Welcome to the Honda CRF300L adventure bike build guide. This article explains all of the modifications we made and how we prepared our Honda CRF300Ls for a five-year round the world motorcycle trip.
Contents
Honda CRF300L
By Andy Davidson
Mad or Nomad - RTW motorcycle travellers
We’ve been riding around the world since 1.1.2018 on a Yamaha XT660R. By the time we got to New Zealand we decided to send the bike home to the UK and finish the remaining five years of our trip on two Honda CRF300Ls.
We flew home, bought two 300s, prepped them and shipped them to Canada to continue our round the world ride. This was at the start of 2023.
By early 2026 we have ridden 65,000kms from Canada to Ushuaia, Argentina – the southernmost tip of South America. We then shipped them to South Africa and have ridden through 15 countries in Africa to Kenya – where we are now preparing to ship them to the Middle East.
We love these little machines and the modifications we’ve made have turned them into the perfect adventure bikes for our needs and everything we have thrown at them over the last three years. We hope this guide helps transform your CRF to the ultimate adventure bike too.
Check out our RTW travel stories here: Our Adventures
The Honda CRF300L Adventure Bike Guide
This guide’s job is to help you modify a stock Honda CRF300L and turn it into an adventure bike, trail riding weapon, long-distance machine or even a round the world motorcycle.
To do that, this article explains all of the modifications we made and how we prepared our Honda CRF300Ls for a five year round the world motorcycle trip, along with a bunch of further suggestions and ideas.
You might not need to make many, or any, of these modifications. It all depends on what you need from your bike, trips and travels. So, take what you need from this article to create the perfect setup for your Honda.
How to Improve Comfort on a Honda CRF300L
Seat
The standard Honda CRF300L seat is narrow and hard. Fine for short rides and trail riding, but will ruin your butt on a long-distance ride.
It’s one of the first changes we made to the CRF. We opted for Seat Concepts from the USA as they make seats especially for the CRF (as well as hundreds of other bikes).
Seat Concepts offer four different options for the L: Comfort, Comfort Low, Comfort Tall and Comfort XL.
We both went for Comfort XL. We weren’t sure which to go for at first. Alissa was tempted by the Low version, but as her bike is lowered anyway, she didn’t want to sacrifice bum comfort as the Low won’t be as padded. Tall was out because we’re both short. I was tempted by standard Comfort as I was concerned the XL would be too wide. But it has turned out to be perfectly shaped and we reckon was the right choice.
- Our choice: Seat Concepts Honda CRF300 seat
- Read more: How to Ride Long Distance in Comfort
Heated grips
Heated grips are a luxury item, but ride with them once and it’s very hard not to want them on every bike. There have been so many times over the last five years of our RTW trip that we wished we had heated grips, so now with our two new bikes it was a no brainer.
- Our choice: Oxford Adventure Hot Grips UK
- Read more: The Ultimate Winter Motorcycle Riding Guide
Short side stand
This isn’t exactly ‘comfort’, but it does make everyday life on the bike easier. A shorter sidestand was necessary for Alissa’s CRF as her bike was lowered. With the stock stand, the bike stands too tall and vertical, is harder to get on and off and always wants to tip over. It wasn’t necessary on my CRF as I didn’t fit a lowering link.
We opted for a Rally Raid stand which is 20mm shorter than standard, beefier and comes with a heavier duty spring.
- Our choice: Rally Raid CRF Short Stand
Large foot stand
Another modification that makes everyday life on a bike easier is a wider plate on your kickstand foot. This is a must on most bikes as it stops your side stand from sinking into sand and soft mud – especially when fully loaded.
We went for SRC’s wide plate attachment. Easy to install and beautifully made.
- Our choice: SRC Large Foot Plate
Comfort extras
Here are some more modifications you can make to improve comfort on the Honda CRF300L.
Screen – A screen or windshield attachment is a common addition for a lot of smaller adventure bikes that don’t come with one as standard. It removes the brunt of wind and a lot of people prefer it. It’s not something we added to our CRFs as we don’t ride fast enough to need one. We also find them a pain off-road.
