Honda USA, we need this with a 4 gallon tank and the 300lRally service intervals and a lil windscreen. Just call it the 450rally 🤷♂️ please and thank you. I’ll preorder.
These are the very best - or at least among the very best - bike vid reviews on the internet. Well done and keep up the GREAT work. Thank you and cheers from Sydney Australia. 😎
The small fuel tank thing is frustrating, because Honda already had a larger fuel tank in their inventory when they introduced the bike in 2019. They had the 2.25 gallon tank from the 2017-2020 450RX or the 2018-2021 250RX. I know it fits, because I'm running one on my own CRF450RL right now. The cost of the swap doesn't make sense compared to a new IMS 3gal, but the bike should have been born with this bigger tank in the first place. I have 14k miles on my 450RL and have no plans to sell, I found your review fair and accurate.
Great point about the fuel capacity so frustrating. Also, that freaking seat. What the hell is that all about? They should know a duel sport is to be ridden long distances!
I knowyou are reluctant to make a call on the reliability because of a lack of market experience of this model but you were pretty quick to call it on the vstrom DE and I don't think you were wrong. Given Honda and Suzukis' history of reliabilty it's a pretty safe call to say you should get excellent reliability.
Ive had my 450RL for 2.5 years, heres my recommendations and experience: - stock exhaust is indeed heavy, best compromise is a stock exhaust from a CRF450X of the same generation, direct swap and instantly drops some weight, keeps just as quiet which i appreciate. - throttle response is twitchy at slow speed, i think this bike was more designed for desert rather than single track, but theres a free throttle mod in which you dremel away part of the throttle cam which helps tremendously! - maintenance is frequent but as you mentioned have been stretched my many (including myself) without issue. Valves checks are easy and just that: checks. Never needed to adjust. - i know this is a DS review, but as you mentioned this bike surprisingly comfortable on road, so this bike makes for a killer supermoto, moreso than a ktm 500 in my opinion.
That's very considerate of you to give miles/kilometers, pounds/kilograms, gallons/litres. Most of the world has a grasp on roughly what is what with both but it's great to hear an American fella actually make an effort when most Americans ignore the system most of the world uses. Kudos to you brother, safe riding!
Similar experience with my CRF450RL in terms of throttle response. Throttle tamer was a significant improvement; I have not had any flame out issues but I am using the bike for dual sport and light adventure so no experience with it on single track. Solid review and I think you nailed where it fits in the marketplace.
The 450rl is a great dual sport. I’ve done a lot of mods to mine, but it’s a great bike even in stock form. I can cruise around and camp off of it like a light adventure/dual sport, or I can do harder single track trails. It’s a lot more work on hard single track than a 230 pound 2 stroke, but it can do it. It’s a great all around bike for a little of everything, and the best part is it’s completely comfortable on the highway to ride to the trails.
Highway speeds very stable, even crossing long windy bridges in NY this bike is incredibly stable, on the highway I was never close to loosing control at highway speeds 💨 even better than some road bikes I had.
Awesome. Appreciate it Ian! Love my 450RL. Especially after getting the SX1 GET ECU by taco Moto. Thanks for taking the time to make this in depth review. 🏍️💨
I think turning up idle actually helps a little. I have 1100 miles on mine now and maybe break in helps as well. Fuel injector still loads up when I come off throttle, really noticeable when coming out of a corner and getting back on throttle. Just a sudden jolt of exceleration, I try to remember not to hammer on it till I’m coming out of the corner. Back tire will wash out in hard turn when it hits like that. I love mine, it a cantankerous beast but it makes for a fun ride. I’m springing for a GET ECU in near future. Thanks for another great review
Love my 23 450rl! Just put a jd jetting tuner, intake mods, and full fmf q4 system. Wow definitely a power increase throughout the rev range. No finiky over fueling un reliable expensive ecu needed in my opinion. For me this is the perfect unicorn bike on the west slope of colorado! Plus I still get mid 50s to over 60mpg.
It's about 45 crank horsepower. The 450R has a bit over 60 to make about 54 to the wheel. Limited by camshaft lift of about 25%. The flameout issue is the camshaft decompression lever kicking forward at low RPMs. The engine really isn't designed to run lower than idle, but after some heat cycles the return spring will generate less tension and it will stop doing it. Throttle tamer does a lot to help the stock ECU mapping. It has a lot of ignition advance down in the lower RPMs and I believe is why it's so punchy. Going up to a 14 tooth countershaft sprocket also helps a bit.
I thought I remember reading somewhere that the bikes were getting delivered or sold with the idle being too low. Hence why raising seems to have fixed it.
