GREEN EXTRAVAGANZA

The grass may be greener on the other side, but that's just because Kawasakis are tearing up the dirt over here

- Keshav Teiva Poumai

Off-road events have taken my fancy of late, and any event at ProDirt Adventure was sure to be exactly as the name states, an adventure. So when Kawasaki sent the invite to the Off-Road Carnival, I couldn't pass up on the opportunity. Knowing Kawasaki, I could already envision the mean green mud-slinging machines tearing through my weekend. And so, I set off on a rainy Sunday morning, boots and helmet in hand, all ready for a mud bath.

The day started with the launch of the latest updates to Kawasaki's KX and KLX range, namely the 2024 KX65, KX112 and KLX 230R S. The bikes were started up and almost immediately I was smitten by the two-stroke motocross bikes. Nothing like the smell of a good ol' two-stroke to wake you up in the morning. After a quick briefing by Nilesh Dhumal, Sunny Dhore and the Kawasaki team, we were allotted our bikes and soon headed towards the flow track.

I was to ride the KLX 230R S first, so I saddled up on the air-cooled, fuel-injected, four-stroke 223cc trail motorcycle. Weighing in at 115 kg, it gets a 21-18 wheel setup at the front and rear respectively. It did feel a tad tall at a standstill with the 900-mm seat height, but that wasn't a problem at all once I got moving. Running it through the course, it felt pretty responsive and easy to manoeuvre. Offering the convenience of a button-start, the four-stroke did everything expected of a basic trail motorcycle, but at an ex-showroom price of ₹5.21 lakh, it still tends to feel somewhat heavy on the pocket.