BHPian Shubhendra recently shared this with other enthusiasts: A few cents from an Xpulse 4V owner who has ridden all versions of KLX 230 sold in the Indian market till now and booked MY26 KLX 230 RS. I have been riding for 30 years now and after 4WD off-roading as a weekend hobby, I wanted to explore this new motor sport. I bought an Xpulse 4V last year for the purpose. For the initial few months, I did basic to moderate trails with a closed group who have been doing trail rides for a few years now. Over a period of last one year, a few friends who already had Xpulse moved to MY 25 KLX 230, whereas the remaining already had dedicated dirt bikes (Yamaha YZ 250, KLX 300, KLX 450, etc.). Trails got tougher as people matured, skills improved and over the last few months, we have done quite a few trails which can be termed as Enduro to Hard Enduro. After a few initial months, I realized a few limitations of Xpulse – heavy weight, average suspension and riding dynamics. Did a few modifications and tried to reduce as much weight from the Xpulse as I could and chugged along with the group with this newfound weekend hobby. But slowly we (all Xpulse owners) realized that although we were able to do 90% of what these dirt bikes were doing, we were putting almost double the effort (punishment for bike and body) to do the same. A few months back, after the launch of CKD MY25 KLX 230, the Kawasaki Pune team had graciously given us a few bikes during our Sunday off-road and we took them to the same trails and all the Xpulse owners unanimously decided that KLX 230 is the bike to buy for weekend trail rides; however, at 4 lacs OTR, it was not convincing. After the discounts given on CKD KLX 230, 4 more people bought it as it became more value for money. A few of us Xpulse owners were debating internally whether to buy the CKD unit at a discounted price but we were still not convinced to buy the KLX 230 for 4 lacs on-road and spend another 30-40K to make it trail-ready. But after the recent price cut and further GST cut, it’s a no-brainer to buy the KLX 230 RS for the trails. And now almost all of us remaining Xpulse owners have booked the KLX 230RS. For off-road, there is NO comparison between Xpulse 200 and KLX 230. Don’t go by the spec sheet, KLX 230 is a proper dirt bike. You can do unimaginable stuff with the KLX 230, which Xpulse just cannot do. You spend 5 minutes on this bike and you would realize what I am talking about. If I am new to the dirt bike scene and if I want to get into trail rides, off-road etc. KLX 230 is the bike. However, if I just want to take the bike to bad roads once in a while but use it on the highway, I would buy the Xpulse 210.Offroad/Enduro – KLX 230 or 230RS hands downDirt trails/offbeat trails/mountain roads/bad roads – Xpulse 210We 4 Xpulse guys did a Nepal bike trip (Kailash Mansarovar) recently in June 2025 and we had a blast. We did some awesome trails and proper off-road in a very remote area. For such trips, I would still prefer Xpulse 200/210 over KLX as Xpulse is more comfortable/practical to ride for hours in such terrain and easy availability of parts and cost of parts/service. What is the difference between MY24KLX 230 RS and MY26KLX 230 RS?I am trying to summarise the known differences, as we are yet to get the new model bikes delivered. Differences:All the KLX 230 models have a steel chassis, however CBU-built RS (MY24) has Showa suspension and aluminium rims, whereas the Indian-built has Endurance suspension and steel rims.The handlebar is 25 mm further forward than the previous model’s to match the lower seat heightA 7.6 litre fuel tank (compared to the previous model’s 6.6 litres). The fuel tank in the new bike features a key-operated tank cap.The new seat has 6 mm thicker urethane for a more comfortable ride and the seat height is 20 mm lowerExpect a lot of Made In India parts in MY26 which would also help reduce the cost of spares. Cost of spare parts for MY25 KLX 203 was expensive.MY26 is heavier by 14 kgs (129 kgs vs 115 kgs)Service cost of MY25 KLX230 is around INR 4000/- Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
