At this price, Christophe's CRF450 is a bargain. I know the bike well, have ridden it myself for a full day when we exchanged bikes during a 3-day offroad loop CNX-MHS-Pai-Wat Chan-CNX less than two months ago.
Although this CRF450 started its life as a motocross bike at the Honda factory, it has been transformed into an enduro bike. The mx gear box has been replaced with an enduro gear box (5-speed), which has different ratios, making it more suitable for trail riding. In addition, the stock mx gas tank, which is small, has been replaced with a much larger enduro gas tank, extending its range considerably. As far as the suspension is concerned, you will not believe how well this bike performs. Before getting on the bike, I expected to find a typical harsh mx-type of suspension set-up. But I was nicely surprised that the suspension offered a very progressive absorption rate, it is really very well set up. The most surprsing thing about the suspension is that, although it's plush enough for trail riding, it stiffens up progressively toward the end of the suspension travel, so that it still allows you to make big jumps on the mx track without bottoming out.
I can't hide it, I absolutely loved the bike. At the end of that day's ride, I really wanted to buy it. And Christophe was equally charmed by my KTM 450 EXC. If it wasn't for the fact that he already owns two KTM's and a KLX 650 and KLX250, and that he needs the money for another project, he would have wanted to swap bikes (if I had been game, that is, which I wasn't). I've got too many bikes already, otherwise I would have bought it for sure. My bike collection has grown to the point that I've run out of excuses needed to convince my wife that I really need another toy...
So for those of you in search of a capable trail bike, this CRF offers more fun than what ought to be legally permissible...
Always welcome to email me if you are interested in the CRF, I'm happy to assist with translating (English/French) as Christophe only speaks French and Thai.
