Back in May I had the opportunity to ride the 2010 KX250F for a lap of an 8 Hour Team race.

With virtually zero seat time on it and nearly stock settings, I jumped on it to give it a test for twelve miles.

Right away I got the opportunity to open the bike up. In the past I’ve been a little less than thrilled with the power of a 250F on faster sections but the Kawasaki motor was pretty strong, and while it still had typical 250F power, it wasn’t lacking like some tend to do.

Once in the woods though, the power of the bike played out awesome to the flowing trails. The track had a bit of everything. Fast, slow, rocks, sand, uphills (though nothing big), downhills, double track, single track.. You get it.

The bike ran especially great in the faster sections. In the sandy area of the track, it ran perfectly and made the turns seem effortless to rail. Through the semi-rocky areas it was a bit rough but the bike managed to stay straight and keep the power to the ground. On the uphills it jumped into the power nice and pulled me up without any issues.

The suspension in its stock form is a bit stiff for the woods but that’s something that can be fixed. It hit pretty hard coming through some of the more choppy areas but I think that with a few suspension modifications it would be awesome.

One downside to the bike is the rubber spacers in the bar mounts. If you crash kind of hard, the bars will twist pretty easily thanks to these but yet again, that’s something fairly simple that can be fixed without much effort.

The bike definitely feels pretty light for a 4-stroke. In fact, I couldn’t tell much of a weight difference between the KX250F and my KTM 200. This can definitely be an advantage when the trails get a little tighter. While I felt like I might have made my way through the single track a little faster on my 200, the Kawasaki worked its way through without any trouble.

The overall ‘feel’ of the bike wasn’t too bad. The bars felt a little higher when sitting, the seat felt narrow and the tank seemed wide in comparison to a KTM, but then again you have to keep in mind that the only Japanese bike I’ve owned was a TT-R125 back in the day. It did feel right in line with most any Japanese bike though and if you ride those, then you won’t notice a difference.

When comparing lap times to the laps I did on my bike and the one I did on the Kawasaki, I was somewhere around two minutes faster on the Kawasaki. Granted, a lot of people wouldn’t notice that much of a difference in lap times but I did thanks to the useable power.

I give the 2010 KX250F 3.5 out of 5 stars. Overall I’d definitely say it’s a pretty good bike, and if you’ve been considering one, then go for it!