Kawasaki teased two-stroke dirt bikes on social media almost a year and a half ago, then went completely silent about it while its comment sections filled up with increasingly unhinged demands for an update. I was one of those people. I am not ashamed.

The wait is over: Kawasaki has officially announced the KX327 and KX327X, its first two-stroke motorcycles larger than 250cc in more than twenty years. Both share a brand-new liquid-cooled, fuel-injected 327cc two-stroke single — Kawasaki's first newly designed big-bore two-stroke engine since I was still riding my bike to school instead of just thinking wistfully about riding bikes.

The specs read like someone actually cared. The crankcase reed-valve intake pairs with a 39mm throttle body running dual injectors — a downstream one for precise low-speed fueling, an upstream one that kicks in higher in the rev range for the accelerative kick two-strokes are famous for. There's a new exhaust valve system that dynamically adjusts port timing based on engine speed and throttle position, which is the kind of sentence that would've meant nothing to me a decade ago and now gets recited at dinner parties nobody asked to hear about it at.

The KX327X gets a six-speed gearbox with an ultra-low first gear for technical, pick-your-way-through-it terrain, while the motocross-focused KX327 sticks with a close-ratio five-speed built for on-track performance. Both get electric start (no more kickstart lottery) and two switchable engine maps. The shared aluminum perimeter frame is derived from the KX450F, and Kawasaki claims a full-fuel weight of 233.7 lbs — lighter than its own four-stroke KX250F at 240.8 lbs. Suspension is a 48mm KYB inverted fork with Kashima coating up front and Uni-Trak out back, with Nissin brakes doing the stopping.

Pricing: $9,099 for the KX327, $9,699 for the KX327X, both landing in dealers in late 2026, and — obviously — available in Lime Green, because Kawasaki has never once considered offering it in a different color and never will.

I don't currently own a two-stroke, own a place to store a two-stroke, or have a free weekend to ride a two-stroke, but none of that has stopped me from mentally re-timing the exact trail loop I'd take one on if any of those three things were ever true. Ask me again in six months. I'll still be thinking about it.

2027 Kawasaki KX327X, cross-country two-stroke with handguards and skid plate

Official source: https://www.kawasaki.com/en-us/motorcycle/kx/full-size-mx/kx-327/2027-kx327