352 and Feeling Blue

Here's what is probably the main attraction of the CRF-450X9:
The big (for a bike that's made for some real off-road use, not mainly street use with a dabble of off-road use) engine, and the power that comes with it.
Just behind the CRF-450X9, you can see the WR-250FY, awaiting springtime.

I'm feeling blue because I'm sick today, and I first felt it coming on Saturday morning when I could feel a sore throat festering itself when I woke up.
Sometime, I get lucky and nothing more comes of it and the sore throat goes away.
Not this time, as I now have a typical cold, and that means a couple of days of sniffling nose and sore throat and less-easy sleeping.
I wonder who breathed on me. ;)

I went riding yesterday out on the ol' Pachaug enduro loop, but it wasn't a normal day of riding out there.
This is mainly because the weather didn't turn out as predicted, and it seemed to take forever for the temperature to get above freezing.
I waited until the last possible minute, and didn't get to the usual unloading spot until 3:45pm.
That gave me about 45 minutes of riding before dusk, and since I also felt sick, I stayed away from any water on the ground, not wanting to get my feet wet.
This also allowed the bike to stay very clean, and because of that, I didn't have to wash it when I got home after sunset, and this also kept me from getting wet.
That's something to consider when it's in the upper 30s for a temperature and you're already feeling sick at the time. ;)

The trade-off with this riding strategy is that the route I rode was on the short and boring side since I stayed mainly on the street (which bypassed the wet portions), the dirt roads within the state forest (that are tame enough to drive a car down), and just one actual trail which I knew would be dry.
It was a 20-mile ride all told, so that's a fair bit shorter than the typical 55-or-so miles.
In all honesty, it was just barely worth it, but, I did get to do some nice-feeling wheelies and power slides while on the bike. :)

Also, I got to get more familiar with the new-to-me CRF-450X9, and honestly, not every feeling I get is good or positive.
A nagging problem I've been having since nearly day one is that the electric starter does not want to crank the engine over at certain times, and it is usually when I'm starting the engine for the first time that day.
Yesterday when I got the bike unloaded, got all suited-up, plopped myself on the seat, and hit the starter button, the engine barely moved before the starter motor refused to turn the crankshaft any further.
I then used the kickstart lever to turn the engine over a couple of times, hit the starter button again, and this time the engine cranked over and started running.
I've load tested the battery (which tested 100% A-OK), tried a second battery, cleaned where the main ground wire attaches to the engine crankcase, and the problem still persists.

I have read about other CRF-450X riders on message boards having trouble with similar problems.
That is:
The electric starter not starting the bike every time you ask it too.
Hopefully, I'll someday discover the reason for this and correct it.
The only things I can think of right now are that maybe the starter motor, itself, needs to be repaired (maybe worn or cooked brushes), or that the automatic decompressor built into the camshaft is leaving too much compression pressure in the combustion chamber while starting the bike (which seems unlikely to me, in all honesty).

All I can say right now is thank God the engine has always started once I get it running and warmed-up.
Looks like my share of legendary Honda reliability needs a bit of an adjustment. ;)
Hope nobody takes offense to that statement because, after all, I did buy it with my own hard-earned and feel I have a right to write what's going on with the bike.

At least it's fun to ride once running. ;)

Off to jerk,
-John

Edit:

Seems that the bike could be suffering from too much compression pressure while starting, after all.
While surfing message boards about Honda CRF-450Xs that act like mine does, I found out that American Honda actually had issued a recall and matching Service Bulletin a couple of years ago which were used to repair 2008 and 2009 CRF-450X models that were having this problem.
What takes place while performing this recall repair is that stronger parts are installed into the camshaft, parts that actuate the automatic decompressor feature while starting the engine.
If this automatic decompressor isn't working properly due to bent parts, the starter motor will have a tough time getting the engine turned over.
These new, stronger parts are supposed to resist bending and end any hard-to-crank-over issues.

Hmmm.
Ain't the Internet neat-o?