Bar risers – Bar risers are another common modification. Your shoulders and arms need to feel comfortable when you’re sat in the seat, if you’re tall and the bars feel too low, this may be a good option. Check out the Rally Raid Bar Riser. We opted to add bar risers to our bikes once we arrived in Colombia. We bought cheap ones from Ali Express.
Seat choices – There are plenty of choices when it comes to choosing a seat. You can always go for a sheepskin throwover, a gel pad, air seat, air flow etc.
Setting up your Honda CRF300L’s Cockpit
USB
A USB plug for charging your phone, helmet or other devices is a must. There’s an auxiliary cable behind the headlight on the CRF and we attached a USB to this so we can keep our phones charged as we ride.
- Our choice: Amazon
Phone mount
Five years ago, we started our trip with a sat-nav but sent it home after one month. We would spend time finding places and routes on our phone and then spend more time transferring that information to the sat-nav. Cut out the middle man! We now ride with a burner phone in a phone case attached to the handlebar.
Sat-navs do have their place though. If you’re on a tour, a shorter trip or are heading for a long off-road trip – you may want to upload your GPX files or plot out your daily routes and waypoints. In this case a sat-nav would be invaluable. It all depends on what you’re using your bike for.
- Read more: The Best Phone Mounts
- Read more: The Best Sat Navs
Handlebars
The standard handlebars on the Honda CRF300L aren’t particularly beefy, so we swapped them out for Pro Taper bars. It’s a relatively simple modification to make, but you will need to drill a small hole in each end so the switchgear pin can slot in.
- Our choice: Pro Taper Handlebars
Double Take Mirrors
Double Take mirrors are brilliant. Easy to collapse, will fold away if you drop your bike and are pretty much indestructible. They’re a great addition to any adventure bike, especially one with stock mirrors like the CRFs.
- Our choice: Double Take Mirrors
Increasing Fuel and Range on a Honda CRF300L
Large fuel tank
The CRF300L comes with a 7.7 litre fuel tank as standard. This isn’t enough range for long-distance travellers. If you’re riding your bike at home or on local trails and tracks, a tank upgrade may not be necessary.
We opted for the Acerbis 14 litre fuel tank, which should return 260 miles (420kms) instead of 140 miles (230kms). And we also changed the breather pipe fuel cap for a lockable Acerbis one too. The fitment was simple, straightforward and fits perfectly with the stock fairings so there’s no need for any modifications or alterations. Impressively, it doesn’t look too different either. Normally with bigger petrol tanks you’re left with a huge bulbous tank and have to remove the OEM tank fairings. But this one seamlessly slots in.
- Our choice: Acerbis Honda CRF300L Fuel Tank
Charcoal filter removal
Instead of running the breather pipe from the new Acerbis fuel tank to the CRF300L’s charcoal filter, we just removed the entire charcoal filter instead. There’s not much to talk about in weight saving, we just removed it because we heard reports that if the bike is dropped on its side, the filter can fill up with fuel and cause problems with starting the bike. And that’s not something we want to deal with in the middle of nowhere.
Auxiliary fuel
We will often travel places where we’ll need more range than the new Acerbis tanks can give us.
So, for the CRFs we fitted one fuel cannister to the inside of one bike’s pannier rack and a water cannister to the other bike’s rack. The cannisters are made by Overland Fuel, hold 4.5 litres each, are well-made, tough and easily attach to our racks.
For the first few five years of our trip from the UK to New Zealand, we carried spare fuel and water cannisters and they were imperative, especially in countries like Uzbekistan and Mongolia. We camp as we travel and our MSR stove runs on petrol, so we always have enough emergency petrol for the bike and to cook with. The water cannister is also important as we don’t always have a fresh supply of water, which we need for drinking, cooking, washing up, cleaning etc.
- Our choice: Overland Fuel Cannisters
Honda CRF300L Ride, Suspension and Tyres
Suspension – stiffer springs
This is a big one for the Honda CRF300L. Join any CRF Facebook group and you’ll find it full of suspension woes. The go to answer is to change the entire stock suspension unit or opt for stiffer springs – either way, you’ll want to make some changes.
