Honda CRF 450 X pics and tricks

[singletrackslayer]

picked up a "new" '05 CRF450X with less than 10 hours. Isn't she beutiful?



Not to be confused with my old X with over 40K miles. Still a great saw bike though.

[DirtyRooster]

I love my 450x. I'm trying to talk myself into my first true dual sport. I'm not in the pic. [IMG][/IMG]

[RyanR]

Here's my dual-sported CRF250X. I wish it had a wider ratio transmission or a 6th gear whenever I have to hit the highway for any length of time but otherwise I love it. I have racked up over 9,000 miles so far with nothing more than basic maintenance and lots of gas and tires.







I rode it on a 550 mile trip over Labor Day weekend with everything from 50 mile stretches of highway to rutted out single track at 12,000+ ft and I plan to put another 300+ miles on it this coming weekend. It's funny how I spend my weekdays sitting on these forums lusting over other bikes and wondering how mine could be better but when the weekend rolls around I couldn't care less, all that matters is that I am out riding.

[singletrackslayer]

I'll agree with you about the 6th gear thing. So what gearing do you run for dual sporting?

[Olderslowerguy]

I bought a set of CRF R triples to use with Ohlins forks to use on a different dual sport bike. Wanting to use the stock CRF R (2009) steering dampner, I see there is a different part # and price between the 2009 dampner and the new 2012 dampner. Can anyone tell me the difference between the two. Thanks!

[robl110]

I just picked up a 2005 CRF450X Monday night. Plan is to ride it up North on trails a handful of times a year. The rest of the time it will be used for short trips around town and the country dirt/gravel roads. I have the Baja Designs dual sport light kit on order. What would you guys recommend for a decent DOT tire? Would like to stick with something that does well in the dirt but not sure how well it would perform on road. Rob

[RyanR]

Originally Posted by singletrackslayer

I'll agree with you about the 6th gear thing. So what gearing do you run for dual sporting?

I'm running 14/42 currently, that puts me at a 3.000 final drive ratio. Honestly I can only do about 55MPH comfortably even with it geared this tall. I have done 65MPH for well over an hour multiple times but it's not very enjoyable and my fingers tingle afterwards. 75MPH I will only do for very short stints, it is miserable.

I would love to ride a dual sported 450x to compare.

[RyanR]

Originally Posted by robl110

I just picked up a 2005 CRF450X Monday night. Plan is to ride it up North on trails a handful of times a year. The rest of the time it will be used for short trips around town and the country dirt/gravel roads. I have the Baja Designs dual sport light kit on order. What would you guys recommend for a decent DOT tire? Would like to stick with something that does well in the dirt but not sure how well it would perform on road. Rob

Dunlop D606 - Good dirt oriented all-rounder. It's knobby but it sticks very well on the pavement, I've done several hundred miles in a day on the pavement on this tire and didn't want to kill myself, so that's something. Like every other knobby I have used it will howl like crazy on the super slab once you get below 50% tread depth.

Kenda Trakmaster II - Even more dirt oriented than the D606 but does just fine on the pavement. It's not as sticky as the D606 and the smaller knobs squirm around a bit more.

Pirella MT21 - I think this tire is very similar to the Kenda Trakmaster II but a little bit more expensive and a little bit better all around.

Kenda K270 - I think these are a great 50/50 tire. Super smooth and quiet on the street and it will get you around surprisingly well on the trails. If you plan to put on a lot of pavement miles these aren't a bad choice.

My next rear tire is going to be a Pirelli MT43 trials tire. I haven't used one yet so I can't give an opinion but I hear great things and I am curious.

[RyanR]

I recently installed the Nomadic Racks tail rack on my bike. I ordered it through SeatConcepts but it came branded as Nomadic Racks, looks like pricing is the same between both vendors. Installation is fairly straight forward, you have to trim the left side number plate plastic a little (on the back side, nothing visible) but it is otherwise a straight bolt on. It is a bit of a pain in the ass to get the seat back on now as the rack pinches the plastics inward so it is hard to work the tabs for the seat pan under the plastics and then get them to the outside edge of the tabs on the bike. I may end up cutting some notches in my plastic so the tabs from the seat can drop straight down instead of trying to work them underneath.

My plan is to mount a small Pelican case (Probably a 1400) to the rack so I have some protected/locking storage for my camera, tablet and other valuable/fragile items. I was also able to ditch the Tension-O-Matic for my wolfman saddle bags and strap them directly to the rack. This is a big plus imo as I want not overly fond of the ol Tension-O-Matic.

