KAWASAKI KLX450R

We’ve been asked a few times why the KLX450R was included in this shootout and the answer is simple: it’s one of the best big-bore trailbikes of the modern era. Twelve years old and largely unchanged besides graphics, it’s easily the granddaddy of the assembled crew, but nothing about how good it has been to date has ever been made irrelevant because it was built off a great base to begin with.

The engine is lively and fun. Being carbyfed as opposed to EFI, it gives that feel that’s all but disappeared from modern machines; where you can really feel it doing its work, coming on and chugging or tapped-out. It revs up quickly