Detuning a 450 via mapping

I could be wrong, but from my understanding you can’t detune them that much. It’s still gonna feel like a 450. Maybe give Tokyo Mods a call, they might have already done this with another customer.

kb228 wrote:

Wondering if anyone has experience detuning a 450 with a remap. I had tokyo mods do my kx450 before. It did the job and gave me a boat load of power. After having my knee totally annihilated from grabbing a handful upon casing a jump, i want to tune it down for 2019 while i recover to 100%.

My question is, how low can you make the power? I dont want 250 low but maybe a 350?

Taller gearing maybe?

kb228 wrote:

Wondering if anyone has experience detuning a 450 with a remap. I had tokyo mods do my kx450 before. It did the job and gave me a boat load of power. After having my knee totally annihilated from grabbing a handful upon casing a jump, i want to tune it down for 2019 while i recover to 100%.

My question is, how low can you make the power? I dont want 250 low but maybe a 350?

mx317 wrote:

Taller gearing maybe?

Yea thats an option too. Didnt think of that lol

Black Coupler....isn't that the "soft" setting that kawi maps in that ECU? Would that be an option or not soft enough. On my KX250F I had it was quite a bit softer than than the standard or the White. Don't know about the 450s though

colvin227 wrote:

Black Coupler....isn't that the "soft" setting that kawi maps in that ECU? Would that be an option or not soft enough. On my KX250F I had it was quite a bit softer than than the standard or the White. Don't know about the 450s though

I wish. Mine is an 09. Didnt have couplers back in the bronze age

colvin227 wrote:

Black Coupler....isn't that the "soft" setting that kawi maps in that ECU? Would that be an option or not soft enough. On my KX250F I had it was quite a bit softer than than the standard or the White. Don't know about the 450s though

kb228 wrote:

I wish. Mine is an 09. Didnt have couplers back in the bronze age

Gotcha! Yeah my riding buddy has a 2011 KX450 and that thing freakin RIPS it hits way harder than my 2017 RMZ450 and the 2016 KX450 I have ridden. The older 450s power delivery was way more abrupt and much more arm pulling so I understand your want to detune.

colvin227 wrote:

Black Coupler....isn't that the "soft" setting that kawi maps in that ECU? Would that be an option or not soft enough. On my KX250F I had it was quite a bit softer than than the standard or the White. Don't know about the 450s though

kb228 wrote:

I wish. Mine is an 09. Didnt have couplers back in the bronze age

colvin227 wrote:

Gotcha! Yeah my riding buddy has a 2011 KX450 and that thing freakin RIPS it hits way harder than my 2017 RMZ450 and the 2016 KX450 I have ridden. The older 450s power delivery was way more abrupt and much more arm pulling so I understand your want to detune.

Have you ridden a 12 KX450? Those were a hard hitting motor!

I calmed down my YZ with mapping but its still powerful. the 11/12 KX hits so hard its almost useless.

kgmkgm wrote:

I calmed down my YZ with mapping but its still powerful. the 11/12 KX hits so hard its almost useless.

yea thats the way mine is. Even at 250lbs it still is just like, all the power at once

kb228 wrote:

I wish. Mine is an 09. Didnt have couplers back in the bronze age

colvin227 wrote:

Gotcha! Yeah my riding buddy has a 2011 KX450 and that thing freakin RIPS it hits way harder than my 2017 RMZ450 and the 2016 KX450 I have ridden. The older 450s power delivery was way more abrupt and much more arm pulling so I understand your want to detune.

mattyhamz2 wrote:

Have you ridden a 12 KX450? Those were a hard hitting motor!

