2019 CRF450L Mod and Farkle Fest

Um, yeah...something like that

 

Thanks Cap. Just got finished watching your start up vid, that moto sounds crisp!

 

The 450X left footpeg/sidestand bracket showed up today, so I'm going to wait for the sun to go down and install the 450X sidestand assembly and ti bolt kit for both brackets.



I also contacted Red Moto USA this morning, another case of shitty service...the guy told me the order for the water pump kit had "fallen through the cracks" and would go out tomorrow. My experience has been to eliminate dealing with the USA "authorized sellers" and go straight to the source. That will be my last order from Red Moto USA.

 

So, I was feeling froggy and decided to go after the ti bolt kit for the footpegs and the install of the CRF450X sidestand and bracket.

Started with the right side...this looks simple, and you would think so, until you actually have to get the spring in place to get the pivot pin through it. This was the reason I just decided to get the pain over with.

Right side with ti bolts installed and torqued up



Once I got the rear brake pedal back in place and torqued up, I moved to the sidestand and bracket replacement. This is a side by side comparison, L on the left, X on the right. The X bracket is more compact and probably shaves a few ounces of weight too, although that wasn't a primary driver for doing the mod.



Stock L



X bracket installed



Height of Sidestand when up - L



Height of Sidestand when up - X



When up, the sidestand now has a little more clearance and the bracket is a lot cleaner.

OEM L bracket, with Sidestand Switch for comparison.



Turned out decent and eliminates the chance of the switch getting damaged and leaving you stranded, while also cleaning up the look, losing a little weight was just a side effect. All that's left on the list now is the Red Moto oversize impeller kit, but that's gonna be awhile.

I did manage to get in about 35 miles on it today, basically just heat cycling the engine and operating it under variable load to get everything seated correctly. Honda recommends 100 miles of this, followed by it's first oil change. I've already changed the oil at 3 miles in. Switched to HP4 full synth, which is rated for engines during the break in process. I also put a Motion Pro magnet on the filter to see what it catches. So far, all I can say is that it's a pretty decent moto.

 

great news

 

The various cross-over model parts and other ancillary goodies common knowledge with the CRF folks? I'm sure you've answered before, but is your Ti bolt searches a labor of matching up size/pitch/etc or do the vendors have Ti packages per application?

 

You know he is going to answer Both... lol

 

Sizing the ti bolts is a process of measuring what you take off, what you pull from the Honda parts fiche, and cross referencing part numbers across the three models, R, X, and L. With most aftermarket parts, the dimensions change and that means measuring the hardware that comes with the parts themselves. 98% of the non-Honda specific hardware came from Mettec. The Honda specific bolts and ti caliper parts came from RaceTech Titanium and Titan Classics.

RaceTech Titanium, Mettec, and Titan Classics out of the UK, manufacture exact replicas of the Honda specific hardware, generally they will tell you what years they fit and the part numbers of the originals that were replicated. Most of the bolts I used were specified for the CRF450R, from around 2002 to current. You won't find anything if you search for the L model specifically. It takes a lot of research and measuring to piece together an entire moto's worth of ti hardware. The Honda specific stuff is also more expensive. If you are looking for a specific color, surface treatment, or style, ProBolt also manufactures it's own hardware, but they are sometimes really slow to ship, as the stock comes from the UK.

As far as cross pollinating parts, there are a lot of folks doing a lot of different things across the three models of CRF450. The L model is more closely related to the X, than the R, with just subtle differences. Sometimes you just have to do the research and hope for the best.

 

So both then.... lol.

 

Interesting that small details, like a kickstand mount weren't uniform across the models, although it does make sense when you consider it is a Honda, which are often most noted for their detail vs. other brands. (at least in reputation if not practice).

I'd love to be the person that ended up with one of your ex-bikes 10 years down the road that the previous owner had no idea how much specialty parts were on it and they'd basically given it away!

Nice work and as always, appreciate the details along the way.

 

The very first time I fired it up, after getting it back together, I went on a little putt the next street over to my sisters house for dinner. As soon as I snicked into third gear, something didn't feel quite right...looked down and the fancy adjustable tip on the Zeta Revolver shift lever had decided it didn't want to be part of the build any longer and had hit the road. After dinner I did a couple of walks up and down the street, but never did find it. I know, I know, I should have checked it, pulled the mounting bolt out, put some blue loctite on it, and reinstalled...however, I did not. I put the stocker back on, as soon as I got home.