Originally, we swapped the springs, front and rear for stiffer K-Tech springs. I was reluctant to change the entire shock, as years ago, we changed our Yamaha XT660R’s standard shock for a posh aftermarket one and had it perfectly setup for weight etc. We left nearly all our gear in Tajikistan and rode into Afghanistan as we knew it would be a tough ride. By the time we returned, the shock had collapsed and leaked all its oil. It was 500km to the nearest town where we could repair the bike. The ride there over no-man’s land into Kyrgyzstan with no rear shock caused the frame and subframe to crack.
Once we arrived in Osh, we couldn’t service the aftermarket shock. So we had the OEM shock shipped out from home (luckily we didn’t chuck it), fitted it and rode even worse terrain fully loaded through the likes of Mongolia and it hasn’t had a single problem in the last four years.
So, instead of changing the entire rear shock, we went for uprated front and rear springs from K-Tech. K-Tech know what they’re doing and their components are excellent, so we went with beefier springs instead.
The new springs are 20% (front) and 25% (rear) stiffer and 10mm longer so we can apply the correct preload to get the right sag figures.
- Stiffer Springs: K-Tech Stiffer Springs
Suspension – new shocks
However, as time passed on the road we started pushing our CRFs harder to more far flung off-road routes and we quickly found their limits due to the suspension.
We knew we had to upgrade to the full system, spoke to K-Tech who reassured us of their equipment. They sent two shocks and front fork kits to Arizona, USA and we made the switch. It was a big decision for us, but the upgrade was hugely transformative. It’s completely changed our motorcycles and we’re so much more confident riding these bikes harder both on and off-road.
And we have since ridden 20,000 miles on the new shocks from the USA to Ushuaia – the most southern tip of South America over some crazy routes. Personally, I believe this upgrade is the single most important modification we’ve made.
We have since ridden through serious off-road routes in Africa and the suspension upgrade is an absolute must.
- New Shocks: K-Tech Suspension Upgrade
Lowering link
The Honda CRF300L’s standard seat height is a whopping 880mm (the Rally is 5mm taller). Alissa is 5,4” and the standard height is just too tall, even on tip toes.
So, we decided to fit a Kouba Link lowering link to Alissa’s bike, which dropped the seat by 44.5mm and has made a huge difference to her ride height and comfort.
There are other options here if you don’t want to insert a lowering link. You could go for lower rear shock unit or a lower seat. But we have found this option effective. You will most likely need to change the side stand for a shorter one if you lower the bike and potentially drop the front forks – although we haven’t dropped them yet.
- Our choice: SRC Kouba Loweing Link
Foot pegs
Wide and grippy foot pegs are important for off-road bikes for comfort when standing and so your boots don’t slip off the pegs when the riding gets wet or muddy. The CRF’s standard pegs aren’t particularly wide or grippy, so we swapped these out immediately.
- Our choice: SRC wide foot pegs
Tyres
We have been running Continental TKC80 tyres for the last ten years. We started our travels on TKC80s and found them to be a great off-road rubber and good on road too. We changed the OEM rubber for these and fitted heavy duty Continental inner tubes too.
- Our choice: Continental TKC80 tyres
Honda CRF300L Crash Protection
Crash bars
We fitted crash bars from Outback Motortek to the Honda CRF300Ls. These protect the fuel tank, radiator and coolant reservoir. We also tie our Lomo crash bar bags onto them which is handy for redistributing weight and also having easy access to snacks and other items up front.
- Our choice: Outback Motortek Honda CRF300L Crash Bars
Bash plate
A bash plate (aka. sump guard or skid plate) is one of the most important protection accessories you can get to protect the vulnerable oil pan underneath your motorcycle. This is especially important if your bike is weighed down by luggage and you’re riding off-road. We went for Outback Motortek’s plate. It’s 4mm aluminium, so it’s light (1.6kg) but strong – and comes in black.
- Our choice: Outback Motortek CRF300L Skid Plate
Barkbusters
I’ve fitted Barkbusters hand guards to all my bikes for as long as I can remember. I wouldn’t trust other handguards. The Australian company design and produce exceptionally well-made guards that protect your hands and levers in a fall. And they also protect your hands from the elements on cold rides too. They’re simple and easy to fit and you can buy a set specific for the OEM CRF bars or a set made to attach to whatever bars you run.
