Kawasaki Brute Force 300 – A Sport Quad for the Farm

Watch Out, the First Ride’s a Doozie!
By Nick Nelson

Kawasaki recently invited ATVConnection.com to western PA’s Mines and Meadows ATV Resort to experience the new 2012 Brute Force 300 first hand. The economy minded Brute Force 300 is designed to be exciting for new or experienced trail riders alike, and versatile enough to excel as a farm or work vehicle. Kawasaki’s target market for the Brute Force 300 is entry level trail riders, farmers and ranchers, yet its versatile platform proved to be fun for even the most experienced of riders.

The Mines and Meadows ride area offers more than 56 miles of groomed trail, as well as an abandoned underground limestone mine to explore. The terrain proved more than worthy for us to evaluate the new Brute upon.

The morning started with an informational walk-around of the new machine. It was immediately evident that the Brute is a whole lot more machine than the Bayou that it will be replacing in Kawasaki’s line up. The little brother styling of the Brute Force 300 is much easier on the eyes than the Bayou 250, which has held onto its original look for more than two decades.

Sitting on the Brute for the first time backed up Kawasaki’s claim that it would accommodate larger riders comfortably. The handlebars and controls feel well placed and natural. While the gate shifter looks a little cheesy and out of place, it truly did work well. Shifting the Brute in and out of gear is easy enough to do, and there is no question of which gear has been selected.

With a retail of 99 the Brute Force 300 will be perfect for ranchers who might need a large fleet of economical, yet easy to ride, hard working ATV’s. This is what I expected from the Brute Force 300; what I didn’t expect was the impressive acceleration and nimble handling that was immediately evident upon leaving the parking lot and hitting the first trail.

We started on a fun, tight-but-fast trail with a few mild hill climbs as well as braking bumps, ruts and rocks. The 300 makes a surprising amount of usable low to mid range power, and the CVT clutching makes great use of it.

The Brute Force 300 accelerates up hill trails with ease, and the suspension performs equally well. The suspension feels more like an entry level sport quad than anything that you would expect to find working on a farm. The front end can take on bumps and ruts at speed without bump-steer or other negative results. Hammering tight turns is also exciting on the 300 Brute – the sport inspired front suspension and straight axle rear-end can be predictably slid around corners with ease. The overly capable, independent disc brakes also work really well. Mashing all the brakes can stop you quickly, or the front to rear individual brakes can be utilized to slide the rear tires around corners or drag the fronts for traction in the turns.

The Brute Force 300 isn’t designed to be moto-crossed or jumped excessively, but we still found it to have plenty of power and suspension travel for moderate amounts of air. We found a cool uphill hillclimb/cliff jump to test its ability; with enough run in, the Brute Force 300 performed flawlessly. After a little encouragement from the crowd, the baby Brute might have even soaked up a few bigger landings than it was intended for.

I definitely do not fit the criteria for Kawasaki’s “entry level or first timer” target market, yet I still had a great time riding the 300. While I was able to keep it pinned through much of the trail system, it was still exciting, fun and predictable. At the same time that I was pushing the Brute 300 to its limits, there were two first time ATV’ers from a farming magazine that were enjoying the same trails, albeit at a slightly reduced rate of speed. It was very cool seeing how the CVT and stable platform of the Brute Force allowed complete newbies to enjoy the same trails and scenery as a pro level rider.

For more information: Kawasaki Motors Corp. USA www.kawasaki.com

We have lots more photos in the forums, so head over there and let us know what you think of Kawasaki’s “little” beast:

http://forums.atvconnection.com/kawasaki/340444-2012-brute-force-300-photos-review.html#post3069738