That night I spent a little time thinking about it and decided that I didn't want to replace it and have it happen some place far from the garage. Decided I had gotten just a little too cute for my own good and the stock lever with just the folding tip worked just fine, lesson learned. That night I placed an order with Ken at CRF's Only for the forged Zeta lever with the standard folding tip. It showed up yesterday. So I installed it this afternoon, along with another little detail I had left to do.



I also fabricated my own brake snake for the brake pedal. The pedal came with one, but I didn't like it much. I went to Home Depot this morning and bought 1' of 3/32" cable and a couple 3/32" ferrules. I kept the mounting piece from the Hammerhead brake snake, got out my ferrule tool, and fabbed up my own and mounted it to the skid plate.



I have been really busy redoing my garage/shop work area. It was a complete disaster and really needed an upgrade. I have managed to put about 60 miles on it, in between tasks. It runs pretty decent and I'm actually looking forward to hitting that first 100 miles. Unfortunately, it's back to work for me, so I won't be able to ride it for a little bit.

 

Ever get to race this devil in a red dress????

 

Don't know if I ever will, but ya just never know. Had it out around town a couple days ago, it's almost like cheating.

 

Although it was a busy day with the RVF, I also managed to complete another little project on the 450 tonight.

I ran into an issue that I have never experienced before....I couldn't get the shifter properly adjusted to work with the shifter, footpegs and my Alpinestar Tech 9 boots. I couldn't comfortably get the boot between the wider footpeg and the shifter...Normally, you would just raise the shifter one spline on the shift shaft and be done with it. Fuck no, not this time. One spline raised the shifter an inch and half above the footpeg, so the boot fit, but it was stupid uncomfortable when it came to downshifting. OK, now WTF do I do.....

I do this, I researched this issue and found it to be pretty common for picky control setting people. So, I ordered a Zeta Racing Revolver shift pedal again. This shifter has the tip on a concentric mount, so you can raise the tip height, without mucking with removing the shifter. The bonus was, the shifter is shaped differently and I gained a slight height advantage when it was installed in the stock position. Next, I rotated the tip to it's highest location to give clearance for the boot. To finish it off, I got a set of Pivot Pegz. these footpegs pivot on a shaft and allow about a half inch of movement up and down. I was working to eliminate the issue of wide modern offroad footpegs....you can't really rotate your foot a whole lot. With the pivot ability it should allow easier pivoting of the boot to get under the shifter tip. You can't be thinking about doing oddball shit to shift, it just has to be automatic, and you sure can't have your boot getting stuck between the shifter and the peg, or having to lift your foot off the peg to downshift...bad juju, especially when standing up.

The Pegz came in today and I was interested in getting them mounted to see if the fix was on. Footpegs, how friggin' hard can that be? FAWK! ,of course, the hole in the pegs for the mounting pin was 9.93 mm....the problem was, the pins were 10.01 mm. So, off to my good buddy Robb at EFabex. I had to go that way anyway to be around for the final tuning of the RVF, which was just down the street. Dropped the pins and pegs at Robb's and tootled over to spend the afternoon checking out the final dyno tuning process of the RVF. Went back, and Robb had machined the mounting holes in the pegs so they were a perfect fit to the ti footpeg pins. Mui Bueno...How much ya want, Robb?...$10, OK, here's $20. Spent the rest of the afternoon checking out some really cool shit Robb is working on these days.

Got home tonight, had a cerveza, and installed the pegs. Super happy, worked decent.

End result - Shifter side



Range of motion



Brake side



Pretty stoked to test them out tomorrow, pretty sure this is the answer. Supposedly, these pegs have added benefits over standard fixed pegs, guess I'll find out.

 

Shows how out of it I am. I did not realize the OEM's had gone to such wide pegs. You have to be able to pivot your boot when shifting , and NOT THINK ABOUT IT.

What a great solution Pivot Pegz came up with and it should be standard OEM equipment I think. Especially for how much these bikes cost!

 

As a side comment, does anyone ever run race setup for the gear selector on this style of bike - or is it just not an issue..

 

Personally, I have never seen it, or heard/read about anyone doing it on an offroad moto.

 

Just like a lot of things, like handlebar bends and angle, grip thicknesses and textures, lever distances from the bar and angle, clutch and brake engagement points, seat shape, one size never fits all. You know it's right, when you don't ever think about it. At least with me, if I'm noticing something, then it isn't correct and it will bother me until it's right.