- Our choice: Barkbusters Hand Guards UK
Radiator brace
The CRF300L’s radiator is exposed and I don’t fancy the radiator’s chances if the bike is dropped. As standard, there’s a flimsy piece of plastic over the rad to guard against rocks and stones. So, we went for SRC’s 2mm thick stainless steel guard instead. It bolts to the frame so adds rigidity and will properly protect the vulnerable radiator against rocks.
- Our choice: SRC Honda CRF300L Radiator Guard
Crash protection extras
Here are a few additional modifications you can make to improve the Honda CRF300L’s crash protection.
Collapsible gear lever – the CRF comes with a foldable gear lever, but you can opt for a tougher and better designed option.
Short hand levers – Shorter hand levers are easier to ride with off-road and also reduce the chances of breaking in a drop.
Frame protectors – the paint on the CRF’s frame is terrible and scuffs immediately. You may want to protect it with simple frame protectors.
Headlight protector – If you ride with others and sit up close behind them off-road, you may want to protect your headlight with a grill guard.
Fork protectors – rubber or neoprene gaiters can be slipped over your forks to protect the fork seals from dirt.
Honda CRF300L Luggage Options
Luggage is a tricky one when it comes to small capacity motorcycles. It’s all about being as light as possible, keeping the weight low and evenly distributed. And these 300s don’t particularly like weight over the rear.
The CRF300L lends itself quite well to a rackless pannier system. The Mosko Moto Reckless 80 (or the smaller variant of Reckless 40) is a popular choice for this bike. There’s no need for a heavy rack and the weight of luggage is kept tight to the bike.
It all depends on what you want to use your CRF for. If you’re travelling long distances and are going to be off-road a lot, then a rackless system might be for you. Shorter trips could just use a tail bag system or even a strapped down duffle bag.
In our case, for a long distance round the world trip, we always prefer panniers as they’re easier to live out of. That means we need a rack and the system will be heavier. But, we value its function over weight saving and style. For all our luggage guides and articles, check out the below link.
- Read more: Motorcycle Luggage Guides
Panniers for a Honda CRF300L
We opted for the Mosko Moto Backcountry 35L panniers for our Honda CRF300Ls. Incredibly tough, exceptionally well-made, waterproof and can be easily removed from the bikes with a lockable backing plate. They also having a locking bar on the top of the bag, so we can run a security cable through there, deterring opportunistic thieves from being able to open our bags. The attachable side holsters are incredibly handy too.
Again, there are a number of options out there for soft panniers, it depends what you’re after and how much you want and need to carry.
- Our choice: Mosko Moto Backcountry 35L Panniers
- Read more: The Best Soft Panniers
Pannier rack
This was an easy choice. Outback Motortek produce bomb proof equipment. Their X-Rack for the CRF300L also works in combination with Mosko Moto’s Back Country pannier system and can also fit a spare fuel cannister to the inside of the pannier frame.
- Our choice: Oubtack Motortek X-Rack Pannier Rack
Luggage rack
Outback Motortek’s luggage rack fits with their pannier system. Having a rear rack makes it easier and safer to strap luggage to the rear of your machine. In our case, we used the luggage rack to attach top boxes, but if you’re using a duffle bag you’ll find it easier with a flat rack like this to attach your gear.
- Our choice: Outback Motortek Luggage Rack
Top box
We decided to add a lightweight plastic top box to each bike. The top box is from Honda, is ultra-lightweight, made of plastic and locks using the ignition key.
A top box is usually a big no on small bikes (because they tend to look awful and because of the weight over the rear) but it’s function over style when it comes to travelling. Having a top box makes life so much easier on the road for us.
Outback Motortek say they don’t recommend adding a top box to their luggage rack as maximum total weight is 8kg. However, each box only has 2-3kg in it. We always leave our bike to go off walking or exploring and having a lockable box makes it easier. Plus, we can pop our helmets in there too.