Looks like my local Honda motorcycle dealer, the very place I work for a living, may be performing the recall on my CRF-450X9 in the near future.
Either that, or I'll just get the parts and special tools needed and do it myself.
With any luck, this will return my fair share of legendary Honda reliability. :)

351 Rhymes with Fun

The CRF-450X9 after washing following yesterday's Pachaug rock pile ride.
I don't know how many more weekends we'll get where at least one day has a daytime high in the 40s with still unfrozen ground, but I'll take them as long as they keep coming. ;)

I rode out on the ol' Pachaug enduro loop yesterday, and it was a good ride.
Since my last ride before that (which was last Saturday), I installed a little kit that allows removal of that useless collection of environmentalist propaganda parts that everyone calls the smog pump.
This smog pump is not an actual pump, but is a valve that allows a stream of clean, filtered air from the airbox to be piped into the exhaust pipe, supposedly reducing the severity of the harmful-to-the-environment noxious gasses coming out of the muffler.
All of the tweeting little birds I scared away forever along my trail route seemed to be smiling at me in an approving manner as they fled for their little feathered lives, suitcases under wing, never to return to their natural habitat because the mean old dirt bike rider (me) was so selfish, self-centered and self-serving and gets off on causing so much damage to the Earth's fragile environment, that scarcely a single living creature should remain alive once I pass through.

The sad part is that there are people in high places (as well as low places) that act as if the part I just wrote above is some kind of truth.
These people are either brainwashed, liars with only their own pocketbooks on their minds, or both.
I'll bet you anything that some businessman (or group of them) won't bat an eye at bulldozing my entire 55-mile trail loop completely flat (if he were allowed to) if it would result in that land to be changed into some mall or living quarters or whatever, just as long as he got a big fat wad in his bank account.
This especially goes for guys like Al Gore or Mr. Microsoft Bill Gates, guys who, on one hand, make themselves out to be so concerned with how everyone (except them) needs to do what they say in order to save the planet, but also have a strong liking for money and living a luxurious lifestyle.
Of course, this would be looked upon by all of those brainwashed environmental idiots who actually hug the trees as a sad thing because they would lose yet another place to go out into the woods and make love to trees and fantasize about how great life must have been back in 1799 before we got all industrialized, but yet, they'd also approve of seeing all of that nice-looking fresh asphalt laid down and how well-designed the perfectly manicured lawns of all of those new carbon-copy houses look and how well they made the move from the designer's laptop into $$reality$$.
Or, reality, as in real estate $$$sales$$$.
Sales, sales, sales.
Now, that's a word that lots of people will snuggle up to.

Well, now that I've stated my feelings on environmental impact (or the severe lack of it) from me riding my dirt bike down a trail, I'll tell you that the ride yesterday was a darn good one.
I rode in a decent manner, and while I was a bit cautious on certain parts due to seeing several groups of hunters out by the paved roads congregating near their parked trucks and also because the ground was damp in spots, I had a good feeling over much of it.
The CRF-450X9 worked well, and with another 55 miles on the bike under my belt, I know the bike that much better.
The strong suit of the bike is using the throttle and immense torque of the engine to loft the front wheel over all manner of rough terrain and riding right through these rough sections with the bike feeling very stable and sure-footed all the time.
The overall feel of the bike is powerful, stable in a straight line, and very solid and secure.
It is, I'm glad to say, a good combination out on rough terrain.

Speaking of lofting the front wheel, doing wheelies on this bike is second nature.
I always felt the WR-250FY wheelied easily, but with more power and torque at your control, the CRF-450X9 takes the ease of wheelies to a new level.
While negotiating any trail, dirt road, or whatever you may be on, it literally requires just a mere sudden opening of the throttle to get the front wheel off the ground.
Sure, you can open the throttle without doing a wheelie if you need to, and in that case you just open the throttle slowly and/or a small amount.
That's called throttle control.
It is fun and very useful, though, to be able to dial-a-wheelie as you ride the bike over rough terrain, actually making your passage through the rough stuff safer and more fun at the same time.
A very good feeling, this is.

Today is colder than yesterday, so I'm glad I went yesterday.
Today seems like an easy day around the house doing a little bit of bike maintenance and maybe some laundry.

-John

350 Miles on the New (to me) Bike

The CRF-450X9 after inspection, registration, and setup to my liking.
This pic was taken just before leaving home for yesterday's Pachaug ride.

I don't think I have quite yet put 350 miles on this bike since I bought it, but, it made a good title.
Eh? ;)
What I have done is to remove the stuff I needed for inspection but is actually a liability while out there riding the Pachaug rock pile.
Things like the ridiculously low-hanging rear fender extension, the right-hand mirror (one is enough), and, most of all, getting rid of the street tires and using real off-road worthy tires.
You know what that means, don'cha'?
Yessirree, more Bridgestone M22/M23s.