@@JohnnyBoy919 dealers not setting it when buyers take delivery. Air pressure and elevation will change it. There is no auto control for it and it’s a bypass system. When you close the throttle, the plate fully seals the intake.
I think you and I would get along well. We seem to like exactly the same thing in a bike. You're top of my list for Moto journalism content. I always look to see if you reviewed something first. Thanks, really appreciate your content.
Thanks Ian. I am loving my '24 that has very few mods- Seat Concepts Tall/Comfort seat, tusk rear rack and tires. Its easily the best dualsport I've owned (vs KTM 525EXC, XR650R, XR650L, DRZ400 or WR250R).
I have a 2002 Honda XR650R. I'm thinking of converting it over to street legal dual sport. I was also considering buying the Honda 450RL , KTM 500 EXC-F or African Twin. Which way would you go being that you owned both Honda bikes?
Excellent review! Honda has done well with updating the ECU map on the recent versions which looks to be great based on your comments. I have a '19 L and it was rough stock. Adding a Vortex then was a requirement, though now it's almost too powerful. 😄 It can get scary real quick. Also I upgraded to Yoshi RS-4, very nice but it's kinda loud. I wish there was a lighter exhaust with near stock quietness. Either way, I love this bike. I don't do enduro riding or technical single track, madjack could probably do it but not me!
It surprises me that I've never seen a market for pipes as-loud-as-stock-but-lighter. Like for most bikes you could keep the stock design and swap steel for aluminum/titanium and drop the cat. But the market will only pay for the small performance gains (but greatly increased noise) from free-flowing replacements.
I have a 450L that I absolutely love. It does it all. I have done extreme singletrack and did it. Not ideal but can do it. I put a 3 gallon tank, ECU, Adv Spec tower, Acerbis guards, Flatland skidplate&radiator guards, rear rack, and it is perfect. Honda reliability is supreme. I have several other bikes, maybe my favorite now for exploring. Great desert bike.
No popping on decel? No unusual noises or smells? Starts easy in all weather/climates? Idle and accelerates smooth? No excessive fuel consumption? No need to mess with the valves.
Honda, please give us an aluminum framed crf300L with about a 20+ lbs weight reduction. That's what many of us want. Oh, and with the 550 Performance package as a factory option. I'd pay $2K-3K more that!
@@someguy5035Same reason why I sold mine (x3 300la I've had and suspension was dangerous off road lol 154kmh top speed) I just looked at the 450RL today $13700 so I think I have my unicorn dual sport (I hope)
@@someguy5035 seems like people end up dumping money into the crf450rl as well which is already a 10k bike. I've seen people on youtube ripping on a modded crf300l after suspension/ecu upgrades. Look up Pat o Neill 555 and 187racing
As a point of reference, my WR250R was heavier, much less powerful, slightly poorer suspension out of the box and nearly as much money. And I loved that bike. The big advantage the WR had was changing the oil twice in a busy season.
Glad you were able to hang onto, and get some seat time with it. Still love my RL. I added an Adventure Spec mini fairing for a little wind protection, and a place to mount my GPS. IMHO it's the perfect lightweight ADV bike.
i bought this bike over the summer and i can say the throttle is super snappy and it will buck an inexperienced rider right off the bike. the flame outs were something i dealt with in the first 200 miles or so but i am noticing they are completely gone now that i have about 400 miles on the bike so i can say the ecu probably has something to do with this. excellent bike couldnt be happier with my purchase!
Nice bike, great review , ease of ownership , with all you comparison experience, its safe to say if you like it, ...its a smart choice. You are a great "real world" resource !
I own a 21 model, and I've done the full Athena, ecu mod along with a Yosh full system and flywheel weight. I have a 5 gallon Nomad tank, tusk excursion luggage moose plastic skid plate, and ZETA windscreen. I use this bike for rides like the Smoky Mountain 500, and OHV trail systems both in Ohio and Kentucky. There is no other bike I'd want that could handle both of those applications. The power is great, the suspension awesome. It handles the twisty roads like a super motard, it shreds tires, bounces over any terrain. Climbs the steepest hills and just rips everywhere. Personally I service the bike every 1000 miles. No problems. This would not be my only bike if I had to chose just one, but if I'm trailering to my jump off point, then this is my choice.
You are in my neighborhood. Done the SM500 3 times (last time in May on my TransAlp), the SOAL once, and some of the DBBB. I keep looking at the 450RL. I know I am going to end up buying one...
I really wanted this bike but wound up buying a dr because I already have dirt bikes and for sensibility reasons, I absolutely love my dr but when I watch a review like this I have regrets. First word problems. Great review as always.
