I’ve been pretty impressed with the 2026 Kawasaki KX250 so far. I’ve now done about 22 hours on it and, to date, there have been no major dramas to report. Granted, I’ve never been super hard on the gear and I haven’t been sending it around a motocross track every time I ride it, but it’s nice to see that a 250 motocross bike can handle 15 hours of my kind of abuse without a hiccup.

I managed to sneak another race in over the last month with another OBMCC club sprint event at Goulburn MX Park. It was a great day to be on the bike, with perfect conditions and a challenging track featuring big hills, rocks and a primo grass-track section to finish out the loop. Once again, the KX was in its element and I didn’t touch a thing all day. No clicker changes, no adjustments, nothing. I had a blast, felt like I rode pretty well and even managed to snag the overall win, so that was a pretty cool bonus.

I am starting to want a little more out of the bottom end of this bike, though. I’m beginning to chase a bit more power and, while I still haven’t played with the Kawasaki Rideology app or changed the exhaust, both are definitely on my radar. Don’t get me wrong, the power is good, but now that I’ve really started to get to know the bike, I find myself wanting a little more punch down low.

Speaking of getting to know the bike, it’s been cool to spend more time with it. Every new bike I have the privilege of calling my own for a while comes with the challenge of learning its personality. I’ve jumped from my personal KTM 350 EXC to this KX250 and, man, they are completely different. Sure, there’s the obvious power difference, but it’s pretty wild to see just how different the bikes are as complete packages. Even from a maintenance standpoint, they each have their own pros and cons.

I actually enjoy working on the KX, and it’s nice to see that the Japanese bikes have become much easier to maintain. Things seem simpler than they used to be, which is awesome. It’s great that the new KX250 airbox is tool-free, although it’s still a little fiddly and you have to be extra careful when fitting the air filter because it’s quite a tight space. I’ve also heard they benefit from a few small modifications to improve drainage and airflow, but I haven’t tackled those yet. I have fitted a Uni Filter race cage and filter, though, and that’s been a worthwhile upgrade.

Over the next month I’ll get some more seat time before the next Australian Enduro Championship round at Kempsey, which features a three-hour cross-country race. That should be a good test to see how the KX performs over a longer distance. I also intend to take it back to its natural habitat on a motocross track at some stage, which I’m really looking forward to.

Thanks again to everyone involved with this long-termer. It’s been awesome so far.

WARRANTY
N/A

DISTRIBUTOR
Kawasaki Motors Australia

SO FAR
TOTAL HOURS
22

MODS THIS MONTH
None

MODS NEXT MONTH
None