“K-Tech’s stiffer front and rear springs for the Honda CRF300L are a great modification. They’re exceptionally cost effective and go to show you don’t have to spend a fortune to get the most of out of your CRF300L.”
By Andy Davidson
Mad or Nomad - RTW motorcycle travellers
Snapshot
- Price: £69 (front spring) £98 (rear spring)
- Time tested: October 2023
- Miles tested: 8,000
- Testing conditions: USA and Canada
- Functionality: 5/5
- Durability: 5/5
- Value for money: 5/5
- Where to buy: store.ktechsuspension.com
Features
The Honda CRF300L’s stock suspension is incredibly soft and underdamped. For any level of spirited riding, something has to be done about the stock suspension – front and rear.
The stock springs fitted to the Honda CRF300L are:
- Front fork: 6.7N
- Shock absorber: 67N
We have been riding around the world for the last five years on a Yamaha XT660R, which has had a very hard life. Once we got to New Zealand, we shipped the bike back to the UK, flew home, bought two Honda CRF300Ls and had four weeks to do them up and ship them to Canada for the remaining five years of our trip.
This was an eye-wateringly expensive part of our trip and going for two whole new shock systems for both bikes would have meant we didn’t have enough money to pay for shipping. So, instead we opted to try stiffer springs front and rear from K-Tech.
I’m a big fan of keeping things as stock as possible, especially with suspension due to past experiences with aftermarket shocks after we were left stranded in Tajikistan and Afghanistan with a shock that leaked all its fluid and with no way of fixing or repairing it. So just changing the springs is a cost-effective and smart move when it comes to long-term travel.
We took the bikes to K-Tech, who fitted an 8.0N fork spring (20% stiffer) and an 85N shock spring (25% stiffer) to each bike.
The shock springs are also 10mm longer so you can apply the correct preload to get the sag figures dialed in. The CRF300L and Rally shocks don’t have much preload adjustment and don’t allow for enough preload to be put on the original length spring. So, as well as being stiffer, the extra length made a big difference too – especially as we needed to up our preload as much as possible due to the weight we’re carrying.
Improvements
The K-Tech stiffer springs instantly make a big improvement over the stock. The bike feels firmer both on and off-road and gives us the opportunity to tighten the preload up even more.
However, we’re on a round the world trip, so we have to carry a lot of gear including full camping equipment, clothes, electronics, tools, water, food, auxiliary fuel, warm kit, spare parts, inner tubes and so on. And these little 300s and their stock shock weren’t built for that. So, despite being a big improvement, we still have too much weight and that means we can still feel the soft standard shock when the going gets tough.
Round-up
K-Tech’s stiffer front and rear springs for the Honda CRF300L are a great modification. They’re exceptionally cost effective and go to show you don’t have to spend a fortune to get the most of out of your CRF300L.
If you’re fully loading your bike up for long-term travel with a lot of kit, you may need to opt for a new system. The same goes if you’re buying the bike to use as a serious off-road weapon. But if you’re intending on using the L for light green-laning, commuting, country roads etc. then this is a fantastic, cheap and easy option.
Update
While the K-Tech stiffer springs made a decent improvement over the stock springs, for round the world travel it wasn’t enough. Our routes got progressively harder and we started picking more remote off-road rides and the only limitation was the stock suspension.
We made the decision to upgrade to K-Tech’s rear shock and front piston kit and it completely transformed the bikes into new machines. Have a read here:
READ MORE: K-Tech Suspension Review
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Do you have any questions, tips or suggestions? Let us know in the comments below.
Hey Y’all,
I love following your travels and the inspiration you all provide. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. In your footsteps, I recently acquired a 300l. I am a middle aged novice rider who enjoys the journey and casual riding. About 250 pounds including me, gear, and cargo. I am considering the same k-tech springs only upgrade you all did for the same reasons (cost and close to stock). After a couple months of riding, do you have any serious regrets? Thanks again. I appreciate your time.
Will
Hi Will,
Good to hear from you and thanks for your comment and kind words.
Congrats on your CRF!
Yes, we were happy with our just changing the springs – and we rode with them like that a good few thousand miles. But, then we started pushing our bikes harder and harder and with the weight of our round the world gear and the amount of off-roading we were doing, we decided to go for it and upgraded to a completely new rear shock and front suspension from K-Tech.
While the upgraded and stiffer springs are certainly far far better than stock, for us, changing to the new suspension has made it feel like a completely new bike and was well worth it – especially as we’re riding every day.
So, if as you say you’re a novice rider and are just enjoying casual riding, not pushing your bike hard, then upgraded springs are going to be a great change. But, if you want to push your bike and better your off-roading then the new suspension is a worthwhile investment. For us, it was a complete game changer and the bikes feel completely different.
We’re about to write our review of the new shocks and update the guides, thanks for the nudge.
Hope this helps,
Andy
Hi Andy,
Thanks for this reply! Also working on upgrading my CRF300L for round the world travel. What kind of upgrades did you do in the front? I am currently looking at doing a shock replacement but only doing spring and new heavier oil in the front but not sure if that’s enough for the front. What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks!
Derek
Hi Derek,
Apologies for the late reply, the internet is terrible here in Bolivia!
We actually changed the entire system for a new rear K-Tech shock and front piston kit. We changed this sometime around Arizona and are now in South America (around 25,000kms ago) and it was well worth it.
The upgrade has completely transformed our bikes – literally. We ride a lot of off-road and thought we could get away with stiffer springs – I wanted to keep everything as original on the bikes as possible. But after a while, with the weight of RTW luggage and the harder routes we found ourselves on, we decided to bite the bullet.
We’re really glad we did as some of the stuff out here is crazy! The new set-up has been brilliant off and on road and has completely gotten rid of the wallowing and bouncing we had. I’d highly, highly recommend doing the same if you can.
I’m in the process of writing the review on the new suspension setup from K-Tech, should have it live within a week.
Shout if there’s anything else I can help with and best of luck with your build.
Andy
Hey Andy,
Thank you so much for getting back to me and the great advice. Good luck with your travels. If you all are ever in Georgia (USA) and need anything feel free to reach out. Thanks again!
Sincerely,
Will
Hi Will, no problem. Thank you very much, that’s very cool of you to offer! Thanks and all the best,
Stay in touch and please do report back on here with which option you went for and what your thoughts are on it.
Cheers,
Andy