To attach the top box, we simply drilled a few extra holes in the Outback luggage rack and bolted it all together.
If you’re not carrying valuables like laptops, camera equipment and bike paperwork, then this may not be necessary for you and a duffle and pair of Rok Straps would be the better choice.
UPDATE: We since switched and only one bike has a top box, which now carries electronics and paperwork. The other bike has a 40L duffle and that’s the bag that comes in each night with us.
- Read more: The Best Top Boxes
Handlebar bag
A handlebar bag comes in very handy. Quick and easy access to spare change, sunglasses, sanitiser, tissues, toll tickets, a pen etc.
- Our choice: Mosko Moto Handlebar Bag
Crash bar bags
We always have two small (5L) bags strapped to our crash bars and have used Lomo bags for years. These bags carry non-valuable items and things we often need quick access to, like food, snacks, waterproofs, spare gloves etc. They help redistribute weight too.
- Our choice: Lomo 5L Crash Bar Bags
Luggage extras
Here are some more luggage options.
Tool box – on our XT, we bolted an old army ammo box to the bash plate, which held our tools. But we don’t think that idea will work well on the CRF. Another thing we did on the XT was make a gutter tube for oils and spares. This seems like a better idea for the CRFs, but one we haven’t gotten round to yet.
If you decide to go for the Outback Mototek pannier racks and don’t need or want to carry an extra fuel or water cannister, you can buy a lockable tool box which will bolt to the inside of the rack.
- Read more: How to Make Your Own Tool Luggage
- Read more: Ultimate Adventure Bike Tool Kit
Tank bag – tank bags are incredibly convenient for any type of motorcycle trip. Easy access to items and a safe place to store your valuables so you can whip the bag off and take it with you. I personally use the Mosko Moto Gnome tank bag on my CRF, while Alissa uses a Mosko Moto Gnat.
- Read more: The Best Tank Bags
Honda CRF300L Aesthetics and Style
Honda released the CRF300L with two colour options: red and white or grey and orange. Grey is too dull for our liking and red is too flashy.
Unfortunately, nobody makes aftermarket plastics for the CRFs – yet. So, we opted to paint our bikes black for two reasons.
Firstly, because it looks cool. And secondly, because we ride our bikes around the world, we don’t want to look ‘flash’. Riding through poorer areas on a flash looking machine just doesn’t sit right with us. Plain black, simple and inconspicuous and doesn’t attract attention. And also, the bikes don’t look as attractive to thieves.
We had our bikes painted by our local vehicle body shop in Berkshire, UK and they did a brilliant job.
- Our choice: APB Vehicle Refinishing UK
Honda CRF300L Rider set-up
Regardless of whatever motorcycle you go for, it’s important to get the set-up right. It will make a world of difference to your comfort, riding, confidence and enjoyment.
The work you do to your bike depends on what you need it for and the type of adventures you’re going on. For example, a round the world bike would need a lot more modifications than a weekend trail bike set-up.
So, research the mods you might need for the type of trips you’re taking on and then get to work on them. But don’t be put off if there’s something you’re not confident doing.
To get our bikes set-up perfectly, we visited Howard at Rally Adventure Bike to help us swap the tanks, remove the pesky charcoal filter and fix some electrical work, which was a massive help. Alissa also had a brilliant day of one-to-one rider training on her CRF with Howard after.
Get your bike setup for your personal needs and get out there and have an adventure!
Riding a Honda CRF300L Round the World
For us, the Honda CRF300L has proved to be the perfect round the world motorcycle. It’s light, incredibly easy to ride and can easily handle the rough stuff. So far, it has taken on everything we’ve thrown at it, from long straights through Canada to battling the jungle in Belize, the Patagonian ranges, Andes of Peru, Namibian deserts and everything in between.
We’ve got a lot of confidence in our bikes and they put a smile on our face everyday. With the modifications we’ve made throughout this guide, we reckon these bikes have been transformed into the ultimate adventure bike.
You can follow our round the world adventures and see how the bikes are getting on by checking out our blog pages and on Facebook.
