Kawasaki's Two-Stroke is Real, the KX327 is Here

kage173
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6/4/2026 11:40am
kage173 wrote:
Can any engine builders explain how they get to these displacement sizes? Like is there a certain compression ratio,  hp, reliability target matrix that gets them...

Can any engine builders explain how they get to these displacement sizes? Like is there a certain compression ratio,  hp, reliability target matrix that gets them there? Or, it just kind of like 'hey guys, only open class vets are going to buy it so just make it bigger than the KTM 300?'

mxaniac wrote:
You have physical packaging constraints and torque limits of the components, but on top of all that the 2T has another important factor. You have an...

You have physical packaging constraints and torque limits of the components, but on top of all that the 2T has another important factor. You have an optimum port height for timing, and an optimum port volume. Unfortunately if your go too wide on the port to get your desired volume, your ring will catch. This constrains your bore to stroke ratio.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer. I figured there would be some unguessable (to me) factor that limits the entire system. 

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wwdiii
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6/4/2026 11:51am
Kyle978 wrote:
It’s pretty wild to me that the first company to cut 2-strokes from their lineup is bringing them back 20 years later. Hopefully the 2-stroke kooks that...

It’s pretty wild to me that the first company to cut 2-strokes from their lineup is bringing them back 20 years later. 

Hopefully the 2-stroke kooks that were butthurt about the delays can get over it and be appreciative to have another option. Looks like a cool bike! 

I thought Honda was the first?Kawi was at least the last to competitively race a 2-stroke with James.*Even though MC raced a few SX races for...

I thought Honda was the first?
Kawi was at least the last to competitively race a 2-stroke with James.
*Even though MC raced a few SX races for fun on one.

kiwifan wrote:
Does it really matter who !?!!??Anyway, I bet KTM did not expect this and I am willing to bet it takes a lot of sales from...

Does it really matter who !?!!??

Anyway, I bet KTM did not expect this and I am willing to bet it takes a lot of sales from KTM/Husky/GasGas when they did not want or need that to happen! 

No doubt KTM will take a hit, so will Beta.  Two stroke kickstand bikes with no headlights seem to sell.  Kawasaki was smart to bring out an off-road version too.  

2
Indy mxer
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6/4/2026 11:58am
I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local...

I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. 

I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local dealer said there will be some unhappy faces with returned deposits.. they only expect to get one of them 

My dealer, who happens to be my brother is ordering 2027 KX's this week. They get 4 of the 327's, 3 are already sold.

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Falcon
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6/4/2026 12:14pm

^ That was going to be my next hypothetical question: Will Kawasaki make enough of these? I hope the dealers get so many preorders that they sell out in time for another production run. (Or an early schedule for 2028 models.) Good sales will entice other brands to try and get a slice of that pie with new 2-strokes.  

9

The Shop

6/4/2026 12:44pm
I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local...

I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. 

I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local dealer said there will be some unhappy faces with returned deposits.. they only expect to get one of them 

Indy mxer wrote:

My dealer, who happens to be my brother is ordering 2027 KX's this week. They get 4 of the 327's, 3 are already sold.

Yep, talked to a dealer yesterday that already has just shy of 30 deposits and they don't even know how many they are going to be allocated.  This is going to be a Grand Slam for Kawasaki!!!   

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wrc777
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6/4/2026 12:50pm
I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local...

I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. 

I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local dealer said there will be some unhappy faces with returned deposits.. they only expect to get one of them 

Indy mxer wrote:

My dealer, who happens to be my brother is ordering 2027 KX's this week. They get 4 of the 327's, 3 are already sold.

Does that include MX and XC models?

2
6/4/2026 12:54pm

Looks like they will start shipping around Christmas time.

 

6/4/2026 1:45pm
I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local...

I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. 

I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local dealer said there will be some unhappy faces with returned deposits.. they only expect to get one of them 

Indy mxer wrote:

My dealer, who happens to be my brother is ordering 2027 KX's this week. They get 4 of the 327's, 3 are already sold.

Yep, talked to a dealer yesterday that already has just shy of 30 deposits and they don't even know how many they are going to be...

Yep, talked to a dealer yesterday that already has just shy of 30 deposits and they don't even know how many they are going to be allocated.  This is going to be a Grand Slam for Kawasaki!!!   

I just talked to my dealer and it’s only 4 per dealer they found out today I’m lucky I was the 2nd one to put deposit down . Going be some unhappy people getting money back . I think kawi didn’t expect this high of a demand for the bike 

3
6/4/2026 1:49pm
I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local...

I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. 

I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local dealer said there will be some unhappy faces with returned deposits.. they only expect to get one of them 

Indy mxer wrote:

My dealer, who happens to be my brother is ordering 2027 KX's this week. They get 4 of the 327's, 3 are already sold.

wrc777 wrote:

Does that include MX and XC models?

