Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

• White Brotnere/Moto-tvtsetet:/Maxxis Honda CRF450R British Supermoto specialist Phil Gee j u st m issed the i na u g ural AMA Red B u ll Supermoto main event at Laguna Seca. in July. riple hreat White Brothers builds a bike for all seasons Fo rme r A MA National Motoc ross Cham p ion Ga ry J o n es tries out th e d irt track configuration at Maely's Ranch• . .. / It as th e majority fav on. e among pn.vate er d irt t rackers contesting the AMA and Formula USA national d irt tr ack series as well as at bu rgeoni ng supermoto tracks all across the CO U\1try . Perhaps it shouldn' t have co me as m uch of a surprise that factory ri de r B en Bostro m ' d e li v er ed Ho n d a th e in aug ural Red Bull title in Las Vegas this November. As easy as cho osing the bik e was, selec ti ng a fi rm to han dl e th e various m ak eovers was eve n ·easier. We have wo rk ed w ith Wh ite Brother s on several project veh icles ove r the past several yea rs, and we 're happy to report th at all h ave been ve ry successfu l. Part of that succes s lies in the fact tha t White B rothe rs dis tri butes a lot of t ric k, name -b rand pa rts and ac c essories in addition to the Wh ite Broth ers brand that it develops and manu fac tures in-house. The WB c at alo gs are a verita ble one-stop sh op for any one interested in adding more perform a n c e t o j ust ab ou t any curre n t br and of dirtbi ke . Bey o nd th at , the White Broth ers guys are true enthusi asts wit h a love for ma k i n g g ood bikes bett er. Before we go any fu rth er, though , we would be remiss in not ackn ow le dging the coord ina tive ro le played early on in th is pr oj ect by Paul Bre nt. At th e tim e that we got under way, Br ent was handling distribution of th e Moto -Master line of sup ermot o brakes and co m po ne nts in th e USA, and as su ch he w as instrum ent al in ge tting the ball ro ll ing for us, Suffice it to say that the m otorcycle aftermark et is a highly fluid environment; during th e B y SCOTT ROUSSEAU P HOTOS B y B LAKE C O NNER very on ce in a while, we at Cy cle News are f or tunat e en ough t o bu il d a project bik e whose sp ecia lt y ex te n ds far b e y ond th e sum of its parts. This bik e i s one th o se. Co n ceived fr om th e get- go t o be a g o eve ry w he re, d o -ev er yth in g racer, it has g on e eve ry w here a nd d on e eve rything , and it ha s th e tech stick ers on th e fram e to pr ove it. With sig nifica nt w he el, br ak e and su sp ensi o n cha nges bu t w ith th e . sam e m in or m ot or m od s, thi s pa rticular m otor cycle c om peted in the in au gural Red Bull Supermot o Champion ship r o und at M azd a Race w a y a t La guna Sec a during Worl d Sup erbik e week en d. Con verted to flat track use, it w on a h eat at th e F ormul a USA Sk ip Van Leeuwe n Nationa l S ho rt Track du rin g th e K&N Filters Del Mar M ot o rc y cl e W ee k end. In i t s na t iv e motocross co nfiguration, it wa s used by a form er Nati on a l MX Champion to earn a class cham pionshi p at the Wh ite Brother s Vet World MX Ch am pi o n shi p s . If t h at' s not versatility , then we don 't k now what is. While a handful of bikes co uld have performed th e same tri ck , choosing our tripl e threat platform was n 't all that difficult. Sin ce it s int rod uc tion , Honda' s CRF450R has been th e king of our Open -cl ass thumper shootouts. . Possessing a copious amount of userfr iendly power , ra zor -sharp handling and a light, flickable chassis, the CRF has becom e a popular privateer MX weapon, It has also earned extra cred- E 8 D ECEMBER 10 . 2003 · C II C I e n e uv s co u r se of thi s pr oje ct , Br ent an d Mot o-Master parted company. If the re is a fortu na te ending fo r us, it is that Wh it e B r o t h e r s wa s sel e ct e d as Bren t's successor and as such is now th e U.S. d ist ributor for Mot o -M aster. FIRST THINGS FIRST From the outset we knew that if th ere was one thing tha t we wa nted to pr eserve with th e CRF , it was th e bike's buttery smooth power delivery , k eeping in m ind its multip urpose duty . It would ha ve bee n eas y to break op en t he m otor , ma yb e add a hi gh c o mp ressio n piston , bigger valves and a hotter cam , bu t one of the virtues of th e sto c k er is it s abil ity to hook up when tractio n is at a premium, making it a good choice for dirt track use . . Still , Gar y Jones at W h it e Brothers felt that we could get j ust a little bit of sna p w i t ho u t al tering t he o ver all pow er delivery by getting th e CRF to b reathe a l ittl e bett er . Th i s w a s ac c omplished wi th the add iti on of a Wh i te Br othe rs W B Carb on Pr o ex haust sys te m . Fir st developed for Tea m W h ite Bro th ers Ho nda ride r Pa u l Ca rpe nter fo r the ' 0 3 A M A Supe rc ross seas on, the op t i ma lly sha ped " low boy " un it inc lu des a tit anium head pi pe and m idpip e with c arbon fib er muffler , dressed wi th sharp l o o king billet a luminum e nd c a p s. Wh ite Br oth er s claims th at th e un it shave s o f f a co u ple o f p ound s of w e ig ht an d ad d s a bo ut fo ur horsepowe r throug hout th e ent ire powe rband . To add a m easure of protecti on to the pricey ex haust , Wh it e B roth ers ch ucked t he s tock Ho n da e ngi ne guards, re pla cing th em wi th it s ow n ca rbon fiber WB En gin e/P ip e Guards. Th e o n ly o ther e n gi ne c h a nge c am e in the fo rm of a replacem ent air filter. T he stock ite m was re p laced with a dual densit y foa m WB Powerfilter, which prot ect s th e eng ine fro m harmful contaminants wh ile increas ing airflow. La ter in its development cyc l e , the C RF wo uld a l so be nefi t fro m the dr ill in g of a few we ll -place d holes in the airbox cover. That covers it as far as the engine goes. No, really ... SUSPENSION S USPENSE We got aw ay light wit h the m ot or, at lea st inso far as th e am o unt of wo rk req u ired , but thin g s ar e littl e m ore comp lica te d wh en it c o me s to t he susp ens ion b e caus e, un lik e th e m ot o r, one size does not fit all. Ou r quest for the ultimate suspe nsio n was ai de d by the fact th at Honda genero u s l y dona ted us a second set of forks and ano th er shock to decrease the cha ngeover t ime. That way we

• Cover