Honda loaned us a 2009 CRF450X to race the ISDE in Portugal. With the shipping deadline looming, we tapped JCR Honda and hustled through a long list of mods to make this enduro dirt bike an international winner.Johnny Campbell Racing was a great resource for helpful tips. They were kind enough to help prep our bike (left) while getting Timmy Weigand's (right) ready as well. During the original bike build project, I did a number of modifications that were aimed towards protecting the bike. One that I had the opportunity to test was the rear brake pedal and the Rekluse billet clutch cover
. On Day 6 I spun the rear end around coming out of a slow corner and low-sided the bike. This low-speed fall was enough to significantly bend the brake pedal and dent the billet cover, and that was even with the brake snake and rubber protector on the pedal. It clearly would have put a hole in the stock clutch cover. I am sure some of the other protective mods came into play at some point as everything else held up splendidly.
Modification
Updating the settings inside the Honda fork was high on the priority. Javier Gonzales at Trail Tricks has suspension testing experience from the actual race location in Portugal. No-Toil sent some of their rim lock nuts that cover all the threads to keep things clean and the red color makes them easy to spot. The radiators on the CRF are particularly vulnerable so a set of Works Connection braces should cure that. Like nearly all the aftermarket parts I used on the X project, the radiator braces took about 5 minutes to install and were a perfect fit. A Rekluse Pro Model auto clutch is a necessity for me. The auto clutch provides a huge relief to my wrists and hands over multi day races. The first order of business was to take care of the suspension.
I have had lots of luck working with Javier Gonzales at Trail Trick. The stock starter switch is rather large and it slots into the throttle, so you cannot adjust the throttle position without also adjusting the starter. It also makes it difficult to find room to add bar-mounted handguards. The welder also fabricated a nice rear axle pull to help speed tire changes. Six Day rules require a speedometer and I had a stock KTM one handy and it even fit right into the stock mount on the top clamp. A BRP chain guide made the list, but check out the reinforced welds to keep it from snapping off the swingarm. ISDE format racing virtually necessitates having a kickstand. The Pro Moto Billet KICKIT is lighter, stronger and less obtrusive than the stock version. The entire top of the airbox was cut out to improve air flow. While working on the air box we also did some careful knife work around the edges. There are sharp lips on both the top and bottom of the side opening of the air box and when changing the air filter these constantly snag the foam.Knowing that the bike had to stay at 94db for ISDE use, I decided to try a FMF Q4 slip-on and that did help wake up the mid-range as well as giving just a little more on top.