It’s 4 max 327s so can be 2 x and 2 mx but only 4 per dealer . Sounds like every dealer sold their 4 by yesterday . My dealer was told take deposit up tell end next week that was Tuesday then yesterday was told tell Friday they week and then this week was told now only 4 bikes . 

1
6/4/2026 1:53pm
Indy mxer wrote:

My dealer, who happens to be my brother is ordering 2027 KX's this week. They get 4 of the 327's, 3 are already sold.

wrc777 wrote:

Does that include MX and XC models?

It’s 4 max 327s so can be 2 x and 2 mx but only 4 per dealer . Sounds like every dealer sold their 4 by...

It’s 4 max 327s so can be 2 x and 2 mx but only 4 per dealer . Sounds like every dealer sold their 4 by yesterday . My dealer was told take deposit up tell end next week that was Tuesday then yesterday was told tell Friday they week and then this week was told now only 4 bikes . 

It would be good to have some dealers chime in on this....I talked to 3 dealers this week that all show they are getting at least 20 allocated to them.  Usually dealers are allocated based on previous sales history.  

2
1
6/4/2026 2:06pm
wrc777 wrote:

Does that include MX and XC models?

It’s 4 max 327s so can be 2 x and 2 mx but only 4 per dealer . Sounds like every dealer sold their 4 by...

It’s 4 max 327s so can be 2 x and 2 mx but only 4 per dealer . Sounds like every dealer sold their 4 by yesterday . My dealer was told take deposit up tell end next week that was Tuesday then yesterday was told tell Friday they week and then this week was told now only 4 bikes . 

It would be good to have some dealers chime in on this....I talked to 3 dealers this week that all show they are getting at least...

It would be good to have some dealers chime in on this....I talked to 3 dealers this week that all show they are getting at least 20 allocated to them.  Usually dealers are allocated based on previous sales history.  

My dealer said Tuesday and yesterday they could order as many as they could get deposit for tell end of next week and then was told end of this week and then today was told only 4 . I didn’t think kawi expected then high of a demand . Over 1250 dealers in North American and each dealer selling just 4 that’s 5000 bikes . Thats prob max for what they have for available parts from suppliers set up for manufacture . They prob can’t have each dealer selling 20 or 30 as they wouldn’t be able produce that many has the available parts from suppliers take over a year to pre order I’m sure 

5
6/4/2026 5:14pm

Looks like they will start shipping around Christmas time.

 

Which means they haven't started production yet, they may be able to manufacture more to meet demand.

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ando
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6/4/2026 5:17pm

If Kawasaki is surprised by demand I'm not sure why; the (small) bigbore 2 stroke market is probably the biggest category in offroad competition bikes these days.  I mean every serious offroad OEM has a 300 2 stroke and they sell well.

3
RCMXracing
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6/4/2026 6:11pm
It looks like they moved the crank up to make room for the starter motor underneath...

It looks like they moved the crank up to make room for the starter motor underneath...

image 3126image 3128.png?VersionId=CUX
Possibly, but it's not the crank positioning that has caught my eye, nor the reason for it. The whole engine (and lower cradle) are significantly higher...

Possibly, but it's not the crank positioning that has caught my eye, nor the reason for it. The whole engine (and lower cradle) are significantly higher than the old bike and I'm thinking it's because they used the 4T main frame for platform sharing cost reasons and that has forced them to raise the entire engine up so the case-reed intake is high enough to match up with the intake positioning dictated by the 4T frame. I could be wrong, but that's my suspicion. Otherwise, why wouldn't you have it lower like the old design and drop the CG by several inches (and that's a big difference in the MOI from the roll axis)? 🤔

I've seen people rave about how much they could feel the difference in the roll resistance of their bike after spending a bunch of money on some brackets to lower the radiators less than an inch. I can only imagine the difference in feel if you lowered an entire engine a few inches. 🙂

TeamGreen wrote:
The “moment” is affected by other spinning mass…other than just the crank, that is. The clutch assy, counter-balancer, transmission pieces…etc. and the starter has some mass...

The “moment” is affected by other spinning mass…other than just the crank, that is. The clutch assy, counter-balancer, transmission pieces…etc. and the starter has some mass, too, tho…only spinning at times that don’t play into this. They stack the gears and shafts differently in modern 2Ts. 

I’m just guessing here; but, compared to the 4T, I’m guessing this has a potentially lower cg & MOI and they played with that during testing. 

This is all interesting, the CG, etc., but could ground clearance be the driving motive for where the engine was positioned? From the pics it looks like there’s a lot, good for off-road (pipe/rocks) and higher pegs good for moto also (ruts ripping off feet no fun).

