The Best Adventure Motorcycles – Mad or Nomad

Despite its small size, the Honda CRF250L packed a huge punch and quickly cemented itself as more than just a new trailie. It became a proper adventure bike – harking back to the days where overlanders would travel the world on lightweight, simple and small capacity motorcycles. And people loved it for that, it turned into a go anywhere, do anything machine and its popularity rose the world over. 

I tested the CRF250L on the UK press launch for MCN back in 2012 and knew it was going to be special, but had no idea it would be this successful. Fast forward 10 years and it’s only gone from strength to strength.

Honda capitalised on the bike’s success by releasing the 250 Rally and in 2021 the upgraded 300L and 300 Rally succeeded the 250 range.

And Honda didn’t just slap on a few new stickers and try to sell us a ‘new bike’ either. The 300 range gets a big bag of improvements…  

The 300L has been treated to a 36.4cc engine capacity increase, a little bump in bhp and torque and a boost to the midrange. The gears have been reworked so it’s comfier cruising in 6th and quicker at accelerating through the rest – and there’s a new slip-assist clutch too. The chassis has been tweaked by improving the frame’s thickness and a redesign of the swingarm for off-roading and it’s also made the bike 2.15kg lighter. The suspension stroke has been increased up front and at the rear by 10 and 20mm for dirt riding too – meaning Honda has put a lot of effort into making it even better off-road.

Honda’s single-cylinder CRF range may be small, but it’s the real deal when it comes to adventure riding and travel. Light, easy to work on, Honda reliability, go anywhere and do anything machines and the CRF300L deserves the top spot in this list.