Considering a throttle tamer in my 300l. I know. Clutch technique. I’ve rode my whole life. Almost. And I get that but I like slow technical stuff. Seat height is a big issue at my age now and injuries I’ve had. I’d like to ride the 450 because I think the 300 is underpowered by about 10 HP in my opinion. Ian you’re the best out there buddy. Thank you for what you do. I’ve said it many times but it’s just true. Your honesty is a great thing these days.
Throttle tamer for the 300l didn’t really do a whole lot for me. It seemed like I got better throttle response when I tightened my cable up. And maybe a marginal difference with the ECU. Possibly all three made somewhat of a difference, but there is no eliminating the jerkiness completely on the 300l/Rally. Get yourself a big bore kit if you think it’s too slow. Also, a 42T rear sprocket is one of the best upgrades I’ve made on the 300 when it comes to low end torque. And if you have the stage 1 set up, the 42T doesn’t cause any loss to top end speed.
I really liked the G2 throttle tamer that I put on my rally. It really did help with the jerkiness on/off throttle and low-speed control. That said, there is a throttle learn procedure that you can do that smooths out the ecu a little bit. Not as much as the throttle tamer though.
I have a 300 Rally with just over 2000 miles on it. I rolled the dice on the 550 Performance ECU. Like Ian, I like my bikes quiet. So, I got the "Stock Improved 91 Octane" flash and their High Flow Air Box Lid. I swapped the OEM air filter for a Twin Air cage and filter. I kept the stock exhaust. This setup has ELIMINATED THE JERKY THROTTLE AND THE 5000RPM RATTLE! I was skeptical, but it worked! I need more time in the saddle to offer a detailed assessment of power/torque improvement, but i feels promising,
@@TheGmoll the stock improved tune manages the power delivery, offering more linear power. A 42T sprocket will offer a significant amount of low end torque. You can lift the front wheel off the ground without having to grab a handful of clutch. And since you flashed the ECU, you don’t lose any top end speed, and you can keep your stock chain, if you choose. My bike topped out at 81mph stock, and it still tops out at 81mph. I ran the stock improved tune for about 1k miles. Then I upgraded to the stage 1. The motoX pipe that comes with the optional baffle is actually quieter than the stock pipe at 4500 RPM. There’s a video that does a decibels comparison on the two pipes. .
@@airadaimagery692 Great info. Thanks. I have to be super careful the my hearing. Where did you purchase the MotoX pipe and what model is it? Slip on or full system?
Great explanation regarding the maintenance intervals for this machine. This is a bike intended to be competition-ready - right off the floor. It's not an ADV. The buyer just makes a choice. Great bike.
The problem I've got is the extremely high price when in comparison to the KLX300. I believe I would go with the KLX300 instead, for the money, both bikes with great quality. Watching you on the heavier duty trails, it is a bit tougher to ride rough-stuff with a big bike, when compared to the likes of a KLX300. These are trade-offs one must realize. This again, is putting things into the correct context. Sure, the Honda 450 will be great on the road and good off-road for a bigger bike, but it will tire a man out riding in the off-road tough-stuff! I have always loved the 250-300cc class for on/off road bikes. For me, the KLX300 is so damn good. As far as the maintenance on "this Honda", I don't really feel that is too excessive at all. I always change oil in my bikes prematurely, between 800-1000 miles. Valves around 2000, but really never had to make an adjustment. Even on my road-bikes. Even though I considered my bikes my babies, I never babied them. Saying that, one may say that I baby them because I do outlandishly O.C.D. maintenance. I've never blown an engine or wasted a transmission in my long history of hard riding. In closing, "You hit on everything spot-on!" Thanks for the great video.
I had the CRF300 Rally. Same thing, much lower price than the 450RL. But also, much, much less performance. The problem was, I can outride the CRF easily and I didn't want to pour a bunch of money into ECU/exhaust and suspension just to make it tolerable for medium/hard riding. Eventually, those thoughts won and I sold the CRF. It was a great bike. Lots of fun. It just wasn't up to the job without $2000-$3000 thrown at it.
In Australia $3000 difference. At the current $13500 price I'm going for the 450rl. I've had the crf300la x3 and suspension really annoyed the Fk out of me
I am really starting to like the long term builds and tests. Need a new dual sport, and have been back and forth between the Honda CRF450RL and the Beta 430RR. I have several years of racing Honda motocross bikes, so they are familiar. The Beta is really nice though, and had a chance to ride one last year and it was really really good. Both have impeccable reliability records, which is at the top of the priority list for me. So it is obviously a tough choice.
