Motocross Madness

The Kawasaki KX100 and KX250F should come with a disclaimer – ‘Not for the faint hearted!’

- Ravi VED

As motoring journalists, we’re exposed to some outlandishly crazy motorcycles – some that can make you soil your pants with acceleration that can give the best hypercars a run for their money and others that weigh over 300 kilos but yet are brilliant to ride. Our recent encounter with the Kawasaki KX100 and the KX250F, however, was unlike any other.

For one, these motorcycles are crafted for competitive motocross racing – which means that they’re featherweight, but pack enough punch to scare you silly. And I was to test them on a specially created motocross track – with no prior experience of riding a motorcycle of this genre on a track such as this. But there was no curbing my excitement, and so I gathered enough courage to swing a leg over these two. But before all us journalists could kick up some dirt, we were briefed about the track and introduced to the motorcycles by Maninder Singh Prince - former National Supercross Champion and 12-year old Yuvraj KondeDeshmukh, who already has a few Supercross trophies to his credit.

The Kawasaki KX100 and KX250F look immediately intimidating. To reduce weight, they have an extremely purposeful design with just a narrow seat, a tiny fuel tank and high mounted mudguards. It’s no wonder, then, that they tip the scales at just 77kg and 104.3kg respectively. But for a person of average height, like me, the 940mm seat height of the KX250F can be quite unnerving. So, to get acquainted with the dynamics before jumping on to the larger, more powerful 250, I hopped onto the KX100 first. Having ridden various litre-class motorcycles in the past, I thought to myself ‘how menacing could it really be?’ As it turns out I was in for a surprise.