Posts
1189
Joined
9/1/2011
Location
FI
Edited Date/Time
4/11/2013 12:36pm
...and liked it. I had chance to test the new Honda CRF450 and I was really impressed how light the bike felt in turns and especially in air. As old and slow rider I can't scrub or whip, but with this bike I felt like trying ; ) The track was so tacky that I had problems dealing with too hard hit on down low, but change of mapping helped with that and also kept it going further on top. Bike is really quiet, which helps to keep tracks open, but I assume plenty of people buying aftermarket pipes or not servicing the mufflers to get some noise out of it.
Forget the CFR, Yoko gear still exists!?!?! Where have I been? Do they have a set with all the fluorescent colors like the early 90s?
first thing that came up
http://www.yokoformoto.es/en/11-dirt
The Shop
I'm currently riding 2012 CRF450. Good thing was also that even though it's completely new bike, it felt really comfortable right away. Air forks didn't feel all that different, but one thing that stood out was that the bottoming resistance was really good. Also it was really nice to be able to test different "spring rate" just by adding some air (my brother who is faster, liked it more with more pressure).
Funny thing was also that one time when I was resting at the pit between sessions, Evgeny Bobryshev (Factory Honda rider for GP's) took my test bike for spin and went crazy fast without doing any adjustments to the bike.
2nd all new chassis in 5 yrs.
That's 2 Re-Design cycles.
And they're making quite a few of them.
Great Thread!
Great Gear.
The Roots of Fox Gear are Back.
thank you
As far as being able to ride the '13. you lucky son-ofa-gun, i think theres still only 1 in australia on display at the moment.
Thanks!
Agree on that blue gear, I want a set. Thanx for the insight
Pit Row
John
Gear looks great like other's have mentioned.
How does it compare to your 12? How does it handle? does it feel more stable then the 12?
Your bro should get a raise, he does a very good job.
About the engine it's really hard to say, since we couldn't do back to back with other bike. The bottom end was really strong with stock mapping and I think it would be good for softer tracks. For me at Faenza "torque" mapping was much better, it felt more like my 2012 with Akrapovic pipe. Also the factory mechanics told that probably you should anyways go up one or two teeth on rear sprocket (they use 50 or 51 on Factory GP bikes), so you can use bigger gears through corners.
Also the main man behind this bike (and previous CRF's), Mr Tsukamoto was there. He is really nice and fun guy to be around. He has worked with all the factory Honda riders since days of JMB and Stanton, so as you can guess we had lot to ask about developing bikes and also about the riders. I don't know if he would be willing (or able) to talk about stuff in podcast or something, but that guy really knows everything there is to know about Honda's since mid 1990's. He said that Jeremy McGrath is definitely the best test rider he has (and still does) worked with and Jeremy has had really big influence on this bike.
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