Upgrading our Honda CRF300L suspension has been the single best investment and modification we’ve made to our round the world bikes. K-Tech suspension will completely upgrade your motorcycle – and your ride.
By Andy Davidson
Mad or Nomad - RTW motorcycle travellers
Snapshot
- Price: £573 rear / £210 front
- Time tested: since February 2023
- Miles tested: 40,000
- Testing conditions: North and South America, Africa
- Functionality: 5/5
- Improvement: 5/5
- Durability: 5/5
- Value for money: 5/5
- Total 20/20
- Where to buy: ktechsuspension.com
K-Tech Razor-R Lite and Piston Kit Review for Honda CRF300L
This review is based on our own personal experiences using K-Tech suspension on our round the world motorcycle trip.
K-Tech Suspension
The standard suspension on the Honda CRF300Ls is way too soft for any serious adventure riding. And when you pack travel gear on top of that, it’s near unusable. So, we opted for stiffer springs front and rear for our round the world CRFs from K-Tech Suspension. It’s a budget friendly and easy upgrade that offers a lot in return.
The K-Tech springs are 20% stiffer up front and 25% stiffer at the rear and 10mm longer so you can apply the correct preload to get the sag figures dialled in.
We ran these stiffer springs from Canada to the USA for 6 months and nearly 10,000 miles. And they helped – a lot.
READ MORE: K-Tech Stiffer Springs Review
Switching to K-Tech rear shocks and front piston kits
However, the more we rode, the harder routes we searched for and the more off-road we went. We camp and carry food, water and spare fuel and our bikes are loaded with our RTW gear. So while the stiffer springs made a huge difference over the stock springs, they weren’t enough when we pushed the bikes hard – especially with all our weight.
So, we made the decision to upgrade. We’ll be on these CRF300Ls for the next 5 years as we head down through the US into Central America, South America, over to Africa, through the Middle East and back home to Europe. So we may as well bite the bullet and get them perfect now – we switched to the K-Tech Razor-R Lite shock absorbers for the rear and the front fork piston kit for the front.
K-Tech Razor-R Lite shock
Alissa’s bike has already been lowered with a Kouba Lowering Link, but is still a little too tall for her, so we opted for a K-Tech Low option rear shock. And I decided to go for the same on my bike at 5ft7, I want to be able to get on and off as easy as possible. If riding a dirt bike at home, or only for trail riding or weekend rides, I would not have gone for the lower option, but as this is a bike I’m living with every single day, comfort is more important. Our low versions lower the seat height by around 25mm.
These shocks have an internal reservoir to separate the nitrogen gas from the damping oil and are adjustable for rebound damping and spring preload.
Front fork piston kit
We also switched out the front and installed a replacement K-Tech valve system for the stock Showa 43mm forks. This kit replaces the original compression and rebounding damping assemblies and includes a new damper rod. This modification offers improved damping and more adjustment.
Fitment
We didn’t install these kits ourselves. We wanted it all dialed in perfectly and fitted properly so we went with the highly recommended Stillwell Performance based in Arizona. The guys there were excellent and got the suspension fitted perfectly for our weights and pack sizes. You can always get yours fitted at K-Tech in the UK or by using their worldwide dealer network.
The difference
Literally, it’s like riding a new motorcycle. The bikes are completely different.
Getting on and off the bike doesn’t cause the bike to squat. And then once on the move the machine is completely stable. Going around corners the front doesn’t dip and wallow. Instead, the bike tracks like it’s on rails.
Before, we could easily get caught out in consecutive ruts where the rear would sink and jump. And on long tough gravel sections we’d be jumping in the seat.
Now, the setup is stiffer, firmer and fills us with confidence both on and off-road. For the cost of upgrading the suspension it feels like we’ve got brand new motorcycles.
K-Tech suspension round up
Upgrading our Honda CRF300L suspension to K-Tech front and rear was an absolute must for us. We ride our bikes round the world indefinitely, which means we’re fully loaded with gear all the time. Our travels are off-road, through harsh environments and over rough and challenging terrain. So we need our motorcycles to perform.
If you’re only planning on riding green lanes in your home country and on an unpacked bike, you could get away with the stiffer springs on the CRF, but if you want to push your bike, get the most out of it, or travel – then we highly recommend making the investment and switching to the K-Tech Razor R rear and upgraded front piston kit.
Switching has been the single best investment and modification we’ve made to our round the world bikes. The K-Tech suspension will completely upgrade your motorcycle – and your ride.
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Are you interested in K-Tech Suspension? Do you have any questions, tips or suggestions? Let us know in the comments below.
Good morning Andy,
My name is Javier, I live in Santander, in the north of Spain. I’m very envious of the routes you ride. You go to some wonderful places. I have a motorcycle just like yours. I’ve installed the same rear suspension as yours, but I haven’t touched the front fork suspension yet, and I need to change it. Sometimes I ride on trials and tricky areas, and the front suspension is really bad, it takes me off the track. Could you tell me the exact parts you’ve changed on your front suspension? I’d like to install the same ones and also know which wheels you’re using or which ones have performed best. Thank you very much. I hope you continue enjoying life. I wish you the best. Thank you.
Hi Javier, thanks for your comment. There’s a link to the front suspension we use in this guide – it’s the CRF front piston kit from K-Tech here.
K-Tech are super helpful, I would recommend giving them a call and asking what they advise.
When you say wheels – do you mean tyres? As the wheels are standard. For tyres we use Continental TKC80s – they’re a great all-round tyre for travelling. But if you’re just riding trails and tricky routes then you could go for something more aggressive.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for your kind words and all the best with your new suspension.
Cheers,
Andy
Hello, thank you for your feedback on K-Tech suspension (and on travel!). I’m also considering installing this suspension and would like your opinion.
I weigh 73 kg fully equipped and will be riding 70% of the time with 15 kg of luggage on mostly rough tracks (TET trails, etc.). Which spring do you think I should use? The 65-80 kg spring or the 80-95 kg spring?
Thank you in advance for your help.
TRANSLATED FROM:
Bonjour, merci pour votre témoignage sur les suspensions k-tech ( et sur voyages !). Je suis en train de regarder pour monter ces suspensions également mais j’aurais voulu avoir votre avis.
Je pèse 73 kg tout équipé et je vais rouler à 70 % avec 15kg de bagage sur pistes +/- accidenté quasi exclusivement en TT ( pistes TET etc). Quel ressort pensez-vous qu’il faut que je monte? Le ressort 65-80 kg ou le ressort 80-95kg?
Merci d’avance pour votre aide.
Hi Yohan,
Thanks for your message. We use lowered shocks and rated for 95-110kg.
For example, I weight around 74kg and have about 30kg of luggage (pannier racks etc) on a Honda CRF300L.
I would definitely get in touch with K-Tech though and ask them for their advice, they’re exceptionally helpful and will be able to advise on what’s the best setup for you.
I hope this helps,
Cheers,
Andy
Hello, thank you for your reply. I did indeed contact the manufacturer directly, and they replied very quickly! All the best to you!
Hi Yohan, that’s great to hear!
Out of curiosity, and in case it helps the next reader, which spring rate did they suggest you go for?
Cheers,
Andy
No problem, here’s their reply.
“For the cartridge kit, we would suggest 4.0Nm fork springs Front Fork Spring 4.0N -(Pair) K-Tech and the option of rear shock, we suggest the 80-95kg shock.”
Excellent, thanks for coming back with that.
I’m sure you’re going to love the upgrade – it was the single best and most important modification we made to our CRFs, and K-Tech are excellent.
All the best and please do report back on what you think of them once they’re installed!
Cheers,
Andy