The WR is a tamed-down race...
The WR is a tamed-down race bike that can be unleashed at the owner's discretion. We liked it close to stock.
The KTM is the sleeper of this bunch. It is very smooth on the bottom while still retaining more of that four-stroke thump than any of the other bikes. It is pleasantly smooth on the bottom but comes alive into the midrange with a surge that most riders liked; the boost was there just when you wanted it to light up the tire, lift the front end or catapult the bike forward. The EXC works best in the midrange, which is the main reason the gearing is critical. The top-end pull is there yet lackluster in comparison to the other bikes'. In everyday riding, you'll hardly be bothered by the top-end as you are only an upshift away from another meaty pull of midrange. Due to the lazy bottom, the KTM suffers in roll-ons, and it takes a bit more skill to run with its fellows in drag races-shift timing is everything. Use of the clutch negates any disadvantage the orange bike suffers under. But on the trail, this power was complimented and appreciated by everyone; its uniqueness here set it apart, always in a good way.
The new KLX-R feels like the fastest bike of the bunch. It has a responsive and snappy throttle that initially seems aggressive. But as soon as you realize the bike gets phenomenal traction and can handle the seemingly snappy power, you'll find the package really starts to work as you get more and more aggressive twisting it. The motor is electric like the Yamaha's and deliberate like the Honda's-the absolute opposite of the KTM's. It builds smoothly all the way to the top-end, doing it quickly enough to have every one of our testers wonder why anyone would want to replace the super-quiet stock exhaust. Stacked up against the others, it is the slowest, too. It gets pulled in roll-ons and is just a bit slower in all-out drag races. In the real world, especially when the rpm are higher, it has no problem going fast and is exciting to ride all the time. Only in the much slower-going do riders realize that they have to use the clutch a tad more and can't chug the bike to a total crawl without a downshift.
The bikes' handling and suspension prowess in the higher speeds also showed we have four distinct characters here. The Honda is stable, light feeling, agile and suspended to tackle anything we threw at it. It was that good but, in this bunch, not the best at anything, except maybe bottoming resistance. It has a stiffer initial feeling in the chop than the other bikes and lets you feel the ground. All of its turning manners are middle of the road and very precise: steering on the front or sliding with the rear. Although thin, it feels a little wider and slightly heavier than the other bikes. Yes, it's heaviest of the light-feeling bikes.
KTM comes in at the complete opposite side of the spectrum. It is tied with the KLX-R for being the lightest feeling and the lightest steering. The KTM goes over the top with the plushness of its suspension. If you don't like to feel any of the bumps, the WP suspenders do the job. And this bike fights off the wallowy feeling that comes with super plushness-the best we've ever felt. If it suffers anyplace, it's that it doesn't have the stiffness to give you a kick or lift off of little bumps. Whereas you can jump them on the other bikes, the KTM absorbs them. This bike is not for moto-inspired riding, and stiffening the clickers does not bring back this feeling (if you like it in the first place).
The Yamaha has seen the biggest improvement in weight feel since the last rendition of this bike and, in doing so, has passed the CRF-X in weight feeling, especially in the side-to-side movement, where it was a bit on the top-heavy side in the past. It has gotten lighter in the steering feel and even better in the suspension-plushness department, an area that usually suffers when a bike gets a lighter feel. The WR fills the gap between the stiffer CRF-X and the plush KTM to a very happy place that everyone liked. As far as weaknesses go, some riders felt the front end bottomed too easily, something we've readily cured on our WR250F by raising the oil level in the fork.
Kawasaki has found the magic recipe in weight feel, because the KLX-R feels and acts light on its wheels. The steering feel is feathery, and it is hard to believe this bike shares so many parts with its motocross brother because even that bike doesn't feel like this, and it isn't smuggling a battery, electric starter and a host of other off-road goodies into the game. Along with this is a well-balanced suspension that has a stiff nature, letting a rider push the bike hard and have a good feel for the ground-not ricocheting off of rocks or bumps and still being plusher than all but the KTM. If there were any complaints, it was about the front end not biting in the turns, though this can be clicked away with slightly less compression in the fork. And for a bike that utilizes so much recommended sag (112mm), one would think it is a mask for instability. But the bike ran straight all the time, even with less sag, though the turning didn't respond to this like we'd expected. Is there a winner here? Either the mellow KTM or the peppy KLX-R, you decide.