Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128244
LEAVE THE GRI:rrn BEHI:rrn 500cc H on d a , whi c h has a l o t of m ot or, th is is t he best stock -framed Ho nda that I' ve ridden . Whe n we t ear t h a t bike down . I'm going t o have White Brothers do to that bike exa ctl y w hat t h e y d id t o thi s bike . I ha ve co mplete faith in what they 're doing with their suspen sion stuff." W hi te B rot hers ' own Gary J o n es finally g ot h is turn aboard the bik e af te r Del Mar. A fo rmer dirt-trac k an d spee dway r a c e r as w e ll , J o n es enjoyed a few pract ic e sessions out at Ke n Maely's ran ch before co nverting the bik e t o m ot o cross u s e . H e pr o m ptl y went o ut and won the 50+ Master s titl e at th e 19th ann ual Wh it e Broth er s W orld Vet Champi on ships MX ra ce at Gle n He l en Ra c e w a y . J ones ho lesh ot all his m otos , winning them by ove r 40 second s. Of co urs e, as th e head of R&D at White B rother s, you 'd ex pec t J ones to say ni c e th ing s ab out one of h is own proj ect bikes, so we turned on ce again to Dano Legere for an opinion of the bike in moto tr im , stealing him for a t e st day at Perris Ra c ew a y . Un fortun at ely , that day was cut short whe n th e CRF's cl utc h bask et sta rted to let go , but no t bef or e Legere was abl e t o offe r a few opi ni o ns on the bike's performanc e. "With th e sus pens ion , it was supe r st able ," Lege re said. " It tracked reall y w ell throu gh th e w hoops. Th e b ik e was set u p f o r Gary, but I lik e m y susp ens ion set up a littl e softe r an y w ay . It bot t omed out a couple ti mes on the big ju m ps, but we didn 't rea lly get th e cha nce t o mess with it befor e th e cl utch started to go. I notic ed that th e fo rks didn 't dive in the corn ers, th ough , whi ch I rea lly lik ed." In fact , we nev er h eard a ser io us comp la int from a ny test rider who ever swung a leg over this particular b ik e, pr o vin g tha t wh ile some of the m od s m ay be p ricey , t hey're als o wo rt hwhile. The beauty of th e Honda CRF 450R and the White Brothers cata log is that yo u c an take a re a ll y good bike and make it great j ust by foll owing som e o r al l of the recipes t h at we coo ke d up during th i s pa st summer. Th e parts we used tota l ove r $6000 , but t ha t 's still che a pe r than buying th ree bikes for all three sports. Ju st t ak e it o ne sport at a tim e. eN November 7-9, 2003 SA N FRANCISCO November 21-23, 2003 DALLAS December 5·7 , 2003 SEAn LE December 12-14, 2003 LONG BEACH December 19-21,2003 DENVER FIND YOUR NEW 2004 RIDE January 2·4, 2004 NEW YORK January 9-11, 2004 WASHINGTON D.C. January 16-18,2004 ATLANTA January 30-February 1, 2004 OHI O February 6-8, 2004 CHICAGO February 20-22, 2004 DETROIT March 2-6, 2004 DAYTONA March 26-28, 2004 MINNEAPOLIS SUbject to cha nge. -----------------------------------------------~~-~~ o o o N ame A d d ress Ci ty _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Sta te Phone o Z ip Order Da te o o o Send to: :l;Uj11a> Ll1ews), Inc. P.O. Box 5084, Costa Mesa, CA 92628-5084 Toll Free Subscription H otlin e (800) 831-2220 24- hou r FAX Order Li ne (714 ) 75 1-6685 · E-mail: Subscribe®cyclenews .com Signa ture MC /Vis a# Every week for tw o years (100 issues for $80.00) S ix mon ths secon d class (25 iss ues for $23.00) Thi s is a CJ New Su bscr iptio n CJ Renewa l ---- Pleas e bi ll me 1 pa y m e nt of $4 5.00 Bill 2 payments of $22.50 - Enclosed is m y check or muncy ord er VISA On e o Visa o C h arg e rny _ . . D Exp i ra tro n ate YES ! Start my subscription immed ia tely to Cycle News. 1 yea r / 50 issues for $45 .00. (can be bil led 2 monthly payments) Mastercard Vt',1r (50 i~lI'''S)' 2n d d ol > ! !>Ca n.uJ<1 o r M" )II.u:1> a nd .111nth.'r ton'i ~n countri. ... SQ2.lJO (US f'und_~) . lIit d.I"''' jmtl ,linn,lilrates avilililbl.' uronl't'\lu,~t. ~ - - - -------------- ----- ------------------- - ----C II C • e nevvs D EC EM BER 1 0 , 2003 11