[singletrackslayer]

Originally Posted by robl110

I just picked up a 2005 CRF450X Monday night. Plan is to ride it up North on trails a handful of times a year. The rest of the time it will be used for short trips around town and the country dirt/gravel roads. I have the Baja Designs dual sport light kit on order. What would you guys recommend for a decent DOT tire? Would like to stick with something that does well in the dirt but not sure how well it would perform on road. Rob

'05! good choice!(i have an 05, but they're all good)

looking at the kenda k270(?) rear myself. dunlop D606, as off-road as you can get, have always worked well in the past. it depends on where you live and then where "up north" is.

Originally Posted by RyanR

I'm running 14/42 currently, that puts me at a 3.000 final drive ratio. Honestly I can only do about 55MPH comfortably even with it geared this tall. I have done 65MPH for well over an hour multiple times but it's not very enjoyable and my fingers tingle afterwards. 75MPH I will only do for very short stints, it is miserable.

I would love to ride a dual sported 450x to compare.

not DS's totally, more of an all-round dirt mover. but with 14/51 gearing, can do 55-60 reasonably comfortable with my 450X. I get the tingling too after more than that. Have been pondering about carrying a 15T front to be able to "semi-easily" swap for higher gearing. like when my friends show up with their 650 KLX's.

[singletrackslayer]

If you have any subframe issues with that rack, I can help with that. I use a Promoto Billet rack on my old saw bike and have figured out how to mod the subframe to hold up. ill look for the pics.

Ryan, what kinda tank is that?

[RyanR]

Originally Posted by singletrackslayer

If you have any subframe issues with that rack, I can help with that. I use a Promoto Billet rack on my old saw bike and have figured out how to mod the subframe to hold up. ill look for the pics.

Ryan, what kinda tank is that?

I would be very interested in seeing what subframe mods you have done. After checking out the rear subframe more closely I am a tad worried about the weight of a pelican case on that rack. It won't be carrying much weight but it doesn't take a lot with a level that long when you're bouncing down the trail at a good clip.

The tank is the IMS 4.0 gallon tank.

[singletrackslayer]

Took a few years to get it right. this is the 3rd attempt. i kept making it bigger and burlier til its finally held up to my abuse of raging with a chainsaw on board. im talkin 8000+ miles of gnar. ive broken this subframe in almost every way. if you look close in the 1st pic, you can see where the whole back piece broke off and was put back on. i even took it around the track with the saw still on before.






all material added was 6061T6 aluminum. plastics had to be modified slightly.

here are some that i modified for some friends with WR450F's(1st attempt, basicly same as the above 3rd attempt but streamlined). i did these when the bikes had less than 100 miles and now they're over 8000 miles with no frame problems.

[DAAANG]

Very happy to see this thread up. We need to keep this baby alive.

Heres my '05 450x. Absolutely love this bike:
Virginia plated
Acerbis tank
Seat Concepts
Tusk wide pegs
Skid plate
FMF exhaust
MSR bars/bark busters
Trailtech with custom dash
GPR V4 steering stabilizer
Pro wheels

Luggage:
Giant Loop mojave
Giant Loop tank bag
Moose fender bag







We did an awesome camping trip on the bikes back in June. I kept my eye on the oil and went thru 8oz in 400 miles with an average speed of 35MPH.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZoqY...7&feature=plcp

[RyanR]

Originally Posted by singletrackslayer

Took a few years to get it right. this is the 3rd attempt. i kept making it bigger and burlier til its finally held up to my abuse of raging with a chainsaw on board. im talkin 8000+ miles of gnar. ive broken this subframe in almost every way. if you look close in the 1st pic, you can see where the whole back piece broke off and was put back on. i even took it around the track with the saw still on before.

all material added was 6061T6 aluminum. plastics had to be modified slightly.

here are some that i modified for some friends with WR450F's(1st attempt, basicly same as the above 3rd attempt but streamlined). i did these when the bikes had less than 100 miles and now they're over 8000 miles with no frame problems.

Thanks for the reply and the photos! I only have a MIG welder and no spool gun so I'm not setup to weld aluminum but I can start fabbing up the braces in the mean time. I don't intend to carry anywhere near the weight of even a small chain saw on the rack but knowing that I could after reinforcing is very reassuring.