2016 Honda CRF450X Project Bike: FEATURE

Adam Booth | July 27, 2016

When it comes to endurance racing, when just getting to the finish line is half the battle, there aren’t too many bikes you’d rather be on than Honda’s esteemed CRF450X.

As the world of dirt bikes turns high tech, there is still a place for simplicity that works. Not everyone desires fuel injection and ECU’s with endless mapping combinations. The Honda CRF450X has remained mostly unchanged since its inception in 2005.

Over the last 11 years the 450X has received an updated carburetor (2007) and a change to the triple clamp and fork lug offset in 2008. In 2008 it also started coming fitted with the HPSD (Honda Progressive Steering Damper). The heart of the 450X—the engine—has remained unchanged and still defines reliability while providing awesome power. It can be left in stock trim and works well as a single-track machine, or it can be massaged to shred the desert wide open. For trail riding, the stock suspension is decent and overall works well for average off-road terrain.

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Story and photos by Adam Booth

Finding a used 450X in decent shape for cheap isn’t hard, there have been a lot produced and often there is one for sale with very little time on it. The CRF450X isn’t light but dropping weight is easy by ditching the very heavy stock muffler and swapping out the stock battery for a lithium battery. Ta-da! Three pounds lighter.

The CRF450X is a proven off-road bike with an abundance of aftermarket choices to improve performance, so when it came time for us to build a bike for the JBC 10 Hour and 24 Hour endurance races at Glen Helen, we didn’t shy away from the 2016 CRF450X. Not at all. It is easy to make lighter and to improve power, and when it comes to the 450X, we weren’t at all concerned about reliability. The 450X is bulletproof.

Overall, for the 10 Hour, we were most concerned about just making the bike comfortable and easy to ride, and getting a good base for the upcoming granddaddy race, the 24 Hours of Glen Helen, after which we will have a follow up story on our project CRF450X.

2016 Honda CRF450X Project Bike — ***The Honda CRF450X is a sweetheart of a bike for long-distance races and for less-than-ideal riding conditions.***

Modifying Stock

To keep life simple and to make the bike throttle a little cleaner, we changed out the stock needle for a NCYS needle with the clip set in the third position. It is a CRF450R needle, so if you go to your local dealer, make sure they look in the right place. We also removed the upper airbox snorkel and cut an extra opening in the airbox door to improve airflow.

We then installed an FMF exhaust system, not only to improve breathing, thus power, but to also drop weight. The FMF pipe is substantially lighter than the stock exhaust. The 450X isn’t known for being a feather, so any weight loss is welcome.

With the temperature hovering above 100 degrees all day at the 10 Hour, the stock pilot jet and main jet worked okay, but for the 24 Hour race—which takes place in cooler October—we will be going a little richer on the main. Due to the smog equipment still on the bike for this race, we experienced a little bit of pop on decel, but nothing horrible. For the 24 Hour race, however, we will block off the emission equipment since it is now a closed-course race bike anyway (as soon as we modified the airbox), eliminating the decel pop.

A very cool (but not cheap) addition to our CRF450X was a Rekluse Core EXP auto clutch. Install only took about an hour and is a pretty easy process thanks to the provided detailed instructions. The Rekluse auto clutch is an awesome mod if you’re serious about racing and toying with the idea about forking over the $900 for one. It significantly reduces your workload during a long endurance race, and that is exactly what you want. Plus, you never have to worry about stalling the engine. There is a certain peace of mind that you have when you’ve got a Rekluse clutch installed in your bike. It’s worth every penny.

We took delivery of our bike just over a week before our 10 Hours of Glen Helen experience, so we had little time to think about the suspension and ended up leaving it alone. But we weren’t too worried; it’s pretty good right out of the box. The GP-like course was fairly fast with a mix of motocross, ridgelines and a little bit of rocky single-track. When riding at a casual speed, the suspension was bearable, but once the aggression picked up and the speeds increased, the limitations of the soft stock suspension were painfully apparent. It will get a full work-over before the 24 Hour race.

A quick way to help smooth out the ride and add comfort, though, is to install Flexx handlebars. It makes a big difference and really takes away the sharp hits, easing the force to the hands and wrists. Because the Honda CRF450X comes with 7/8” bars we used Pro Taper oversized handlebar mounts to hold the Fasst Company bars in place. The Pro Taper 1/3 waffle grips are some of our favorite, so installing a fancy-looking white pair was a must.

To keep the hands safer, a set of Cycra handguards went on smoothly. We also ran the Fasst Company Impact Moto Peg footpegs, which every rider felt cushioned the feel of the terrain a bit.

Our taller team members liked the added comfort from the Seat Concept Sport seat that we installed while the shorter riders (okay, me) choose to switch back to the stock seat when it was my time on the bike. Seat Concepts makes a short Sport seat and that will be on the bike for the 24-Hour race.

10 Hours Of Heated Fun

Smack dab in the middle of a Southern California crushing heat wave, the 10 Hours of Glen Helen couldn’t have been more brutal. Luckily, even under our short timeline we managed to prep the bike sufficiently and we never had a problem throughout the day. A quick adjustment to the sag (setting it to about 108mm) midmorning was the longest our 450X sat in the pits and not out on the racecourse. The only thing we did was add gas at an incredible rate of speed via the IMS quick dump system when switching riders.

Our team also made it the full 10 hours on one set of Dunlop MX3S tires. To help prevent flats we used heavy-duty Kenda tubes, which adds weight over stock tubes, but not having to change a flat is worth the increased weight.

Another bonus to riding a new Honda 450X was the support of Honda’s Jason Abbott, who kindly brought out the Honda press-support Sprinter and spare parts, just in case we needed anything. But we didn’t. As mentioned, the 450X is bulletproof.

Overall the Honda 450X worked well for our team of different-sized riders. The stock suspension was the biggest limiting factor in overall speed, but with comfort items like the Flexx bars and the Rekluse clutch installed, the 450X was very easy and fun to ride. By keeping the experience fun and keeping the bike out on the course moving the entire day we wrapped up the race ninth out of 45 teams. Our only changes for the upcoming 24 Hour will be suspension work and the addition of a quality light. Because off-road lighting has advanced a lot in the past five years, we will be able to power lights without any major modifications to the stator or wiring. We are also swapping out the battery for a light lithium-ion battery and refreshing the chain and sprockets.

If racing for 24 hours interests you, check out www.glenhelen.com and maybe we will see you in October. CN