VOL. 54 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 10, 2017 P73
the carb so we could adjust the
fuel screw. The 450X is jetted
very lean in stock green sticker
configuration. Our fuel screw
modifications made it a closed-
course bike, but that's where we
used it, on the racecourse. The
carb changes boosted response
and got rid of the lean pop on
decel.
Inside the engine we replaced
the stock clutch basket for a
Rekluse basket, eliminating the
chatter we sometimes experi-
enced at lower RPMs with the
Rekluse Core EXP. This was a bit
of a pain in the butt because to
remove the stock clutch basket
requires removing the whole side
cover, it doesn't just come out
through the clutch cover. With the
Rekluse basket installed clutch
performance was even smoother
and the occasional low rpm chat-
ter was gone.
The biggest and most impor-
tant modification we made was
having 53Twelve revalve and
respring the suspension. They
have worked on Honda's (and
all other brands) for a
long time and know
what it takes to turn
the stock suspension
into gold. Racing the
bike at the 24-Hour
make us wish we had
done the suspension
work before the 10-
Hour. The reworked
suspension transformed the
450X into a bike that loved to
float over the roughest terrain,
yet still handle a bit of motocross
and high-speed terrain. The
suspension made it much more
fun to navigate the chopped up
Glen Helen course and allowed
our team riders to return each
lap smiling, rather than fearing
for their lives. Had we
only been given a few
modifications to choose
from, suspension work
would have been the
main choice.
Lack of adequate
planning and a small
budget meant we had
to get creative with our
Even with the
introduction of the
Honda CRF450RX,
Honda has wisely
chosen to keep
the CRF450X in
its lineup—they
are, indeed, two
very different
motorcycles (and
very good ones).
