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/128372
control in supertight sections. Throttle response? Spot on. The X might be a little sensitive to weather conditions and elevation, but 1-5/8 turns out on the airscrew seems to be the sweet spot for most occasions. We have yet to feel the need to make any major jetting changes. Honda seemed to find the ultimate combinations with the gear ratios. The X always seemed to have the right gear for every situation' and like the motocrosser, the X shifts effortiessly and clutch pull is one-finger light. The X handles well. It is very stable at speed and quite nimble for a 259-pound bike, as the X carries its weight quite well. Rather than fit the X with lighter but expensive and exotic metals, Honda instead concentrated on positioning the poundage on the motorcycle to where it would cause the least amount of damage, and it seemed to work. The X feels remarkably nimble on the trail for a big four-stroke and does a nice job maintaining forward momentum when plowing through rock city. Suspension is outstanding. The fork and shock provide an overall supple ride while doing a good job resisting bottoming. The Honda isn't what we would call super flickable, but it does steer well and carves its way through the switchbacks without requiring a ton of input from the rider. The X is still relatively slim despite getting a larger tank and a wider seat. KEY TIME I really came to appreciate the X's torquey motor and solid chassis recently while trying to zero checks at the Prospectors Enduro, a notoriously tough three-loop AMND-37 enduro held in the high desert of Southern California. The enduro is famous around here for its single-track, rocks, whoops, sand, rocks, technical sections, wide-open sections, rocks, and for having some of the biggest downhills that I've ever been ribboned down. (Did I mention rocks?) The first two loops had a lot of emphasis on single-track twisties and some wideopen fast sections, where the Honda felt right at home. (The rocks would come later.) The bike steered well from corner to comer, hooked up nicely in the loose terrain, and soaked up the many G-outs and monster sand whoops without bottoming or swapping - very stable. After completing the first two loops, the X's power had impressed me the most. While it does not quite snap or hit as hard as the moto 450, it does respond with a controllable rush of power whenever you crack the throttle and is gentle on your arms. You certainly have to hold on tight in the upper rev range, though, where the X is still quite powerful, but in the tight stuff, the X is surprisingly controllable and forgiving. The X (and I for that matter) was seriously tested in the third loop, a I O-mile section of semi-tight, hilly and rocky trails just plain nasty stuff. Believe me, the desert is not just flat and all sand and whoops. Trials Champion Geoff Aaron would've loved it. It was here where I started noticing the X's weight. The already big-ish-feeling machine suddenly felt a little bigger as I began leg-paddling through the rocks while trying to maintain the 30 mph speed average (ha!). But I had to hand it to the X: It got me to the finish in decent shape, though I dropped more points than I'm willing to admit. No fault of the bike's, though. Instead, I give much credit for my hard- earned finishers pin to the X's torquey and user-friendly motor, which just kept plugging away no matter how hard I was struggling (and cursing) over the rocks. And the Honda stalled on me just twice all day. No big deal when it did, though, I just hit the button and kept right on cursing. Thankfully, the X has a light clutch pull, and the clutch itself did not show any signs of fading despite the tons of abuse it received. The Honda's chassis did its part, too. The bike didn't deflect over the rocks nearly as much as I thought it would for a full-size thumper, so I could look ahead, choose a line, and not worry about hitting an invisible rock and having it ricochet me off the trail and down the side of a hill. Fuel consumption was not an issue. Honda claims the X will make SO miles on a tank of gas, which seems about right. After each 40plus-mile loop, I had yet to switch to reserve. POSTRACE SHOW The X emerged from the three loops pretty much unscathed. A close scan of the frame and engine cases revealed almost no evidence that the X had just finished a Prospectors enduro, rocks and all. Evidently, all of the engine and frame guards did their thing, and having 13.7 inches of ground clearance certainly helped. We also checked oil consumption. After 90-plus miles, the dipstick still read full, so it appears that Honda indeed fixed the high-oil-usage headache. (By the way, to properly and accurately check the oil level, the motor must first run for at least three minutes and then be allowed to sit with the engine off for another three minutes. Honda says you can go about 15 hours between oil changes.) The air filter looked as good as new, too, but to be honest, dust was not a factor in this one. But since the filter is so easy to get at (via a toolless side-door entry), we had no excuses not to check anyway. AND,..? The all-new CRF450X is, as we expected, very impressive. After all, it is based on SPECIFICATIONS 2005 HONDA CRF450X $6999 Liquid-cooled, single-cylinder, four-stroke BORE & STROKE: 96mm x 62mm COMPRESSION RATIO: 12.0:1 VALVE TRAIN: Unicam, 4-valve CARBURETION: Keihin 40mm flat-slide w/throttle-position sensor LUBRICATION: Twin-sump IGNITION: CD w/eleclronic advance and lighting coil STARTING: Electric and kick TRANSMISSION: Wide-ratio fIVe-Speed FINAL DRIVE: .... #520 T-ring-seaJed chain; 13T/51T FRAME: Fourth-generation twin-spar aluminum, semidouble-cradle FRONT SUSPENSION: ... .47mm inverted 5howa cartridge fork w/16-position LIST PRICE: ENGINE TYPE: rebound and 16-position compression damping adjustability Pro-Link Showa single-shock w/adjustable spring preload, 17-position rebound damping adjustability, and compression damping adjustment separated into low-speed (13 positions) and high-speed (3.S turns) FRONT-WHEEL TRAVEL: 12.4 in. REAR-WHEEL TRAVEL: 12.4 in. FRONT BRAKE: Single 240mm disc w/twin-pislon caliper REAR BRAKE: Single 240mm disc FRONT TIRE: 80/100-21 Dunlop REAR TIRE: I20/loo-IS Dunlop WHEELBASE: 58.2 in. RAKE/TRAIL: 27.2S·/4.4 in. SEAT HEIGHT: 37.9 in. GROUND CLEARANCE: 13.7 in. CLAIMED DRY WEIGHT: 255 Ibs. (actual, 259 Ibs.) FUEL CAPACITY: 2.27 gal. REAR SUSPENSION: the best Open-class four-stroke motocrosser on the planet. But when you perform so many changes like Honda did to make the 450 off-road worthy, a lot could've been lost in the translation. Luckily, Honda has good interpreters. eN