2024 Honda CRF300L Assessment | GearJunkie Examined

Honda’s dual-sport lineup of CRF and XR fashions represents a few of the most utilitarian and inexpensive bikes ever offered. All however one of many bikes value underneath $7,000. They’ll all scoot round city facilities, cruise highways, and supply leisure dust driving. Honda’s reliability can be a key promoting level.

The 2024 CRF300L is within the candy spot of Honda’s dual-sport alternatives. The 286cc single-cylinder water-cooled engine provides it extra energy than the XR150L. Nevertheless it has much less oomph than the CRF450L or the Baja traditional XR650L.

It additionally straddles the center of the lineup concerning weight and dimension. And fairly amazingly, it has an inexpensive base MSRP of $5,449 (plus a $600 vacation spot cost).

I’ve been testing the 2024 Honda CRF300L for the reason that starting of the yr. I commuted from my residence in Wimberley, Texas, on tough dust and gravel roads, to Austin by way of windy nation blacktop and easy, wide-open highways.

I rode it on singletrack trails, by way of sandy and rocky riverbeds, and throughout flat pastureland. And I cruised it from one small city to the subsequent on poorly maintained chip seal farm-to-market roads.

In brief: The 2024 Honda CFR300L is an amazingly succesful motorbike on all of the terrain that many individuals would ever trip for each utilitarian duties and leisure jaunts. It isn’t a high performer in any class, however it’s usefully sufficient and loads of enjoyable. The motorbike could be a really perfect entryway into dual-sport driving, with its inexpensive price ticket, extraordinarily easy-to-ride nature, and Honda reliability.

Important Specs and Options

Twin-sport bikes need to straddle disparate wants; powertrain, suspension, and chassis geometry necessities are so completely different between dust and avenue. Honda builds the CRF300L to greatest handle this cut up, and the end result suits newbie riders properly.

The 286cc liquid-cooled, single-cylinder, fuel-injected four-stroke engine channels energy supply by way of a six-speed guide gearbox and a 14T/40T closing chain drive.

Showa handles entrance suspension duties with a 43mm inverted, non-adjustable fork. Honda articulates the rear swingarm by way of its confirmed and long-standing Professional-Hyperlink system and Showa shock with preload adjustment. In tandem, these ship 10.2 inches of journey at each ends of the bike.

The CRF300L’s seat top is 34.7 inches, and the bottom clearance is 11.2 inches. The wheelbase is 57.2 inches, and the listed curb weight is 306 kilos.

A twin-piston caliper clamps a single 256mm disc up entrance, and a single-piston caliper mates with a single 220mm disc on the rear to deal with braking duties. ABS is elective.

A 2.1-gallon fuel tank with a 0.5-gallon reserve feeds the pink (the one out there colour) machine. The bodywork mimics Honda motocross machines, and handguards are included. Black rims are mated to IRC GP sequence tires, with an 18-inch within the rear and a 21-inch within the entrance.

Honda applies a 1-year, transferrable manufacturing unit guarantee to its CRF300L with the choice to increase it.

The Honda CRF300L on the Streets

Most individuals trip dual-sport bikes totally on the road, and the little pink bike proved succesful and sensible in city environments.

Commuting in City

The CRF300L was mild-mannered on the streets however delivered sufficient energy and acceleration for assured and enjoyable city scooting. Zipping round my small city to fetch groceries and run different errands was stress-free.

The motor constructed revs predictably with none steep jumps in energy. And the low seat top (for me) made it simple to handle stop-and-go visitors. The engine fortunately chugs inside every gear to round 3,000 rpm. Then, a torque drop to five,000 rpm was obvious, the place it picked up once more.

The backlit LCD show consists of an easy-to-read digital rpm gauge, full with an upshift indicator. I assumed these have been nice additions for newbies to study the texture of when to shift and the connection between rpm and energy for this specific bike.

On the Freeway

I used to be a bit fearful about Honda’s freeway manners. For a single-cylinder, small displacement bike operating semi-knobby tires, the CRF300L was surprisingly low on rumble issue. To my shock, the CRF300L felt easy at freeway speeds as much as 75mph.

