I figured I post my review I wrote here... 2017 CRF450RX ride report The good: - Handles amazing. Front end is glued to the soft sand fast whooped out corners in Bend Oregon. (fast silty dez) 80 miles was not enough to explore the seemly limitless front end stick. - Suspension is firm but feels quite good and bike is very planted. Felt superhero in the fast sandy whoops after some adjustment. Forks are excellent. Both ends needed adjustment with the rear needing the most. It was to loose and made the bike feel like a handful. 3 stiffer rebound 2 softer low speed comp and it feels good. Bet there it can be even better with some additional tuning. - Motor is crazy powerful. Has three modes which work well. Full turbo and soft were my favorites. Soft was easier on you and turbo lets you have your way with the terrain. Full SX like power. Jump over stuff, blaze the whoops, rocket out of deep sandy corners with ease. - Clutch feel. Very smooth and easy for a cable clutch. Not quite KTM hydro smooth but close. - Ergonomics, except the bar height. Fit and finish is nice, nothing rubbed me the wrong way and bike feels nice while riding it. Bars are about way to low for me (5"11"). - Brakes are crazy strong. Front one about killed me once or twice. Bad: - Bike feels heavy. Buddies TE300 feels 80 pounds lighter. I got used to it and not is not really a pig but there is some bike there. The nice semi narrow layout of the bike makes it feel a little smaller but it is a girthy feeling bike. - Stalling. Pretty easy to stall. It's new, hope that improves. EFI seems good, super snappy and runs perfect, but it is easy to stall in the tighter stuff making it a handful as you have to man the clutch all the time. A rekluse might be mandatory if you plan to use this beast in tighter stuff. - Starting. Sometimes fires right up, some times not. It will always start fine but sometimes it takes several tries. We will see if that improves. - Gearing. Tight MX trans. This is a big miss on this bike for me. Would have been way more versatile with a wide ratio trans. - Tank / range. 2.2 gallons? really Honda? I need to double check but dont think this bike is good for more than 50 miles. I like to do 70 mile loops in the summer. Want 90 range. - Seat. Real good looking useful for about 20 minutes then it tries to make hamburger out of your butt. Had to stand the last 60 miles. All my main bikes have Seat Concepts seats and I am spoiled. That said this one was painful for me. What would you use it for? Dez, sand, MX, anything open and faster. I ride mainly woods on a 250 2st. This bike would be horrible in the woods. WAY to much power, super abrupt power and heavy feeling combined with the stalling and iffy starting and this would add up to a workout IMHO. What do I think overall? At first I was not wild over it. Felt big and a handful. I've ridden my XR650R in this same area and thought it felt almost as good (gasp!). First issue was the stalling, OK higher revs when leaving a stop and negotiating rock gardens. Next the bike felt loose and all over the place. I did three click stiffer rebound on the shock and big difference. Went 2 clicks softer compression on the rear and again, improvement. Bike is starting to feel much better and I am starting to come to terms with it. Rear brake adjusted higher, levers moved into better positions, things starting to gell. After 80 miles I was really stating to enjoy this machine. The motor is crazy strong and instantly responsive. It's pretty smooth and really likes to rev. The suspension is very good, the bike is surprisingly stable, the front end is super planted and carves in deep sand very nicely. I have never really been a fan of Honda handling but this one hits the mark for me. Front tire goes where you point it even in deep sand. Bike was a monster in the whoops and sandy stuff. The brakes are crazy strong. The bike sounds cool and is really good looking. The transmission is disappointing, would be so much better with a wide ratio and would work great with the motor. The seat sucks and the fuel range is not enough for me. For a fast young XC dez racer this bike might be really good. I don't know for sure as I am not that guy but it sure seems to rip the sandy fast stuff and feels in its element. By the end of the day I was feeling pretty good on it, had turbo mode dialed up and was jumping and ripping it up. Fun stuff. A wide ratio trans would allow 1st to be much lower (less stall prone) and a way taller 5th with a nice spread would make the power more usable and the bike much faster. For older woods riders like myself this would be a horrible bike. I'm going to ride it in the woods to prove it to myself but without a rekluse it is not going to be ideal by a long shot. As a XC bike like it was designed for I think it might be a great platform. Motor, handling and suspension are right there and those are important things to get right. We all massage our bikes into what we need and as a XC bike this seems like it has all the right elements to be a weapon in the hands of the right pilot. Kelly
Kind of bummed on this review, have a CRF450r and love it, am in the market now for a bike, KTM EXC500 is about the only decent alternative, come on Honda......6 speed with some lights on this beast and give those Euro bikes some real competition.
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I figured I post my review I wrote here...
2017 CRF450RX ride report
The good:
- Handles amazing. Front end is glued to the soft sand fast whooped out corners in Bend Oregon. (fast silty dez) 80 miles was not enough to explore the seemly limitless front end stick.