I also did what guys in dirt bike social circles (like on Internet message boards) call "uncorking".
That means doing some very simple modifications that rid the bike of performance restrictions that are imposed upon it when on the showroom floor, restrictions that are dreamt-up and implemented on your dirt bike by bureaucrats that like the idea of socialism or outright communism, even though they, themselves, may not realize it.

What I did was to:
*Increase the size of the air inlet into the airbox.
*Rejet the carb to specs listed on a message board devoted to the CRF-450X.
*Replace the original plugged-up exhaust system with the same type I've been using for the past few years:
An FMF Powerbomb head pipe and an FMF Q4 muffler.
*And, last, but I assume not least, I unplugged the mysterious pink wire from the bike's ECU (the brain of the electronic ignition system).
The unplugging of this wire is supposed to switch ignition timing maps from a bureaucratic and performance-restricting one to a map that's made for real men who want to actually enjoy their dirt bike and have superior performance. :)

So, how's she run?
Awesome, in one word.
It ran strongly in 100% stock form, and now it's even more powerful.
It pulls like a fast freight train locomotive, and with the mods done, throttle response is crisp and basically feels perfect.
Good job, Mr. Internet Message Board Jetting Guru - your carb jetting specs work very well, indeed.
Also, the additional air available to the engine with the cut airbox and less-restrictive exhaust, along with the carb jetting, are giving me noticeably better fuel range, too, as last weekend I got shitty mileage from a gallon of gas.

Since I've ridden the CRF-450X9 out on the Pachaug enduro loop in this condition, what's my opinion of the bike now?
It feels very good.
It has excellent straight-line stability; a very good suspension, front and rear; more than enough power across the range with strong low-end torque (you can slow for a turn, keep the transmission in a gear that is really a gear high for the exit of the turn, and still be launched out of the turn with immense low-end power and torque); the ergonomics of the bike fit me well, and, all-in-all, it feels like a lot of fun.

While there is no getting away from the fact that the additional engine rotating mass of this big-bore can be felt while maneuvering the bike (compared to the 250cc bike I've been riding in Pachaug for two years), it also tends to give the bike the feeling of being willing and able to charge through rough stuff with the throttle open, especially if you wheelie into the rough stuff.
That is great fun, you know.
You don't know?
Well, get yourself a dirt bike and get on out there, son. :)

No doubt helping the stability through rough stuff is the very good front fork.
Is uses a design that dirt bike guys call a "twin chamber", which means the oil in the fork is divided into two areas:
1) The area where the oil is used to lubricate the sliding surfaces and to fine-tune the overall firmness of the fork through setting the oil level.
2) The oil used to actually control fork movement through the hydraulic damping is actually put into a sealed container and put under pressure by the use of a spring at the top pressing down upon this chamber.
In other words, the oil is slightly pressurised by use of a mechanical coil spring pushing down on it, and this is done to get rid of any signs of cavitation (air getting into the oil and negatively effecting the damping quality).
Rear shocks do this through use of high-pressure nitrogen gas.

The result is a fork that, basically, seems to respond equally well over small bumps, big bumps, sharp and abrupt bumps, gradual bumps, or anything in between.
I like how they work, and I get a good feel for the terrain through the front tire contact patch with the ground.

The rear suspension seems to not give quite as much feel for the terrain, but, it's still good enough to please me.
It responds to the bumps and is completely ridable out there on the ol' Pachaug rock n' roll pile.

I've not owned a lot of bikes what use Showa forks and shocks, but the ones on the CRF-450X9 make me feel good about them.
All I've had to do to get this suspension performance is to grease the rear suspension pivot bearings, set the damping clickers to the original positions shown in the Owner's Manual, set the rear suspension spring preload to achieve 4" of sag with my weight on the seat (actually, I didn't even have to adjust this as measuring it showed me it was already set for me, miracle of miracles), and hit the trail.

Do I think the bike is perfect?
No, and since it's a bike that I had to buy and pay for with my own money just like every single one of the bikes I've ever had in my possession (versus having mommy or daddy buy it for me), I feel A-OK telling anybody my 100% honest opinion about it, be it good, bad, or somewhere in between.

One gripe I have with the CRF-450X9 is that I want a stronger-feeling front brake.
I've serviced every serviceable item of the front brake system in the few weeks I've owned the bike, and while I believe it is working at 100% of how it was when the bike was brand-new, I simply feel it's not the strongest front brake out there.
It's enough to get the job done, but, especially now with the bike being uncorked and able to catapult out of turns and down straights in the rate and manner it does, I really do believe I'll be buying something to improve front brake power.
It will either be a different master cylinder from the CRF-450R motocross bike, or an oversized front brake rotor kit, or both.
Time will tell.

