Upgrading the 2022 Honda CRF450RL | What I KNOW it needs, and what I plan to do about knowing that
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- Опубліковано 29 сер 2023
- One thing I can confidently say about the 2022 Honda CRF450RL is I knew long before I purchased it, that it was one of those bikes that "needs things to be better". This is a tough pill to swallow, as with anything brand new, you feel you shouldn't have to improve on anything really, right? Shouldn't these bikes be continually improved by the manufacturers? Yes and no....
Dual sport bikes are not going to do everything well, because they're meant to do everything. Michael Jordan was one of the greatest basketball players of all time, but fell short in baseball, didn't give football a try, and probably never tried hockey. He was a basketball specialist, and exceptional at his specialty. Dual sports are the multi-sport athletes of the motorcycle world. They play all of the sports, but are not specialists in any one of them, so they don't particularly excel at any one discipline. If this were sports, the RL would probably be that athletic person who plays a bunch of sports in high school and college, but had no chance at that pro career in any one sport.
Depending on how you plan to use your dual sport, there are going to be improvements needed to make it better at doing the majority of the riding you're doing. For me, this is offroad. I chose this bike to be a street legal dirt bike. I don't care if it's good on the road, I want it to be better offroad. The factory tuned the ECU to pass emissions standards, so the performance will be lacking, or it will behave differently than a bike that doesn't care about emissions. For this bike, the performance and speed are just fine for me personally, it's going to be the erratic behavior while trail riding that will eventually lead me to the "big one" (replacing the ECU). I know this is inevitable, but I want to give it a year and really get a good feel for the bike and put it through a variety of tests before I pull the trigger on such a big mod.
With that, let's start with the small things and improve the looks of the bike and start prepping it for full-time dirt riding! Here's my plans to do just that.
Honesty, integrity. Excellent video. Most UA-camrs are just pushing 2000$ dollars worth of accessories that were given to them and trying to act like professional riders and if you check their history they’ve only been riding 3-4 yrs and bragging about their bikes after 800 miles. 👍
Mine is stock as far as the engine, and I've enjoyed riding off road in the Ozarks of Arkansas, Black Hills of South Dakota and the Alpine Loop in Colorado. I just did a day of single track in the northen Minnesota woods. About 1,300 miles, mostly off road.
Lots of ideas on how to build this bike. So many options. My stock 450 RL didn't run well. I felt like I would enjoy it much more if it didn't have the low speed stall. Of all the mods made, I was most impressed with the GET SX-1 ECU. Combined with an FMF Q Muffler, 450 X head pipe, air box lid removal and desmogged, the bike really performs now. I wouldn't change the gearing. It's designed to dual sport, not be an aggressive single track weapon. There are better bikes out there to do that. I feel all the various mods I've done makes it the best dual sport out there. My honest opinion.
Cool video! I have the same bike. I have 100 miles on mine. Mostly road. I have the Vortex ecu and Graves full exhaust. I have a CRF300L Rally for building more confidence on trails. I haven’t been riding long. I’m looking forward to more videos.
You are right about the power, it's crazy powerful. I have the 450L, essentially the same bike, and even though I've been riding it for quite a while I still get into the scary zone sometimes. That big motor will produce mass amounts of power at anytime you twist the throttle producing hair raising moments. 😁Overall though, love this bike!
Thank you. I am a follower
I'm considering a '24 450RL to replace my '21 CRF250L.
What do you think about just removing the spark arrestor from the stock exhaust? I tried it for 1 ride. I didn’t check the spark plug but I didn’t notice any loss of power and it sounded like a 450.