- Suspension is firm but feels quite good and bike is very planted. Felt superhero in the fast sandy whoops after some adjustment. Forks are excellent. Both ends needed adjustment with the rear needing the most. It was to loose and made the bike feel like a handful. 3 stiffer rebound 2 softer low speed comp and it feels good. Bet there it can be even better with some additional tuning.
- Motor is crazy powerful. Has three modes which work well. Full turbo and soft were my favorites. Soft was easier on you and turbo lets you have your way with the terrain. Full SX like power. Jump over stuff, blaze the whoops, rocket out of deep sandy corners with ease.
- Clutch feel. Very smooth and easy for a cable clutch. Not quite KTM hydro smooth but close.
- Ergonomics, except the bar height. Fit and finish is nice, nothing rubbed me the wrong way and bike feels nice while riding it. Bars are about way to low for me (5"11").
- Brakes are crazy strong. Front one about killed me once or twice.
Bad:
- Bike feels heavy. Buddies TE300 feels 80 pounds lighter. I got used to it and not is not really a pig but there is some bike there. The nice semi narrow layout of the bike makes it feel a little smaller but it is a girthy feeling bike.
- Stalling. Pretty easy to stall. It's new, hope that improves. EFI seems good, super snappy and runs perfect, but it is easy to stall in the tighter stuff making it a handful as you have to man the clutch all the time. A rekluse might be mandatory if you plan to use this beast in tighter stuff.
- Starting. Sometimes fires right up, some times not. It will always start fine but sometimes it takes several tries. We will see if that improves.
- Gearing. Tight MX trans. This is a big miss on this bike for me. Would have been way more versatile with a wide ratio trans.
- Tank / range. 2.2 gallons? really Honda? I need to double check but dont think this bike is good for more than 50 miles. I like to do 70 mile loops in the summer. Want 90 range.
- Seat. Real good looking useful for about 20 minutes then it tries to make hamburger out of your butt. Had to stand the last 60 miles. All my main bikes have Seat Concepts seats and I am spoiled. That said this one was painful for me.
What would you use it for?
Dez, sand, MX, anything open and faster. I ride mainly woods on a 250 2st. This bike would be horrible in the woods. WAY to much power, super abrupt power and heavy feeling combined with the stalling and iffy starting and this would add up to a workout IMHO.
What do I think overall?
At first I was not wild over it. Felt big and a handful. I've ridden my XR650R in this same area and thought it felt almost as good (gasp!). First issue was the stalling, OK higher revs when leaving a stop and negotiating rock gardens. Next the bike felt loose and all over the place. I did three click stiffer rebound on the shock and big difference. Went 2 clicks softer compression on the rear and again, improvement. Bike is starting to feel much better and I am starting to come to terms with it. Rear brake adjusted higher, levers moved into better positions, things starting to gell.
After 80 miles I was really stating to enjoy this machine. The motor is crazy strong and instantly responsive. It's pretty smooth and really likes to rev. The suspension is very good, the bike is surprisingly stable, the front end is super planted and carves in deep sand very nicely. I have never really been a fan of Honda handling but this one hits the mark for me. Front tire goes where you point it even in deep sand. Bike was a monster in the whoops and sandy stuff. The brakes are crazy strong. The bike sounds cool and is really good looking. The transmission is disappointing, would be so much better with a wide ratio and would work great with the motor. The seat sucks and the fuel range is not enough for me.
For a fast young XC dez racer this bike might be really good. I don't know for sure as I am not that guy but it sure seems to rip the sandy fast stuff and feels in its element. By the end of the day I was feeling pretty good on it, had turbo mode dialed up and was jumping and ripping it up. Fun stuff. A wide ratio trans would allow 1st to be much lower (less stall prone) and a way taller 5th with a nice spread would make the power more usable and the bike much faster.
For older woods riders like myself this would be a horrible bike. I'm going to ride it in the woods to prove it to myself but without a rekluse it is not going to be ideal by a long shot.
As a XC bike like it was designed for I think it might be a great platform. Motor, handling and suspension are right there and those are important things to get right. We all massage our bikes into what we need and as a XC bike this seems like it has all the right elements to be a weapon in the hands of the right pilot.
Kelly
thanks for the review
Kind of bummed on this review, have a CRF450r and love it, am in the market now for a bike, KTM EXC500 is about the only decent alternative, come on Honda......6 speed with some lights on this beast and give those Euro bikes some real competition.
Hi, how 450rx in low range? In woods, enduro)
I have 250R, there is not enough traction at the bottom (
Have you taken it on single track tight stuff yet ?
So how does it run for trail?
For tight trail I feel it would be kinda horrible. Crazy strong abrupt motor, heavy, stalls EZ, beast.
I posted my full ride report above...
What headlight is that?
Trail Tech 8" race light. Very cool light. www.trailtech.net/lighting/halogen/8in-race-light/1832-100-00