Honda Crf450 Rally: Factory Dakar Racer
Honda CRF450 Rally: Factory Dakar racer
THE NEW CRF450 RALLY IS THE FIRST factory bike to carry the Honda banner into rally competition since 1989. Instead of being a full-on factory works machine, however, the CRF Rally is based upon the production CRF450X. Very loosely based, it seems, according to Team HRC Director and Project Leader Katsumi Yamazaki.
“We rebuilt the frame, the engine and eveiything else,” said Yamazaki, who added that many of the parts look the same but are made of better materials. The wheels, for instance, appear to be those of the production bike, but Yamazaki said the rims are stronger, wider and fitted with a greater number of thicker spokes.
Yamazaki also said the CRF450 Rally is a “much heavier” bike than a CRF450X, which weighs just over 220 pounds. Given the higher speed range of the CRF450 Rally, its suspension has been made suitably beefier, again using improved materials. “So, yes, we changed everything except the gear lever,” said Yamazaki.
The 2013 Dakar course in South America climbed from sea level to over 16,000 feet, and temperatures ranged from 14 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit, so PGM-FI fuel injection replaced the X’s Keihin 40mm flat-slide carburetor. A carburetor simply can’t handle differences of that magnitude, said Yamazaki, but fuel-injection can.
Although KTM remains the 800pound gorilla in rally racing (this year’s Dakar was won by Cyril Despres, who scored his fifth win in the event, each time on a KTM), here’s to Honda for getting back on the rally horse, and to Helder Rodrigues, Javier Pizzolito and Johnny Campbell for finishing seventh, eighth and 40th overall. Long-term, the eventual goal is for Honda to put together a kit that’ll allow anyone to turn their 450X into a far more serious enduro machine.
John Burns
