The little bikes are taking over. More and more manufacturers are adding small dual-sport bikes to their ranks. And riders are enjoying smaller scramblers that aren’t intimidating, don’t break the bank, and won’t cause tears when they fall over.
Kawasaki has cottoned on, and have two new baby dirt bikes on their books: the adventure focused Versys-X 300, and the more stripped back KLX250. The KLX has actually been around since 2009, but took a hiatus in 2014 before returning mostly unchanged?except for a switch from a carb to fuel injection.

This little number is a carb’d 2012-model KLX250. It’s been given a serious hit of vintage enduro steeze?and a few choice upgrades?by the crew over at Knuckle WhackJob. Based in the Lebak Bulus province of Jakarta, Knuckle WhackJob not only have the best name in the business, hands down, but they have a knack for building really fun bikes too. We discovered them last year, courtesy of our friends over at Gas Tank Magazine, and have had our eye on them since.

This KLX250 was never really meant to be a custom job, but KWJ?s head wrench, Otir, has a huge imagination and zero restraint. The owner just wanted a Yamaha YZ250 swing arm and shock grafted on?and maybe some light subframe mods?but Otir convinced him to go all the way.
After the KLX was modded to accept the YZ250 parts, Otir installed a YZ front end too?giving the suspension department a serious boost. The guys fitted the forks by way of a Pro C...