I have a heavily modded 450rl and a beta 390 rr which is essentially stock. Way less mods required on the beta. It’s definitely more fun but as Ian says it leans more enduro, and is twitchy at 70. You really feel the weight difference off-road. Im leaning towards keeping the 390 and selling the 450. Thought being get the bike most suited to the most difficult terrain…
I made it more road friendly by changing my front sprocket to a 14 and my back sprocket to 47 I added an SX1 ecu and a Graves full titanium exhaust, I also changed the airflow by adding a pre oiled twin air filter. I made it my daily for work in NYC, in and out of traffic like nothing.
Excellent video! You summarized things really well, and confirmed something I’ve been thinking about this machine. It really is a modern DRZ. I do hope that someday Suzuki will respond with an updated DRZ that picks up all of the Honda’s updates, except for the maintenance requirements. If Suzuki would build a bike like this, but with the maintenance of the DRZ, they’d have the perfect bike for me. Looking forward to hearing about your long term experiences!
Fabulous review Ian, awesome performance, off-road motorcycle being able to ride it on road to another trail would be awesome. Thanks for the review. Looking forward to your next one.
If you can get a Bluetooth OBD2 dongle on there to monitor rpm. Idle RPM needs to be turned up a bit to reduce flame out. The idle fueling to throttle position more than 0% is choppy. By increasing the idle it eliminates that a bit.
The flame out problem on mine was awful even on the street. Mine would flame out at just the wrong moment. I bought tried and true vortex ecu and a yoshi pipe and concepts seat Holy smokes totally different machine. I love this thing!!!!
I pined for the 450L a whole year before it was released. When the specs were released and was 40lb heavier than a brand new FE450 on sale for less, it was a no brainer, FE! It replaced my DRZ400S I had for 16 years. If I'm spending 10K on a bike, I'm buying the best! 6,000 miles and 6 years later, I still have it. 50/50 ST & DS. JD/uncork and Oberon clutch slave since new, clutch master rebuild at 3,000 miles, and clutch dampers replaced just now are the only issues. My TE has 3,000 miles ST and only have changed one spark plug! My T7 is for the longer rides. If I could only have one bike 450L (lightened and JD/uncorked as I did my DRZ).
Good that you highlighted the metric to Noah’s system breakdown. We that prefer metric are still better off having the other quoted because if we delete that segment it’s a small selection.
Hi Ian. Once again you have given a thorough and honest assessment of this bike. It does not compete with the Euro bikes, but as you have found it is better for more open adventure style riding. Very stable and comfortable. I own one and understand the limitations on single track. I do suggest you contact one of the ECU suppliers and see if they will loan you one so you can report your thoughts on value. I have Vortex since they were only one available at the time. AIM is available for $650. Additional mode switch for $189. GET is more expensive, but connects to phone. I suggest trying AIM with stock pipe. I have FMF Q4 that I never installed since the bike runs great with Vortex and stock pipe for ADV with fairly lean tune. I get up to 55 mpg when trying to stretch it. Over 150 miles w/ IMS tank. When not on trip I change tune for more power and better response and mileage goes down to 40 - 45 mpg. For shorter riders like me the SC Low Comfort seat is great!
I always love your extremely detailed overviews and distinct separation between subjective and objective thoughts. I dream about upgrading from my 300L to the RL someday!
NIce! Exactly how I feel about my 2023 WR450F. WR is little more enduro focused. Shame on Yamaha for not making them street legal. I live in NM so mine is plated.
Great honest review and content 💯 👌! Buyers are so overcome by HP & weight numbers and seem to overlook the importance of there main riding objective such as dual sport riding vs enduro! Purshasing a bike purpose-built with practicality in mind should be the deciding factor prior to making a motorcycle purchase!
CRF450RL user in Thailand here. Our version is the extremely detuned that dyno shows 24hp. It flames out like crazy and it happens every time you try to cross the log.
As always, excellent, detailed and telling it like it is. Honda has produced a competitive level bike and made it road legal. This is NOT a bike to buy for any sort of long distance work. It IS a bike to buy if you have ready access (or truck it to) lots of off road. 600 to 1000 miles of (for me) NOT balls out high revving work is multiple days worth of adventure/ fun before having to change the oil on a simple to work on engine. It's about compromise. This for me would be a 3rd or 4th bike in the garage for very specific riding
Thanks. You touched on almost everything. **Comfort* is important for 80% of the riding most of us do. I don’t think I’ll ever throw a leg over my KTM 525exc again because of its lack of comfort. And NO, I’m not going to do a lot of standing to compensate. I made a big comprise getting the 300L, but the comfort and low maintenance made the choice a no brainer.. Now, do I pull the trigger on a 450RL next? Hmmmm.
