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
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