READ MORE: Our RTW Adventures
Read more on adventure motorcycles
Thanks for checking out the Honda CRF300L Adventure Bike Guide. We hope you enjoyed it! Here’s a few more articles on adventure motorcycles that we recommend you read next.
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Are you prepping your Honda CRF300L adventure bike? Do you have any questions, tips or suggestions? Let us know in the comments below.
How much weight did your luggage systems add to the rear? Feels like a lot for a small bike like the crf 300
Hi MJ, thanks for your comment.
The Mosko Moto Back Country Panniers are 4.5kg each (including hardware) – so they are definitely on the heavy side.
But our luggage in there is exceptionally lightweight and we don’t carry much at all.
The top box can’t weigh more than 2kg and only has 2-3kg in it when riding, so is very light.
I don’t have the weights for the Outback Motortek pannier racks but i’ll try and find them.
You’re right, the weight is high for a small bike – but as mentioned in the article – we have this setup because it’s so much easier to live out of this type of pannier system compared to a rackless system on a day to day basis long-term. If we were on a short trip, we’d reconsider.
What luggage system are you running?
Cheers,
Andy
Well if you have fun riding with this setup, perfect!
I am currently using the Enduristan Blizzard XL, cant get much lighter than that…yes it takes time to pack and unpack, but I dont see a point in spending so much for fancy and overpriced Mosgucci Moto…
Hi MJ, yeah great choice! The Enduristan kit is great! We used Lomo panniers, which is at the budget end, for about five years – so I know what you mean. Each to their own and it all comes down to what you use it for.
Have fun!
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Andy,
Really lovey our article, thank you for sharing all this!
I’m curious about your reply to MJ, your panniers are 9kg total, but you don’t carry much in them – do you know roughly how much? If you only have 2-3kg in the top box, I’m assuming you must have at least 20kg in the panniers no?
Preparing for a RTW trip myself, debating between a CRF 300 and a CB500X and weight capacity is a big concern (I’m 110kg + carry 10kg of photography gear + the usual other stuff for camping and life).
Hi Jon, thanks for the comment.
Yes, that’s right – 9kg total weight of the panniers. I’d say in Alissa’s panniers are 10kg total and in mine are probably 15kg. So no, not quite 20kg. We do have crash bar bags where we spread the weight to.
Great to hear you’re planning a round the world trip also! You’ve narrowed it down to two great bikes there! Choosing between the two i’d say it comes down to whether you want to spend more time off-road (CRF) or on road (CB500X).
Nick and Bec of Bikes Panniers and Passports have just ridden from Alaska to Argentina on CB500Xs on their round the world trip and are working their way towards Asia now. Their story is on our website Round the World: Against the Odds. They’d be a great couple to speak to if you’re thinking of going down that route.
Hope all this helps,
Best of luck and give us a shout if we can help with anything. Cheers,
Andy
Hi. I wander what was all up cost for all the upgrades? Seems like almost doubling the bike cost? cheers
Hi Lukas, thanks for your comment 🙂
All the prices for the upgrades are stated in their individual reviews – and all the links to our reviews are listed on this page so you can see what the costs are.
I don’t think any adventure bike comes ready prepped for a round the world trip – and if it does, it’ll cost a lot more than whatever the total amount of our bike and upgrades are.
Also bear in mind that there are lots of different options – for example, we’ve gone for expensive luggage on the CRFs, while for the last five years our luggage has been one of the cheapest options available. You might not need or want all of these upgrades. But we have added them because these bikes need to last us another six years.
Are you considering buying the 300? What are you currently riding?
Cheers,
Andy
Hi Andy. Thanks for a quick reply. I have crf230f currently, 300 would be a nice upgrade. cheers
Oh cool! Very different bikes though!
Cheers again and all the best,
Andy
What a really great post, lots of credit to you, so much great information.
I’m considering a year long trip to Europe and Asia, do you have any suggestions on a more powerful bike? Larger than a cb500x will be doing mostly road riding, considered the crf300 but I’m a heavier guy and would rather spend a bit more money on the bike but don’t want to be too flashy either.
Hi Grant, thank you very much for your kind words!
Brilliant to hear about your trip to Europe and Asia.
