The dual-sport Honda CRF450RL off-road machine is, in one word, capable. Loved by many for its smooth and powerful engine character inside a stable chassis, the 450RL is what a lot of dual-sporters look for in a do-it-all dirt bike.
Photos by Jesse Ziegler
We’ve dropped significant miles on this bike since its introduction in 2019 as the CRF450L. We’ve tested it solo; we’ve put it head-to-head against Europe’s highest-performing dirt bikes with blinkers; we’ve even modified it to be what we feel it should be—a “lightweight” adventure machine capable of small trails and technical duty, but really at home on more open tracks and dirt roads.
In our time together, we’ve harped about a few 450L things that irk us. Mainly, our complaints go like so: it’s relatively heavy, has zero hand protection, has limited fuel range, and exhibits a consistent fueling hiccup on the bottom end. That’s just the way it’s been with this bike.
Honestly, the Honda 450L’s scale-tipping at 290-plus pounds doesn’t deal-breaker-bother us until we ride it back-to-back with lighter machines in ultra-soft sand or tight, steep, rocky technical trails. And we sort of like having a bike with some mass when we’re crunching chunky miles, but our hands hated the beatings, and the random pop-stalls made us trail angry too often. Plus, we’re talking under 100-mile range on a stock two-gallon tank here. That’s just under our safe trail party threshold.
For 2021 (and 2022), Honda has equipped its 450 dual-sport with fantastic and simple hand guards, optimized the ECU settings to improve the low-end power delivery, and given it an R in its name. Also, they’ve lowered the price!? What? Yes. It’s now $400 less than a 2019 CRF450L at $9999. (Honda has since announced the 2022 CRF450RL, and it is identical to the ’21 model, including the $9999 MSRP.)
On-paper, this is a winning update that should elevate the Honda in our books. We’re only missing a significant weight loss and more fuel. This should solidify this Honda’s place as a premium dual-sport offering slanted to the higher-speed, higher-mileage riding adventures. Plus, with the price drop, you can use some of that saved dough to add a much-needed gallon of fuel—it’s worth it.
To give it a proper flogging, we took the new 450RL to a Johnny Campbell, Nevada two-day tour held in conjunction with Jimmy Lewis Off-Road Riding Schools out of Pahrump, Nevada. (We’ll have a feature on the tour, with dates you can book for the winter riding season in a future issue.)
The terrain in Nevada is healthy dual-sport country; massive valleys of sand, rock and mean shrubbery with serious elevation gains and drops between busted and not-quite-busted mining towns. It can get technical in a hurry, or it can be wide-open for miles—your choice.
Johnny Campbell and Jimmy Lewis have ridden all of it, a lot, often at speed during desert races, so I picked the right crew to follow around, that’s for sure.
Having a bike like the CRF450RL is great here. The bike’s mass isn’t a performance deduction most of the time and is a bonus when moving rocks out of your way at speed. And you’ll be going fast often in Nevada. Plus, the 450RL is super comfortable with nearly zero engine, or drivetrain vibration, or noise thanks to massive insulation buttering out the buzz.
To fine-tune the new bike, we ditched the stock mirrors like respectable dual-sport riders and slapped on a Double Take Adventure mirror. Then, we stole some Kenda Parker DTs from Jimmy Lewis or Johnny Campbell’s truck (we’re not telling which), and added a three-gallon IMS fuel tank because, well, it’s important to have a lot of fuel in Nevada.
As predicted, the updates are great. I mean, my hands aren’t bleeding after smacking a lot of trail brush, and I didn’t stall it much, and I still love how quiet, controlled, and stable the bike is always.
We’ve proven again and again that this bike can span a big gap on the more open-terrain spectrum of dual-sport riding. It is a great short-tripper for fun dirt-road rips, or it can handle luggage and big route days across big states just fine.
And as the Johnny Campbell Tour showed, If you’re going to be doing big miles on multiple days, you will really love this Honda. CN
Click here to read the 2021 Honda CRF450RL Review in the Cycle News Digital Edition Magazine.
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