Trent’s bike. Built from a 2013 Honda CRF450X.
My friend Robert showed me this ad during the winter. It was a sweet bike that the seller had built for Baja racing and had less than 100km on it. And at a price that was hard to resist.
Well, I resisted for a while but eventually couldn’t take it any more. I cursed Robert for showing me that ad in the first place and then headed out to buy the thing.
Reasons for me to go for this bike:
- Proven platform. Repeated Baja wins attest to its reliability.
- I just like Hondas. (no logic there)
- A bunch of aftermarket parts that were essentially thrown in at no additional cost.
- Already plated and street legal with a dual sport kit.
- I was ready for something with more power than my Honda XR25oR.
- Relatively low cost of parts.
- Good components, suspension, brakes etc.
- It is super fun to ride with tons of power whenever needed. Not necessarily as smooth as equivalent KTMs I’ve ridden, so you really need to pay attention so you don’t launch yourself over a cliff! (edit: This has since been fixed by a fuel screw adjustment!)
Downsides
- Fairly aggressive maintenance schedule. In competition use, after every 16 hours you need to change the engine oil, transmission oil and…. wait for it…. the piston and rings! Yikes! Thankfully, the maintenance schedule for general use is nowhere near that bad. In fact, it doesn’t even mention changing the piston. The solution for this is to replace the stock piston with a Honda TRX450 Quad piston. Has an extra ring and a slightly wider skirt.
- Stock titanium valves have been known to wear quickly, although many people do not have this problem. Aftermarket stainless steel valves with stronger valve springs solve this problem.
- Fuel consumption is pretty high compared to the XR250R I was riding before, which means that for long days or overnights in the wilderness, you need to carry more fuel.
- Aftermarket racing exhaust is loud.
Modifications and Extras
We’ve also created a page with links to where you can buy all these things.
- Air box cut-outs to provide greater airflow.
- Twin Air powerflow air filter sealing ring with screw and spacer. link
- 5 extra Twin Air filters. link
- Ricky Stator 110 watt stator. link
- Sicass Racing dual sport kit. link
- Moose extra wide footpegs. link
- JD Jetting carb jetting kit. link
- Motion Pro front fork valves. link
- Scott steering stabilizer with sub mount. link
- Acerbis bark busters. link
- Flatland Racing skid plate. link
- Clutch case guard. link
- MRD Racing exhaust. link
- Flatland Racing odometer spacer. link
- Billet perch-mount start/kill switch.
- 3.2 Gallon IMS tank. link
- 4.1 Gallon Acerbis tank. link
- 6.6 Gallon Acerbis tank. link
- Moose radiator guards. link
- 12V power point for GPS etc.
- Flexjet fuel screw. link
- Iron Man 15 tooth front and 47 tooth rear sprockets for desert racing.
- Chain case guard to fit over 15 tooth front sprocket. link
- Full replacement black plastics to save stock plastics and change the look. link
- Black seat cover.
- Giant Loop Coyote soft luggage.
- Radiator cooling fan. link
- Trailtech Endurance computer. link
- Various RAM mounts for mounting GPS, rear view mirror, etc.
- Customized DIY license plate holder and tail-light arrangement that won’t break in a fall.
- Emissions block-off kit. link
- Cheap Chinese LED tail light to replace one that I broke in a fall. link
- DIY map pocket behind headlight cowl.
- Trickle charge lead into battery.
- A bunch of stickers.
Here’s a page with purchase links for the above accessories.
Still to do:
- Rekluse clutch. (maybe). (edit: decided not to go for the Rekluse. Tried one on a KTM450EXC and didn’t like it)
- Build an insert for the muffler to dampen the noise a bit.