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1
OldTech
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6/4/2026 6:33pm Edited Date/Time 6/4/2026 7:11pm
kage173 wrote:
Can any engine builders explain how they get to these displacement sizes? Like is there a certain compression ratio,  hp, reliability target matrix that gets them...

Can any engine builders explain how they get to these displacement sizes? Like is there a certain compression ratio,  hp, reliability target matrix that gets them there? Or, it just kind of like 'hey guys, only open class vets are going to buy it so just make it bigger than the KTM 300?'

mxaniac wrote:
You have physical packaging constraints and torque limits of the components, but on top of all that the 2T has another important factor. You have an...

You have physical packaging constraints and torque limits of the components, but on top of all that the 2T has another important factor. You have an optimum port height for timing, and an optimum port volume. Unfortunately if your go too wide on the port to get your desired volume, your ring will catch. This constrains your bore to stroke ratio.

kage173 wrote:

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer. I figured there would be some unguessable (to me) factor that limits the entire system. 

There is also crankcase volume or "primary compression". Too much volume and you lose bottom end and too little, you need a reed spacer or a boost bottle. Yamahas' previous YZ250 (up to 98) they had to use a long rod with a spacer plate. edit. speculation but, if the engine didn't perform as expected (as a 250) with the counterbalancer and added volume bore and stroke could have been what fixed it.

3
1
6/4/2026 6:39pm

And just like that I'm awoken from my slumber. 

233 wet???

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1
ando
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6/4/2026 7:58pm Edited Date/Time 6/4/2026 7:59pm

Comparison of all the currently available big bore two stroke enduro/cross country bikes.  The KX327 isn't the lightest but not the heaviest either.  All OEM claimed weights.  Sorry haven't done MX models.

Screenshot 2026-06-05 105639
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kage173
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6/4/2026 9:09pm
OldTech wrote:
There is also crankcase volume or "primary compression". Too much volume and you lose bottom end and too little, you need a reed spacer or a...

There is also crankcase volume or "primary compression". Too much volume and you lose bottom end and too little, you need a reed spacer or a boost bottle. Yamahas' previous YZ250 (up to 98) they had to use a long rod with a spacer plate. edit. speculation but, if the engine didn't perform as expected (as a 250) with the counterbalancer and added volume bore and stroke could have been what fixed it.

That makes sense. I know there's a lot to it, but this gives me the broad strokes.

 

yamathumb
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6/4/2026 10:09pm
Indy mxer wrote:

My dealer, who happens to be my brother is ordering 2027 KX's this week. They get 4 of the 327's, 3 are already sold.

Yep, talked to a dealer yesterday that already has just shy of 30 deposits and they don't even know how many they are going to be...

Yep, talked to a dealer yesterday that already has just shy of 30 deposits and they don't even know how many they are going to be allocated.  This is going to be a Grand Slam for Kawasaki!!!   

I just talked to my dealer and it’s only 4 per dealer they found out today I’m lucky I was the 2nd one to put deposit...

I just talked to my dealer and it’s only 4 per dealer they found out today I’m lucky I was the 2nd one to put deposit down . Going be some unhappy people getting money back . I think kawi didn’t expect this high of a demand for the bike 

I have 4 cr250s. Carbureted bikes been easy to come by. No surprise a Japanese version of a ktm with some spice (extra cc, aluminum perimeter frame, kyb , up AND downstream injectors, a smartphone app that can tune hopefully. What the heck have they (japan) been thinking. Ktm gets 12.5k for a offroad 300. Many ktm owners are over the idiosyncrasies inherent to European design. And, are bored with the same old ktms. I hear people saying alot of yz250s are gonna be for sale. If kawi nails the first Gen of these bikes, it'll be a sea of green off road suddenly. Im probably waiting for year two it sounds like. Might get cute and put my kx500 .motor into my 2024 kx450 chassis just to fit in in the meantime lol

1
6/4/2026 11:34pm

Finally. Now I won’t have to read all the complaining on here and social media. 

😂 if only.

 “But it’s not carbed/doesn’t have a kicker/not a 125/250/500, doesn’t pay child support, or support my meth habit”

You give a tweaker an inch, he’ll take a mile (of copper)

1
1
plink01
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6/4/2026 11:43pm

Finally. Now I won’t have to read all the complaining on here and social media. 

😂 if only. “But it’s not carbed/doesn’t have a kicker/not a 125/250/500, doesn’t pay child support, or support my meth habit”You give a tweaker an inch, he’ll...

😂 if only.

 “But it’s not carbed/doesn’t have a kicker/not a 125/250/500, doesn’t pay child support, or support my meth habit”

You give a tweaker an inch, he’ll take a mile (of copper)

Kawasaki could have a warp drive installed on the bike that takes you to single track on Mars and people would still complain it doesnt have a carb.