Put the Vortex ECU on it. I owned a 450L and it was terrible offroad and flamed out often. The Vortex changed the bike. Gave me optional traction control too. A good friend owned one as well and kept the stock ECU on. He sold the bike after it flamed out on him, causing him to crash and render him unconscious (with a quality helmet on). For what it’s worth, he is a former WERA road-racing class winner, not a newb.
When I bought my CRF300L the dealer was steady trying to get me to wait for the next 450RL to come in stock. But I am going to do the Trans American Trail and service interval scared me off. The interval for the 300 is 8000 miles. I don't think I would push it that far but it's nice to know that I can pick the good locations and times to do the service.
In the UK (and I imagine Europe) this bike is ridiculously underpowered at about 26HP to meet emission standards. It’s almost necessary to get a new ecu
Well pointed about the metric system.... I personally don't care which measurement system to use, as long as it is ONE system for all the 🌍 and there's no need to run for calculator, or translate gallons into liters in the head 😀 ... ‼‼
If you are committed to your throttle input the bike will run smooth. And if you stay on the throttle it will not flame out(but that is hard on more advanced off-road if you are not experienced enduro rider), It’s a detuned race engine. I have 8500km on mine. I still run stock seat and if I’m going for a longer trip I put bicycle diapers on.
great review, Honda seems a bit lost on the direction of this bike, is it a true dual sport or a KTM competitor ? why not offer an option for a real fuel tank larger then the thimble stock size ? to release a bike with this bad of fueling stock, not acceptable. sounds like it has many great features but no way would I go from my DRZ-E, .... it has better fueling, easy to increase fuel tank, same power (39.5 dyno RWHP stock just rejetted) , same weight, lacks the 6 speed BFD. Honda...why did not dual sport the XR650R? again, Honda has lost its way on true dual sport. Cheers
i wanted a 450L for a while, but i have realized i cant even ride a bike like my drz to its potential, and thus its all i need. its been a wonderful bike and it never lets me down. i wish honda would come out with something that was more power than the 300L but with the "tame nature" of the 300L and oil change intervals. yes, i could easily stretch those 600 miles to over 1000 but i wouldnt like it. the other advantage to the DRZ is that it has been around so long there's no shortage of parts, like ever, same bike for 23 years...
Great video and apparently a great bike! We don't have it available here in Europe, so we need to continue owning Huskies 😆btw I am pretty happy with them!!
Thank you for your review of the CRF450RL. I currently have a DRZ400 and chose that initially due to flame out concerns and maintenance intervals. You compared this to the DRZ400 and my question was how does the CRF450RL carry its weight compared to the DRZ? I feel for whatever reason like the DRZ wears its weight higher up in the frame compounded with being a higher seat height makes it less easy to ride on tighter trails. Is the CRF450 much of an improvement in that category or not noticeable? Thanks
38 rear wheel horsepower is honestly exceptional for a dirtbike. I rode a yz250f for a long time and it had less power than that and felt plenty rowdy. I guess it weighed less, though.
I've always wanted to own this bike and appreciate the honest review. But what we really want to know is if you still own your Tuareg 660 and how has it been treating you? :)
I put sxi get ecu , throttle tamer, graves exhaust on bike and it tractors at 6 mph at idle wo stalling. Maybe I didn't give stock ecu enough of a chance but it was no fun to ride stock.
The 300l holds 1.6 quarts vs the 450rl's 1.22. .38 quart difference. 8000 mile oci on the 300 vs 600 miles on the 450. That doesn't add up. If you follow the 300s OCI the 450 would have a 6100 mile OCI since it holds 76% of the oil the 300 does. Ring, bore and bearing clearances in liquid cooled 4 stroke bikes are nearly identical. I looked though various service manuals a while back to find race bikes and dual sports have basically the same clearances. Some race bikes are loser. OCI across manufactures is very inconsistent.
Excellent info, what tire pressure are you running? I ride rocky single trail in eastern Pa. I just changed stock tires to the tusk dsport adventure and am trying to dial in the tire pressure for off-road. Thanks for all the info
While we're all treated to never ending chants that Honda's are 'bullet-proof', I wonder how Noraly (Itchy Boots) feels about having to rebuild that CRF300 Rally three or four times between Anchorage and Africa? Granted she rode it like a submarine through mud, but reliable as an anvil? No doubt, Honda has more dealers and more readily available parts for international travelers; but are they REALLY that much more reliable ... than alternatives? I can't help but wonder ... ?
A great dirt oriented dual sport. I prefer one with a little more road bias than this bike but i have to drive pretty far to get to trails. Hop8ng for an updated drz400.
