Tiptoeing through traffic on the Kawasaki KLX250SF

 

Riding the dotted line to work on Kawasaki's new lightweight supermoto, I observed a phenomenon I'd eagerly anticipated for years. Cars are getting shorter. If there's any silver lining to the darkening cloud of the U.S. economy, it's that people are dumping their SUVs and Hummers for more sensible sedans and hatchbacks. It just took me some time in the KLX250SF's 33.9-inch saddle to realize it. The annoying handlebar jockeying I'd learned to live with astride some of the industry's taller products? That was gone, for the most part, along with the fear of needing to gun 'n' run it after unfortunate, ram-like entanglements with jutting, TV-sized mirrors.

A street-oriented dual sport intended for short commutes, the KLX250SF is a trend within a trend within a trend. A lightweight supermoto, it joins its Japanese competitors in one of the most popular genres of modern dual sporting -- a genre that saw an enormous spike in popularity last summer when gas topped $4 per gallon and riders threw a leg over for transportation as much as for fun. Now that gas prices have returned from the stratosphere and credit's frozen over, the dual-sport-as-transportation rage has been damped, but that could change this summer, as gas prices continue their slow but upward creep and banks stop hoarding their bailout money.