Well the 2011 I rode was similar and yeah that shit hit way to hard off the bottom for my liking. It felt like a rocket ship but not in a good way...too me. Those were they days that the 450 power felt like it was ripping your arms of with brutal low end torque. They are so much smoother now and much easier to ride with the power delivery and mapping it’s insane. That arm ripping affect “feels” fast but it’s really not because it’s so hard to ride it controllably that way, at least that was my feeling. Hence why I ride an RMZ 450 now. I can ride that smooth or what some “experts” call SLOW linear power all day and not get as whooped as with other bikes. Which is a plus cause I can log more laps

kgmkgm wrote:

I calmed down my YZ with mapping but its still powerful. the 11/12 KX hits so hard its almost useless.

kb228 wrote:

yea thats the way mine is. Even at 250lbs it still is just like, all the power at once

Dude that feeling of the 450s from that time period is what scared me into staying on 250F because I wanted no part of that feeling because I never felt comfortable with the delivery. But 190lbs on a 250F wasn’t fun in the deep sand plus they cost more in the long run. Newer 450s are definitely different. That 450 power is still there they just seem smoother and more useful to us mere mortals

Kinda a combo of all the above, I think. Like trail tuning. Mapping, taller gearing, flywheel weight, etc. all that would add up to a tamer engine, I would imagine

The Kawasaki FI Calibration kit works on your 09 450.
https://www.kawasaki.com/accessories/item/kx-fi-calibration-kit-handheld/999990527
I started a listing in the bazaar looking for a used one. One of the Vital members replied that he had one in stock for $500.

My 13 YZ450F has the full GYTR engine kit, and everyone that rode it said it was an animal, just ridiculous. It's been tuned way down with the Yamaha handheld tuner, and is now not much more of a handful than my friend's 19 KX450 with the mild coupler.

Since the Kawi tool is more precise than the Yamaha one, I'd bet you can mellow out your 450 in a big way with the handheld unit.

colvin227 wrote:

Gotcha! Yeah my riding buddy has a 2011 KX450 and that thing freakin RIPS it hits way harder than my 2017 RMZ450 and the 2016 KX450 I have ridden. The older 450s power delivery was way more abrupt and much more arm pulling so I understand your want to detune.

mattyhamz2 wrote:

Have you ridden a 12 KX450? Those were a hard hitting motor!

colvin227 wrote:

Well the 2011 I rode was similar and yeah that shit hit way to hard off the bottom for my liking. It felt like a rocket ship but not in a good way...too me. Those were they days that the 450 power felt like it was ripping your arms of with brutal low end torque. They are so much smoother now and much easier to ride with the power delivery and mapping it’s insane. That arm ripping affect “feels” fast but it’s really not because it’s so hard to ride it controllably that way, at least that was my feeling. Hence why I ride an RMZ 450 now. I can ride that smooth or what some “experts” call SLOW linear power all day and not get as whooped as with other bikes. Which is a plus cause I can log more laps

Haha! Ya I hated it at the time, but my 14 YZ450 hit even harder and I really enjoyed it after a few years of getting older, bigger and stronger. I would say the yz hit harder than my 12 kx did. Both are still my favorite 450's to this day. My dad's suzuki's are really good to. Smooth, usable and easy to go fast on. I'm not a fan of certain parts of the bike, but they turn great and I can go pretty fast on them even with his setup.

The different tunes on my Vortex/Tokyo Mods have different RPM limits on some settings.
Maybe they can do a combo of mellowing the ignition curve and also bringing down the RPM limit? If not, there is always the ol rag in the air box.

You could use the "old potato in the tailpipe trick".

Taller gearing, retard the ignition 5 degrees, run a slow turn throttle.

Falcon wrote:

Taller gearing, retard the ignition 5 degrees, run a slow turn throttle.

Have you used a slow throttle? Ive considered them in the past. How much of a difference does it make?

Falcon wrote:

Taller gearing, retard the ignition 5 degrees, run a slow turn throttle.

kb228 wrote:

Have you used a slow throttle? Ive considered them in the past. How much of a difference does it make?

Yes, I accidentally replaced a broken throttle tube with an aftermarket one on a 125 once. The diameter of the pulley was smaller and thus made the cable pull more slowly per degree of grip rotation. The end result was that you had to turn the throttle farther to get the same amount of gas. Ever had a dream where you were walking through syrup? That's what it felt like to ride that 125!