Fuel injected crf450r. Which is the best and why?

CRF450:
09/10: stay away. no matter what the cost DO.NOT. BUY.
11/12: better but I would pass
13-16 retty Decent. Many people don't mind the air forks. Are you A class? If not Air would most likely be fine.

I have a 14 CRF250 with springs and love it. Came off an 09 CRF450 before that...hated it.

I would say that the 2012 is a better bike than the 2013-2014. Actually the 2012 was a really good bike and got all the prior problems sorted out.

One thing that many complained about during that generation was the clutch. But that depends of how much you abuse the clutch. Also, it's a bit low on power. A remap and a pipe will bring it to life.

My buddy has an 11 or 12, I forget exactly which, it's my favorite 450 I've ever ridden.

I heard the only problem with the '09 was the triple clamps. Change the offset, and your good!

I absolutely loved my '10 with a lowering link and stiffer fork springs. The '12 is basically the refined version of it.

The linkage was an issue too. And flame out.

Love my 10. FC sprung/valved. Torqey easy to ride. Dead reliable.

Honda has issues with their injector dumping fuel into the motor once it's been shut off. The only fix I found (replaced the injector and still did it) was to change the engine oil after every ride.

I couldn't agree more. The 2012 is the best 450 I have ever ridden, and not just because I own one, because I have ridden every model since and would have bought a newer one if I thought it was better. The spring forks and handling on the 2012 is excellent; I believe this year has a different linkeage ratio to the 09-11, which improved the turning.

A remap and pipe turns it into a monster like you say. The clutch is also very poor, but again, easily solved - I have a magura hydraulic lever set-up paired with a rekluse. Honda sold so many of these bikes that all the parts are out there for pretty modest sums.

I have an 09 and love that bike, but I am also not an A rider. The clutch problem can be remedied with the 6 spring kit from Hinson or the Framebreaker one on ebay. And i don't have any flameout issues unless I am beyond tired and getting lazy with my riding. Bike runs great, fuel injection is mint, and I am more comfortable on that than my 250sx. I bought it used a few years back and just refreshed the topend, everything was near mint with nearly 80+ hours on the bike.

09-10 was a lot of little things, all of which people worked out how to resolve.

- Poor fuelling. Flame-out where the bike would pop and splutter under deceleration. Also mild bog off idle. Solved with a remap.

- Bad fuel filter design. Honda replaced the filter inside the tank in I think 2011 or 2012. The old design was prone to clogging, but if you run one of those in tank net things, it solves this anyways

- Weak clutch. 4 spring design introduced in 2009 is not very durable and easy to fry. You also had a very on or off feel. Most people swap out for a Hinson inner bub and pressure plate with a 6 spring design. I will have one for sale soon as I put a full Rekluse exp in mine so no longer need the Hinson set-up.

- Fork offset. I bought 22mm offset clamps from BRP which puts the offset back to what Honda had in 2008. Made the bike more stable and less twitch in tight corners.

- Linkeage ratio. Pro Circuit had a link which improved the handling, and in 2012 Honda basically copied it.

Most of the above was figured out by 2012, but in 2009-2010 people just thought the bike was a pig. Once these little things are fixed, I promise you these are excellent bikes.

For me it was flame out, clutch, and an overall confused chassis.

Don't get me wrong it never left me stranded on a trail and I finished every time on the track but if you have xxxx money to spend you can do better than the 09 and 10.

There are ways to fix everything on the bike however its much easier to just get a bike that isn't stink bug from the very beginning. I never felt the bike was underpowered like you read in the magazines but everything else they said about the bike is true.

Just get an 05 to 08 that's been babied. I see nice ones for 2500 alot lately. Excellent bikes

09 with 22mm offset clamps and a linkage swap, proper mapping and a pipe/cam and you have one badass machine.

09 Had the biggest throttle body so if you can take advantage of that extra air, youll be good.


or buy a 12, get an 09 TB and have it mapped.

or buy an R&D genius TB for any of them(if you have the money) and have it mapped


theyre all slow compared to the previous generation 02-08 CRF450's.


whichever year you choose itll need a pipe/cam/mapping to be competitive as far as HP goes.

If you have to ask, then none of them are right for you. Get an EFI 250F. You will like it.

Well don't listen to me because according to vital I'm wrong, but I love my '09. Had one. Loved it. Had too many hours. Sold it and got a '12 Kawi. Had it less than 3 months. Hated it. Sold it and bought a very low hour '09 and threw some bills at it to make it look pretty. I do agree, the clutch basket wears easy and will cause problems. I upgraded to the aluminum Barnett with the steel sleeves over the cogs and have had zero issues. I'm 6' and range between 188lb-205lb (depending on if it's bulking season or not bruh) lol. I use to be a decent rider and now I just cruise and have fun. I enjoy the power as it's mellow enough to keep from wearing me out but strong enough to where I can still hit everything without trouble. normal
Maintenance. No troubles.

