is best. If there's something that you want to know more about these bikes, make sure you ask me again because this whole video came from the comments section on videos that I've done on these bikes previously. So you wanna thank Jim Gilbert's Powersports here in Fredericton, New Brunswick. They gimme complete access to their entire Kawasaki lineup so I can continue to come back to it more and more. And if you're in the area and looking for something like this, make sure you swing by. This is an absolute destination store. They are laser focused on customer care, customer service. They will take care of you. Thanks everybody for watching.