Its a wonder people arnt calling for a steam powered bike.

2
1
6/5/2026 12:39am

Finally. Now I won’t have to read all the complaining on here and social media. 

😂 if only. “But it’s not carbed/doesn’t have a kicker/not a 125/250/500, doesn’t pay child support, or support my meth habit”You give a tweaker an inch, he’ll...

😂 if only.

 “But it’s not carbed/doesn’t have a kicker/not a 125/250/500, doesn’t pay child support, or support my meth habit”

You give a tweaker an inch, he’ll take a mile (of copper)

plink01 wrote:
Kawasaki could have a warp drive installed on the bike that takes you to single track on Mars and people would still complain it doesnt have...

Kawasaki could have a warp drive installed on the bike that takes you to single track on Mars and people would still complain it doesnt have a carb.

Its a wonder people arnt calling for a steam powered bike.

What have you got against steam powered bikes?

image 3130.png?VersionId=hZuyG4GEat on1GsqPM3PefD
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1
plink01
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6/5/2026 2:20am
😂 if only. “But it’s not carbed/doesn’t have a kicker/not a 125/250/500, doesn’t pay child support, or support my meth habit”You give a tweaker an inch, he’ll...

😂 if only.

 “But it’s not carbed/doesn’t have a kicker/not a 125/250/500, doesn’t pay child support, or support my meth habit”

You give a tweaker an inch, he’ll take a mile (of copper)

plink01 wrote:
Kawasaki could have a warp drive installed on the bike that takes you to single track on Mars and people would still complain it doesnt have...

Kawasaki could have a warp drive installed on the bike that takes you to single track on Mars and people would still complain it doesnt have a carb.

Its a wonder people arnt calling for a steam powered bike.

What have you got against steam powered bikes?

What have you got against steam powered bikes?

image 3130.png?VersionId=hZuyG4GEat on1GsqPM3PefD

Nothing, im sick of the complexity of a carburettor. I feel for reliability and ease of servicing steam is the future. Kawi have no idea.

1
FGR01
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6/5/2026 7:25am

Hmmmmmmmm.........  🤔

image 3157
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3
6/5/2026 7:40am
FGR01 wrote:
Hmmmmmmmm.........  🤔

Hmmmmmmmm.........  🤔

image 3157

I mean...they're both similar displacement two stroke engines with FI and an electronically actuated powervalve.  How different could they look?

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1
Indy mxer
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The Villages, FL US
6/5/2026 8:05am
I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local...

I'd get the X.. more versatile for what I ride these days. 

I sure hope Kawasaki is making enough of these puppies to go around. My local dealer said there will be some unhappy faces with returned deposits.. they only expect to get one of them 

Indy mxer wrote:

My dealer, who happens to be my brother is ordering 2027 KX's this week. They get 4 of the 327's, 3 are already sold.

wrc777 wrote:

Does that include MX and XC models?

Yes, he gets 2 of each on his initial order. But who knows, he may get to order more down the road.

FGR01
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6/5/2026 8:11am
FGR01 wrote:
Hmmmmmmmm.........  🤔

Hmmmmmmmm.........  🤔

image 3157

I mean...they're both similar displacement two stroke engines with FI and an electronically actuated powervalve.  How different could they look?

Yeah for sure.  They definitely would look similar.. when they are both case reed, have essentially identical shaft placement and basic engine configuration, both have the exact same E-PV design and actuator layout, and the same balance shaft configuration in the same location, and both have e-start also placed int he same location, and very similar looking hydraulic clutch slave cylinder placement.  But, yeah, other then those few coincidences, they are totally dissimilar.  Oh, sorry, forget the identical cylinder stay placement.

1
1
soggy
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6/5/2026 8:49am
FGR01 wrote:
Hmmmmmmmm.........  🤔

Hmmmmmmmm.........  🤔

image 3157

I mean...they're both similar displacement two stroke engines with FI and an electronically actuated powervalve.  How different could they look?

FGR01 wrote:
Yeah for sure.  They definitely would look similar.. when they are both case reed, have essentially identical shaft placement and basic engine configuration, both have the...

Yeah for sure.  They definitely would look similar.. when they are both case reed, have essentially identical shaft placement and basic engine configuration, both have the exact same E-PV design and actuator layout, and the same balance shaft configuration in the same location, and both have e-start also placed int he same location, and very similar looking hydraulic clutch slave cylinder placement.  But, yeah, other then those few coincidences, they are totally dissimilar.  Oh, sorry, forget the identical cylinder stay placement.

Or perhaps that’s just where design and engineering dictate they should go to create the feeling they are after?


Where else would the counter balanced and starter go?

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