Another gripe is air filter removal and installation.
It's a tight squeeze getting the filter out and back into the airbox.
Actually, I can imagine some retard who hates servicing his air filter using that as an excuse to skip cleaning and oiling his already-too-dirty-and-it's-been-that-way-for-too-long-as-it-is air filter.
It won't stop me from taking care of mine regularly, but compared to the WR-250FY, the CRF-450X9 requires the filter be squeezed through an airbox access opening smaller than the height of the filter, itself.
The WR-250FY air filter can be removed and installed with practically zero effort, in comparison.

The engine loves to make a bit of a knockety-knock racket whenever it is running.
I believe this is normal noise, and may be due to the Honda Unicam cylinder head using a rocker arm to operate the exhaust valves as the noise seems to be coming from the area of the cylinder head.
I'm just guessing, here, but whatever the cause, I can certainly tell whenever the engine is running just below me. ;)

The feel of the clutch through the clutch lever is a little bit on the vague side, but I imagine that more time riding the bike will lessen that feeling.
This is one of those bikes where you know where you are with clutch engagement/disengagement via relying more on the position of the clutch lever, not via how it feels through the clutch lever.
Geddit?
I hope so, Lenny.
Why do you think I bothered to explain it in such an eloquent manner, eh?

So, provided good weather for next weekend (it is mid-December, after all), I'll be out there riding one of my bikes.

-John

349 and the Riding Was Fine, Though I Could Have Used More Gas

Well, I decided to take the CRF-450X9 out for today's Pachaug rock pile ride, and I'm glad I did.
The bike worked well, and I had a good ride.

I did make sure I took it for a quick 5 mile spin before I left for Pachaug to make sure all of my work was done properly, and it was.
I could have rode the bike all the way to the riding spot, but, it was awful hard to resist loading the bike up and trucking it there to save those fresh knobby tires for the actual Pachaug ride, not the 13 mile ride on pavement to the riding spot.
You know?

I met with 5 other guys for today's ride, and they all had a good time out there.
There were a couple times that most of them went into the "hero sections", the trails that are pretty dang rocky and wet and rocky.
Rocky, too, and these sections are the most difficult of the whole loop.
But, some guys like that stuff, and I just waited for them at the other side of it.

The CRF-450X9 performed very well, today, I'm pleased to say.
The engine has mucho power and torque, and it allows the common big bore practice of coming through a turn a gear high, opening the throttle on the exit, and just hanging on and enjoying the effortless acceleration on tap.
The new Bridgestone M22/M23 tires were excellent, as usual, and the bike handled well.

It was great having that spankin' new license plate hanging off the back fender informing any tree coppers hiding for an ambush that I'm legit, and with that peace of mind, I could concentrate on having a good ride, which I did.

I found out how far I can go on a tank of gas, and that's 56 miles.
I mean using all of the available gas in the tank, too.
That's about the same mileage I do for a loop, and I was wondering if I should stop to refuel en route or not.
Well, I decided to finish without refueling, and I actually got pretty lucky because I ran out of gas just one tenth of a mile from where I park my truck.
Lucky me, huh?
At least it only took a couple minutes to push the bike the rest of the way back, and now I know what my fuel range is.
Looks like, unless I buy a larger 3 gallon fuel tank (the present fuel tank is 2 gallons), I'll need to gas-up along the way from now on with the CRF-450X9.

-John

348 and Something Great

This pic should sum it up right here.

I am very happy to say, folks, that my trip to the DMV of Connecticut to get my CRF-450X9 inspected and then registered for legal street use was a blazing success.
Now, I can basically ride that anywhere motorcycles are allowed, which means the Pachaug rock pile, on the street back and forth to jerk, and anywhere else my heart desires as long as it's legal to do so.

Today (Saturday) is the day of removing the inspection parts and returning the bike to it's proper condition, a condition where actually riding it off-road won't be as much of a hazard as it would be with that stuff (especially the tires) still on the bike.

I wish I was sure I'd be riding the CRF-450X9 in Pachaug Sunday, but, I already opened my mouth and promised a guy I'd go there with him and his friends, so, I feel better about riding the Pachaug rock n' roll pile veteran WR-250FY because I'm still getting a feel for the CRF, and, frankly, I'd rather do that on my own.

-John