Headed For The Hills
Story and Photos by Craig Hunter
Kawasaki recently unveiled the KLX230 Sherpa S ABS and we got our hands on one for some quick post-work dual-sport escapades here in Orange County, CA. Deemed the “Ultimate Escape Artist” by Team Green, it’s designed to be a simple trail bike that gets you from the heart of the city and into the wilderness, or as we like to call it, our happy place. The bike features a low seat height and low ground clearance with shortened suspension, and is more tailored to off-road riding, coming equipped with solid handguards, a skid plate, and quality DID rims and fatbar handlebars. The bike comes with standard 21-in and a tubeless 18-in rear wheel, an LED headlight, digital odometer and display, and can connect to the Kawasaki Rideology App. As it says in the name, the bike does come equipped with ABS, though we turned it off every time we rode the motorcycle.
Starting with the engine, it mimics its bigger brother – the KLX300 – in the sense that it makes most of its power in the mid-upper RPM range. Down low, there’s a lot of tractability and torque that will inch you along the trail, but it won’t get you anywhere in a hurry. As the RPMs build, so does the pulling power and the little 230cc air-cooled engine picks up some steam in the mid-range and into the top end. It’s a very fun engine to ride and rewards you for being more aggressive on the throttle, but is still mellow enough that any beginner rider can feel at home with the power delivery.
Cruising down the highway, we were pretty comfortable riding at 55-60 mph without revving the engine too hard. We don’t see ourselves ever taking a bike like this on the freeway, but to jet out of town and into the hills or to throw on the back of the camper and sightsee in the wilderness, this bike fits the job. In our two rides on this machine, we’ve burned 0.8 gals of fuel (in 62 miles) and 1.1 gals of fuel (in 71 miles) to average just over 70 mpg with our rides being 50/50 on-road/off-road. The EFI on this bike is a nice touch – hit the electric start and the bike fires to life instantly and is ready to ride at any time.
Of course, we wanted to find the limits of this bike and being a “Sherpa,” we took to some hill climbs that on a regular 450 dual sport, we’d ride right up without blinking an eye. But on the Sherpa, it took a combination of speed, talent, precision, and a touch of luck to crest the top of these small but mighty peaks. With stock tires, the bike is very limited on traction and it took everything we had to maintain traction, especially when the bike excels in the upper RPM range. But we feel that with adequate dirt tires for those who will spend most of their time off the blacktop, this bike lives up to its name and can conquer many hills despite not packing a big horsepower number behind it.
With a focus to primarily ride this bike in the dirt, we feel we could go for a bigger rear sprocket to tighten the gaps in the transmission ratios as we aren’t too concerned about top speed on the highway.
The suspension on this bike is interesting to say the least. Immediately on our first ride, what stood out is how low the front end sits. But again, knowing what this bike is truly intended for, there aren’t that many complaints. The bike is fun to zip around smooth roads, tracks through corners quite well, and is very confidence inspiring to inexperienced riders. When riding the bike on rough, choppy fire roads and pushing it past its intended purpose, we quickly outride the suspension capabilities and jumping off water breaks or hitting g-outs with speed quickly reminds us that the bike is meant to be a quick getaway machine, not a race bike.
The low seat height gets cramped for longer duration rides and taller riders, but newer riders will appreciate being able to reach the ground and feel inspired by that. We were pretty cautious about the low ground clearance and tried our best to avoid hitting anything, but some rutted out singletrack got ahold of our shifter and bent it out slightly from getting caught in the rain rut.
One thing that comes with the territory of these entry level dual-sport models is there isn’t much importance placed on weight savings and the KLX230 Sherpa fits the bill. It’s a heavy bike and once it starts tipping, it takes a lot of strength to keep upright. However, there are positives to the weight and when you’re on the road or blasting fire roads, the added weight increases stability and helps keep the bike planted for a more confidence inspiring ride. But for those that are newer to riding, the heavier scale weight can be a handful at slower speeds.
The bike performs best on smooth fire roads, smooth trails, and slow, technical singletrack. The smooth power delivery makes even the toughest trails not so hard and the Sherpa lives up to its name with the right rider on-board (and even more so with better suited tires). The smoother the terrain, the better the bike handles, and avoiding trail settings where a lot of movement is required is welcomed. The heavy scale weight of this bike is felt when you have to muscle, or even lift, the bike and can wear you down rather quickly, but given its intended purpose for quick escapes from the heart of the city to the trail head, you shouldn’t have to worry about that too much.
