Sure, as Fish says, any motorcycle can be a dirtbike if you believe in yourself, but the interesting thing about the Versys-X 300 isn’t whether or not it can function as a bona fide lightweight adventure bike, but rather how Kawasaki, who long dominated the beginner bike segment with their Ninja 250s and 300s, have offered up a legitimately new and different option for new riders.
The CityBike Wrecking Crew goes to Bungee Brent’s Backroad Bash every year—it’s become something akin to an annual corporate retreat, which I understand is what real companies call these outings that serve as backdrops for trust falls, sexual harassment and blackmail fodder. It’s a bit of a misnomer, though: we’re not corporate, and we damn sure don’t retreat. Ever.
Honda’s marketing lead-in for its Africa Twin was one of the most extensive in recent memory—rightfully so, one might argue, with the rich history of the Africa Twin name.
Honda didn’t get this far by being stupid, though—although they do get a little weird now and then. They get it. They know that people aren’t going to line up to buy this bike for serious long way down or ‘round or wherever shenanigans. They understand what many people use their adventure bikes for, and made the VFR-X a damn near perfect example.