If you’re mostly road riding then the CRF is definitely the wrong bike for you. Can I ask why not the CB? Great road bikes with off-road capability.
There are a lot of variables… it really depends on the countries you’re heading to, the type of terrain you’re looking for, how much luggage you have, how much time realistically you’ll spend off-road, what your budget is etc etc.
I’d have a look at the Adventure Motorcycles page.
On that landing page, I suggest you have a read of these guides:
+ How to Choose an Adventure Motorcycle for Travelling
+ The Best Adventure Motorcycles
+ The Best Round the World Motorcycles
+ And then check out the Motorcycle Reviews pages
I hope you find these guides helpful, please comment back with any further questions or notes.
Cheers,
Andy
Hi, any idea what paint was used as some of those parts are polypropylene and it’s hard to get adhesion?
How is the paint holding up so far?
Thanks
Hi Jim, thanks for your comment. Unfortunately I don’t know what paint was used. We simply took the fairings to a car body shop.
Well, it’s been over a year since they were painted and we have certainly not taken it easy on the bikes and I can safely safe the paint has held up brilliantly! There’s like one or two extremely minor chips, but you’d really have to look for them. Overall, really impressed with the paint job and glad we did it!
Cheers,
Thank you for your efforts in sharing the information.
I have ridden a CRF250L many years ago in Asia for a few weeks.
Love from Australia
Hi Jmad, thanks for your comment. Yeah the 250L was a great bike, and now the 300L is even better. What are you riding now over there in Australia?
Cheers,
Andy
Yes, I heard they are great. I will get one and hit dirt again in a few years.
I ride sports bike here. BMW S1000R. CRF was my first dirt ride ever and didn’t have proper gear or setup. Just a few bags strapped around the bike for 5 weeks.
Sounds good Jmad, they’re fantastic bikes and really good for getting into dirt riding as they won’t bite your hand off.
Have fun and cheers for the comment!
Andy
Hi, I’m wondering about why you choose not to have a windshield. I realize that it can be vulnerable if the bike goes down in some situations, but the benefit of wind protection is significant (less fatigue, less cold exposure).
Hey Thomas, thanks for your comment – good question!
I’ve just never liked windshields. It’s a personal preference thing. And I especially don’t like them on off-road bikes – I don’t want a screen blocking my view.
I know what you mean about fatigue and exposure:
+ for fatigue – we’re hardly ever on fast straight roads because we don’t like riding those types of roads, maybe 5% of the time so that’s not a problem.
+ for cold exposure – maybe 10% of the time we’re in cold weather, for the remaining 90% it’s hot, so we’d rather have that airflow.
If we were on big, powerful adventure bikes, a twin, or even just something a bit bigger then yeah, those points would make a big difference as speed would be higher. But for little 300s that spend most of their time off-road, in hot weather and on fun twisty asphalt, it’s just not needed.
Hope that helps answer the question, it would be interesting to hear if you have one for your 300 and what you think of it?
Cheers,
Andy
I’m actually trying to decide between 300L or 300 L Rally at the moment. I’ve been leaning towards the Rally as I live in New Mexico and although I try to avoid high speed highways, in some cases they’re simply unavoidable and the distances a significant.
On the other hand, I do a lot of technical off-roading and so 300L makes more sense. Being able to add the Acerbis tank and a windshield may ultimately win out.
The only other thing Is the better front disk on the Rally, which I wish 300L would have.
As for the topic of windshields, they’re definitely a compromise. For me, even on a dirt oriented bike they make sense as I find it useful in windy conditions and when it’s cold . I currently ride Yamaha XT250 with a reasonable sized windshield and prefer having it than not. As you mentioned, it’s really a personal preference. Cheers!
Hi Thomas, sorry for the late reply, bad wifi here in Peru! Interesting to hear, and i’d love to know which one you end up going for!
Yeah, you’re right on the front disc, although you can upgrade the rotors on the L. But by that point – especially if you want the tank and the screen, you might as well get the R.
You’ve got a lot more wind protection for those highway rides too. But, as you say, you do technical off-roading, so only you can decide on that compromise.
And yeah, definitely agree, all personal preference really when it comes to things like that.
