Dirty Commuter
The world of commuter motorcycles may not be as impressive as the whipperwool of adventure biking or the mudslinging fun of offroad enduro bikes but there does exist a narrow ecosystem where you can have the best of both worlds. The dualsport bike offers riders the everyday usability of a medium bore commuter and the practicality of an offroad machine.
Related: Honda CRF250 RALLY (2017) Review
Honda nailed the execution with its CRF300 range offering a scaled-down adventure bike experience with the L derivative. It may be a few months old already but we took the aforementioned L designation for a few days of frivolity to see if this machine can play on both sides of the fence.
Cost-effective commuter
The CRF300L mainframe is a double-cradle design made from steel tube that is very rigid and strong but unlike many other bikes in this category, the rear sub-frame is welded to the main hoop, this isn’t a deal-breaker but will create problems if this area gets accident damaged, you cannot remove it. Bolted to the mainframe, is an aluminium rear swingarm and 260mm Showa mono-shock rear suspension setup. Out front you have a set of Showa forks with 260mm of travel and with front and rear combined you get 285mm of ground clearance.
Seat height sits at 880mm and the overall wheelbase increases 10mm from the previous model to 1.45m. Honda has made great strides with the new model shaving 4kgs of weight off of the 300, replacing steel parts with aluminium, hollowing out shafts, and reducing unnecessary bracketry.
As with many of its segment brethren, the CRF rolls around on a set of aggressive knobby tyres in an 18/21 arrangement, sporting spoked wheels with black rims.
Dirty power
The CRF is equipped with Honda’s updated 286cc engine that has had its capacity increased by 36cc, Honda just rounded things off by giving us the 300. Power delivery comes in at a smidge over 20kW and 26Nm. Honda has also redone the gearing, cleaning up the 1-5 ratios and adding a 6th gear for open road cruising.
The CRF300L is equipped with a 7l fuel tank and with mixed riding you expect roughly 35km per litre or 2.85l/100km. This is quite frugal considering its 130km/h quoted top speed but we found it to be most comfortable at 100km/h
The CRF is stopped by a two-pot front caliper and single pot rear setup both by Nisin and employs wave discs in their clamping power.
Clever Tech
On the braking front, the CRF gets ABS as a standard feature but you can get it without but it does work a treat and you can switch it off when you get into the trails. Honda has also updated the CRF300L’s digital dash and you now get features such as a gear position indicator, fuel consumption figures, stopwatch, and a nifty rev counter along the top of the LCD screen.
Let’s Ride
The CRF300L is quite an enjoyable ride, it is well balanced and easy enough to wrestle around on rough terrain. The riding position feels very natural and only after about 300km did fatigue start to set in. The rear suspension did feel somewhat squishy at times as we did manage to bottom out on the rough stuff but one can excuse this as the dual nature of the machine, needing to be comfortable for the street. It may just be personal preference here, but to this rider, the enclosed rear brake system didn’t seem progressive enough, meaning that the rear brake did not steadily come but rather there was nothing up to a point and then it suddenly clamped.
Pros vs Cons
- Versatile, Comfortable riding position, ABS, Economical
- Squishy suspension, Brake cable blocks view of dash, Rear brake is not progressive enough, Rear sub-frame is welded onto mainframe.
Models and Pricing
CRF300L – R 86 700
Verdict
As a package, the CRF is hard to beat. It has the right design aesthetic to look just menacing enough and enough grunt to ensure that it doesn’t get left behind on the road. Outside of a few issues around the soft suspension and the routing of the front brake line, it is hard to fault the 300L and we highly recommend a test ride if you’re looking for a dual-use motorcycle.