If having the lightest crf 450 ever, as well as the best looking imo( stock anyways) then the 11 or 12 is where it's at. Seemed to me the only bike Chad Reed ever truly raved about...

I like to pretend my 08 is fuel injected when I ride it. Works pretty good for me.

Lol. I like my injected 450s, but a buddies 05 crf is one of the best stock bikes I ever touched. Meaty with a side of overrev. I'd say my 2017 matches it in outright power, but is more tractable or kind of mellow in a way. It doesn't want to just wheelie over always. That 05 sure did though hehe.

Depends what type of riding you do. For stadium type tracks......the 2009-2012 was great. Obviously go with the newest bike you can afford because they made little approvements along the way. I had a 2012 and it was a quick, nimble bike. On tracks with long, high speed sections it was a little busy up front. Factory connection sets these up really well. The sag and fork tube height are important to get set up perfectly. The clutch was kind of blah but only if you are an abuser. I would get a six spring Hinson (lots available used) or, unfortunately, add stiffer clutch springs.

The 2013-2016 was a good bike if you swap the forks off of a 2013 CRF250R or equivalent. Send them away and you will be happy. The dual pipes a really choked down so an aftermarket exhaust helps a bunch with the lack of power. Btw....the lack of power is not really an issue. Here's way more usable power on these than you will need. It will be easy to ride and won't tire you out as much as a full power beast. Trust me....the power is fine.

A lot of myths on the 09-12 CRF450r's & some are warranted in stock oem trim.

Owned 05,06,08,09,10 models & have ridden the 11-12's. The 09-12's feel similiar after mods.
In my experience once set up the 09-12 is a better bike than the 05-08 carbed models as they feel light & nimble in comparison with much better turning. The power is actually more than the carbed bikes as they put out about 54-55 hp with a remap & uncorked aftermarket exhaust. It's smoother so it's a bit deceiving power.

Bought a used 09 in 11 to try an efi model out since I had heard different feed back from local riders vs. what the mx mags were saying & glad I did. Once the suspension is sorted out with a remap I felt it was a better bike then the previous 05-08's owned. I actually went to the dealer to buy a new 12 in the spring of that yr. & ended up buying a left over 10. I saved $2K in the process & have owned the 10 since. I haven't felt the need to upgrade till now that the 17 models came out.

Here's a list of what makes these 09-12 bikes much better.
1. Current 10 has FC revalve / respring. This alone makes the handling of the bike night & day better from oem specs. FC has very good valving specs for the forks & modify the rear shock internally.
2. Remap / Exhaust. It broadens the power & makes it more usable. More then enough power with a nice smooth pull all the way to the top. I'm running an RS-4 system with a remap for the exhaust.
3. Clutch as mentioned. The 4 spring unit is weak for a racer or clutch abuser. I have the Hinson 6 spring unit that has been bullet proof.

Here is some info below on the 09-12's that might help you with making a decision.

09-10 had the 50mm TB. They went to a 46mm in 11-12.
In 10 they changed to a new fuel filter design for less clogging.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja…

From MXA mag - The 2012 CRF450 shock is unchanged from 2011, but it works differently because it is attached to a totally new rising-rate linkage. The new rising rate, achieved by a reconfigured bell crank and pull rods, is softer across the board than last year’s all-new bell crank and pull rods, which were stiffer across the board than the 2010 rising-rate system. The 2012 setup is closer to the 2010 curve than the 2011 rate. On the plus side, the new link lowers the rear of the bike by 5mm.

I would think most 09-12 used bikes on the market that the previous owners would have addressed some of the factory flaws by now.
The best 450 ridden to date was an 11 with a full Yosimura engine package with about 62 HP & FC suspension. Felt like my 09-10's handling wise with just more juice in the engine dept.. I can see why Chad Reed raved about his 11-12 models. He didn't like the 13 model & went to a kawi that yr. if I remember correctly.

It was actually from blip ping the throttle before it was at operating temp. If you fired it up, and gave the throttle a few quick twists and let off instantly, unburnt fuel would hit the valves and run into the crankcase. I broke that habit and never had gas in my oil. If you dumped a fill quart of oil into the clutch side instead of the recommended 0.66 (ish) quart, the extra oil kept it cooler and helped a ton with fading issues, because it did fade fast as hell with a normal amount of oil. Up to 100 hours now with no maintenance required outside of oil changes and air filters.