Don't forget about the BMW G310, Suzuki WeeStrom 250, Honda CFR250L Rally, Royal Enfield Himalayan and the soon to be announced KTM 390 adventure.

The small adventure bike market is about to go from nonexistent to bloated very quickly.

:hi:
On the road today and passed thru Victoria. Sorry if I blow up thread using my crapnot so smart phone. Must be bombing these across the nation. I noticed the height too but its a good thing IMO. Also I mentioned that the seat was stiff and sales guy also agreed. Suspension was tight but as expected and I sure it probably is adjustable. Said it was just built yesterday And put out to on the floor. Yes the clutch pull was nice. No didn't leave with it but it is very niceand jap quality standard. From dale fun center in Victoria Texas today
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IMO. Kaw trying to ride the fence between entry level street consumers and low weight adv'ers. Sales guy said I think 386 lbs. That is big draw lower weight with higher HP ability

That's why the plan for CSC/Zong should be to keep the price for a loaded bike a chunk below the competition, and improve it in the two lacking areas such as suspension comfort and torque curve.
As long as the RX (and sister bikes) don't start exploding and CSC continues to keep a good rep, more and more people will check them out from sticker shock at the Big 4.
That's exactly how I got into CB's. I almost fainted in a Yamaha shop.

Skid Plate
 

I'm very interested in the Versys 300X. But you are correct about the exposed exhaust system. It reminds me of my Suzuki V-Strom's exposed, unprotected, and vulnerable exhaust system. And when, or if, I purchase the 300X, the first purchase will be a skid plate. Because I will be using the 300X both on and off road. I've already contacted some after-market accessory providers regarding the availability of a unobtrusive skid plate for the 300X. :hi:

The safety of the exhaust system on the 300X is also a reason I'm looking at the BMW G310GS. It has a very unique exhaust system that exits the engine from the rear of the engine, very similar to the Cannondale dual sport motorcycle of quite a few years ago, before filing for bankruptcy. No need to worry about the possible damage to the exhaust system. :clap:

Why do almost all motorcycle engines have exhaust that exits on the front and intake on the back?

To me it makes more sense to have intake on the front (ram air potential) and exhaust exit at the back of a 4-stroke. Exhaust on the back would probably be better for air cooled engines as well. Plus exhaust systems could be made shorter therfore bikes could be made cheaper.

It would be a mess if you tried to fit a 2-stroke exhaust behind an engine.

I have had the same thought. I guess since they have been making them that way for so long that it would be pretty expensive to design and retool for such a bike.

Building a motorcycle one has to think about where that engine will live, relative to the wheelbase. In most cases you want the weight to be distributed 50/50 front to rear. If you put the intake on the front that means you have to position the bulk of the engine farther back so the intake tract (fuel injection, air box, etc) do not hit the front wheel. Most manufacturers opt to put the exhaust side fwd and intake aft so it is easier to package everything. Maybe BMW has figured a way to make this work, time will tell.

Peter Y.

New BMW 310 R/GS has intake in front, exhaust in back.

jb

I've got nearly 15k miles on a Ninja 300, I know that mill pretty well.

I will say that exhaust is utter dogshit, and it traps a lot of moisture under that heatshield which is particularly annoying for the midpipe clamp, which corrodes fast. There's a lot of aftermarket solutions, though, most are stainless.

300 is not known for great fueling below 6k, I'm guessing they've tuned this bike accordingly as I had to get a fuel controller to sort mine out.

I think 39HP is very optimistic, although I do note those header pipes look a lot less restrictive than the Ninja 300. Conventional wisdom says that an aftermarket exhaust system and tune on the 300 is worth about 5-7hp.

So I take it none of you fella's have seen the yamaha YZF/WR250 thats been around for a couple years now....

google is your freind...


..

The WR250? Header at the front, intake at the back, isn't it? Unless I'm misunderstanding.

barrel leans backwards 10*... intake at the front.... exhaust at the back... fuel tank under the seat...

NZ version might be different. The USA models still have forward exhausts, at least according to Google.

Let's not forget that the hottest part of the engine are the exhaust valves, exhaust ports and header pipes. I'd imagine that keeping that in the front in the cool air flow may have something to do with it???? Just a guess. I'm no engineer nor so I play one on TV.