The acceleration was nowhere close to what bigger twin-cylinder journey bikes can do, however for the worth, it felt sufficient. I simply gave myself loads of cushion when planning passes, and all went properly.

The six-speed transmission was simple to control. I hit a false impartial a handful of occasions till I acquired used to the strain wanted to have interaction a shift, however in any other case, there was nothing to note.

I don’t fear an excessive amount of about how a dual-sport bike handles on the road. So long as it’s predictable and manageable with none additional enter or vital corrective measures, it’s positive with me. I place rather more weight on how dual-sport bikes deal with the dust. The Honda match this invoice.

It didn’t strike me as brief on the roads for a dual-sporter. It did what I assumed it could do, how I assumed it could do it. Nothing stood out in any path. It didn’t take any acutely aware thought from me to trip it safely and successfully on the pavement.

2024 Honda CRF300L Dust Manners

The dust is the place the enjoyable actually started for me on the Honda CRF300L. The motor’s simply manageable traits suited a newbie dust rider properly. It delivered energy in a really linear, predictable means — no surprises.

The linear energy supply meant I may keep in a gear longer when required and not using a sudden soar in energy on the rear tire. I felt this attribute alone would help a rider new to trails considerably. There was no hurried downshift getting into the flip with an equally hurried upshift whereas exiting. A newbie may simply deal with making the flip, staying in the identical gear, and upshifting when the bike was upright.

As a extra superior rider, dialing up the joy was a matter of aggressive throttle and clutch use. No, this isn’t a $10,000+ massive displacement twin sport bike or a motocross bike. However I had loads of enjoyable driving the Honda CRF300L and by no means felt apprehensive. I used to be pleasantly stunned at how entertaining it was to wring essentially the most out of the amazingly sensible bike on trails.

Talking of the clutch, the cable-actuated, slip-assisted unit required low lever strain to disengage, which additionally suited new riders properly. It didn’t have an abrupt or slender engagement zone. Mixed with the engine manners, it added to the relaxed general nature of the CRF300L. And the bike was nearly unattainable to stall, which bodes properly for true newbies.

At larger path driving speeds on smoother dust roads, the motor felt nice. Within the low to mid rpms in fourth gear, the engine felt in its stride. It responded easily to throttle inputs and felt freer than it did going slower on tight trails. These have been the moments after I forgot I used to be on a dual-sport motorbike that prices lower than any mountain bike I’m testing.

Suspension Motion on the Trails

The suspension, which was sufficient for my 164-pound body on the road, confirmed some deficiencies within the dust, even when driving tamely. Though the supple fork felt positive on smoother, slower trails, any moderately vital impediment or a contact of pace induced frequent bottoming. The shock was extra resistant however adopted swimsuit because the obstacles grew bigger and the speeds elevated.

For a price range dual-sport bike, I felt the little Honda’s suspension did what it was presupposed to do within the dust. On tamer single-track and dual-track dust roads, the bike responded properly and was inside its capabilities. However throw in any rocks, deep sand, whoops, or the rest within the “intermediate” vary, and the suspension held me again. Nonetheless, lighter riders could discover the settings an ideal steadiness between consolation on the roads and efficiency on dust.

As is all the time the case with inventory twin sport tires, upgrading to DOT-approved aggressive knobbies would enhance every part whereas driving the Honda CRF300L off-road.

The Remaining Phrase on the 2024 Honda CRF300L

The 2024 Honda CRF300L’s driving traits, mixed with its $5,449 price ticket, make it an excellent choice for these on the lookout for each day practicality combined with some off-road enjoyable — particularly these new to motorcycling. The legendary Honda reliability is a welcome bonus.

Though the bike received’t wow skilled riders, it could nonetheless be a wonderful, economical each day city commuter.

Like many Honda autos I’ve examined, my general take-home feeling was, “It’s a typical Honda.” To me, this implies it did every part properly, with no gaping shortcomings but in addition no standout skills. However it’ll do that, and not using a whimper, day after day, yr after yr.

Finally, the 2024 Honda CRF300L is a dual-sport bike for the plenty. And people plenty could have nothing to complain about and little to fret about.