Its a tough job breaking in the 2009 Honda CRF450X but some one has to do it.
So I have been hard at work getting the Honda CRF450X prepped for the Six Days. Anyone who knows me knows that I am historically a euro bike guy, so I am already having to respond to lots of questions about why I am riding a
Honda dirt bike.
The first reason really has to do with personal preference, not so much as to what brand to ride but in having a bike really prepared just the way I want it for the ISDE. In the past I have always ridden rental bikes. They have always worked flawlessly, but you basically are stuck with what they give you.
The second reason is really just my desire to do something different. While I don’t have much experience racing Hondas, I have put well over 20,000 miles on various red bikes while guiding tours in Baja. They are certainly durable bikes; one of the 450s I was riding recently has over 600 hours on it.
I’ve started getting the bike prepped and I have to say, the “to do” list is getting pretty long. I have to classify this bike as having lots of potential, but like the other Japanese enduro offerings, it can’t really be called “race ready” right out of the box. In fact straight out of the box it is disappointing due to the myriad of features designed to help it meet emissions standards. Thanks to a set of convoluted California rules, the larger manufactures have to meet stricter standards than the smaller ones, so no fault to Honda here.
With JCR on board to help prep the CRF450X, this bike is looking to be at the top of its class.
I do have benefit of the vast experience of Johnny Campbell (
JCR Honda Racing) and Tim Morton (
Baja Bound) to help me get the bike ready. I am also very fortunate to have a tremendous amount of support from many people, including American
Honda, in helping me put this project together. I’ll be able to give more specific credit to those people as we bring you the details of the bike build.
I have been out riding a couple of times and the bike is starting to break in and feel pretty good. I am particularly stoked about the
Trail Tricks suspension. So things are off to a good start. We are going to go up and visit the JCR race shop this week to pick up some parts and look at Timmy Weigands’ factory bike. I shoulod have some pictures and details of Timmy’s ISDE bike by the end of the week.
