First impressions…Light and surprisingly capable, the 300 Rally is the starting point for this adventure bike build, that won’t break the bank.

So the 300 Rally makes somewhere in the neighborhood of just 24 hp. Which equates to about 0.07 hp/lb power to weight ratio. Which compares quite unfavorably to the Husky 701 enduro LR at 0.20 Hp/lb which I have been spending a lot of time on lately. To give you a few other bikes for reference the KLX 300 is 0.08hp/lb and the CB500X is 0.11hp/lb and if you are trying to keep up with a friend with a Tenere 700 and the 1250 GSA then it is worth noting that they have 0.16hp/lb and 0.23hp/lb respectively. And incase you are wondering what the biggest ADV bikes deliver, they top out at 0.27hp/lb for the Panamerica and 0.31hp/lb for the Multistrada…no where near the 0.69 of a MotoGP bike …but it probably all ends up as wheel spin …doesn’t it?

As such, I began the Rally 300 project as more of an academic exercise in financial restraint. To see what is possible with a modest budget..think sub $9,000. Lets face it, any more than that and you might as well get yourself the ubercapable T700 for $10K plus spare change for upgrades.

That said my first ride on the 300 surprised me so much that I think this light weight ADV could actually turn out to be kind of fun!

So what’s the catch? Well if you get to like off road and begin to ride faster you will soon realize this bike is woefully under sprung. It does a lot of wallowing and bottoming. Meaning you are likely to find the bike harder and harder to control as speeds increase. Not to mention you might start to find the bottom of the bike becomes altogether too friendly with rocks, logs, and the ground.