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/385219
2015 HONDA CRF450R FIRST RIDE P40 ly 240mm) offers more braking power than before, yet still offers a linear and controllable feel. Pretty much everything else about the CRF450R feels the same. It still has that confidence inspiring "Honda" feel between your legs and in your hands, and it is just plain easy to ride for a high-performance 450cc moto- cross bike. It still feels light and agile both on the ground and in the air, and it rails the turns with the best of them. And, since it's a Honda, you know that it's built well. Our first ride on the 2015 Hon- da CRF450R had us leaving the track quite impressed and for a number of reasons. While it's not radically different than before, what changes Honda did make to the bike did make a noticeable difference and all for the better. It has a livelier and stronger motor, more suspension adjustability (that is easier to adjust, too), im- proved braking, and we love the new ECM. As we said, Honda didn't make a ton of changes to the 2015 Honda CRF450R, but the changes they did make were definitely for the better, which seems to be a trend these days for many of the manufacturers.CN SPECIFICATIONS 2015 HONDA CRF450R MSRP: ............................................. $8699 ENGINE TYPE: .........449cc liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, single BORE & STROKE: ......96.0mm x 62.1mm COMPRESSION RATIO: .................... 12.5:1 VALVE TRAIN: ................ Unicam, 4-valve; 36.0mm intake, titanium; 31.0mm exhaust, steel INDUCTION: ........ PGM-FI, 46mm throttle body IGNITION: .... Full transistor w/electronic advance TRANSMISSION: ...Close-ratio five-speed FINAL DRIVE: .........#520 chain; 13T/49T FRONT SUSPENSION: .....................48mm inverted KYB PSF (Pneumatic Spring Fork)Showa SFF-Air fork with air-ad- justable spring rate and rebound- and compression-damping adjustability REAR SUSPENSION: ....................Pro-Link KYB single shock w/adjustable spring preload, rebound-damping adjustability, and compression-damping adjustment separated into low-speed (13 positions) and high-speed (3.5 turns) FRONT WHEEL TRAVEL: .................12.2 in. REAR WHEEL TRAVEL: ....................12.4 in FRONT BRAKE: ......... 260mm wave-style disc w/twin-piston caliper REAR BRAKE: ............240mm wave-style disc w/single-piston caliper FRONT TIRE: ... Dunlop MX52 80/100-21 REAR TIRE: ...... Dunlop MX52 120/80-19 WHEELBASE: ................................. 58.7 in. RAKE (CASTER ANGLE): .................. 27° 04' TRAIL: .............................................. 4.6 in. SEAT HEIGHT: ............................... 37.5 in. GROUND CLEARANCE: ...................13.0 in. FUEL CAPACITY: ............................ 1.7 gal. CLAIMED WET WEIGHT: .............243.0 lb. (Left) The Honda's mapping can be altered basically on the track via this button. (Right) A new cylinder head with a right-side exhaust port means the headerpipe no longer wraps around the outside of the frame's front downtube. landings aren't as scary as they are with some other forks. We made some minor chang- es to the rear shock, mainly just to keep up with the changes we made to the fork, and with the shock set at the factory recom- mended 105mm of sag, the Hon- da felt very stable. Overall, the Honda's suspen- sion works well right out of the crate (especially after some per- sonal fine tuning) and the new fork is an improvement over the former fork but is still a somewhat complicated piece of machinery that requires some knowhow to operate (adjust) and constant monitoring, which is something we're getting more and more used to these days with the re- cent influx of air forks. Air forks are definitely trick but can be at first a little scary to work with. Another noticeable difference between the 2014 CRF450R and the 2015 is the front brake. The larger 260mm front disc (former-