Best of luck choosing and let us know which you go for and how you get on!
Cheers,
Andy
Peru, that is super adventurous – hope you are enjoying it!
I finally got to sit on the Rally. Where I live they are still hard to come by, so when I was visiting Los Angeles I made sure to visit one of the dealers to try it out.
Holly smokes, there’s a significant difference between Rally and regular CRF. The seat is wider and the bike sits taller which makes it much less confidence inspiring in rough terrain. It literarily reminded me of my T7 which I recently sold. Of course not as heavy but the reach to the ground is similar. At 5’10” with 32 inch inseam, it feels too tall. I really like the way regular CRF fits me. Even if it’ll cost more to upgrade the tank, windshield and brake rotor, it will be worth it.
As much as I find myself liking the Rally, the regular version feels better. Seeing you guys choose the regular version for your journey has really made me think about it. Thank you for the inspiration!
Hi Thomas,
Yeah we’re loving it thank you! Very cool country to travel through. Feels a lot more remote and rugged than Colombia and Ecuador.
Excellent you managed to sit on one. And yeah you’re absolutely right. Overall, it feels like a bigger and taller bike and with a lot of extra plastic! The L is a lot more manageable and far more akin to a dirt bike.
No worries, glad this could be of help. Please do report back and let us know which you eventually go for and what you think of it!
Cheers,
Andy
Hello, thank you for the informative article
I‘m a 25-year-old man who lives in Korea
My goal is to go from Russia to France by CRF300L or XL750 someday (I’ll ship the bike from Korea to Vladivostok, Russia)
I‘m currently riding Huskvana Pilen 401
I have a few questions about CRF, so I have a comment
1. Aren’t you equipped with additional lights for night driving in places where there are no streetlights?
2. If I were to go on an RTW trip, I think I‘d fit a main stand and pack a spare tube in case I got a flat tire, what do you think of this?
3. I’ve also read about other bikes and I wonder how you came up with countermeasures against high-octane gasoline when traveling RTW on a bike with a high compression ratio, such as BMW or KTM.
That‘s about it.
Have a nice day
Hi Kim, thanks for your comment and that’s great to hear about your upcoming plans to ride from Russia to France.
1.
No we’re not equipped with additional lights. We try to not ride at night – ever. It adds an unnecessary risk to travel, especially in countries with such poor roads and wild animals. In seven years of this round the world trip we have never needed those big fog lights that I see so many adventure riders use. Of course, we have got caught out a few times and have had to ride into the night a lot, but we still haven’t needed additional lights.
2.
+ A centre stand is very useful, but I wouldn’t find one to a CRF300L. There’s no need. The beauty behind travelling on a bike like this is its lightweight, a centre stand would be heavy and unnecessary and you’d lose precious ground clearance. We carry a Rolling Maverick trail stand and it’s brilliant. We can lift the front and rear wheel easily.
+ Yes, we recommend carrying a spare tube. We carry both a front and rear spare because it’s a pain having to patch a tube by the side of the road and then having to replace it for a new tube later. So we just change it out straight away and patch the broken one later that night when camping or in the hotel. And when we find a new tube we replace the patched one completely.
If you want to save space, you can just carry one spare front tube, because worse case scenario you can use that in the front and the rear to get you out of trouble.
+ For spares, tools and mechanics, have a look at our Workshop Guides You’ll find our tool kit recommendations and our Field Mechanics guides in there.
3.
We use low and high octane gasoline. We normally just fill the bikes up with regular (cheap) petrol and every so often give the bikes a little treat by filling the tanks with premium.
Extra
In regards to your route, I would recommend contacting Mr Youn in South Korea to help you with your shipping to Vladivostok. And at the same time, contact Yuri from Links in Vladivostok to help you receive your bike in Russia. And before you do anything, make sure you can get your Russian visa. You’ll find their details in our Recommended Shipping Companies guides. Just tell them Andy from Mad or Nomad sent you and they’ll look after you.
For the route to France from Russia, check our Destination Guides because we have guides on every country you’re passing through on there.
Best of luck and let me know if you need anything,
Andy