The much-anticipated Honda CRF450L will carry an $11,899 price tag when it hits Canadian showrooms this year.
Officially revealed back in May, the CRF450L is Honda’s new attack on the single-cylinder dual sport market. It’s based on the CRF450 off-road bikes, but retuned for longevity and use on the street. It’s still a lightweight enduro-style motorcycle, with wet weight said to be 131 kg. For comparison, the only other Japanese 400-class dual sport on the market now, the Suzuki DR-Z400S, has a 144-kg wet weight.
We haven’t seen official horsepower numbers yet, but the bike is powered by a liquid-cooled SOHC four-valve single-cylinder 450 cc motor, with six-speed gearbox and EFI. There’s also fully-adjustable Showa suspension and a 260 mm front brake disc (two-piston caliper) with 240 mm rear disc. The fuel tank has 7.6 litres of capacity, and it’s made of titanium. In Canada, the bike will be available in red this year.
The price tag puts the CRF450L well above any of the existing 650-class machines on the market (the Suzuki DR650 is $6,299 and the Kawasaki KLR650 is $7,199). It’s also more than $4,000 more expensive than the $7,299 Suzuki DR-Z400S. However, it’s right around where KTM’s street-legal EXC-F line is priced.
We haven’t been given an official arrival date for the CRF450L, but we’d expect to see it in showrooms this fall sometime.
The problem with it is the maintenance intervals. Oil change every 1000km? That’s no dual sport machine, it’s dirt bike with blinkers.
http://www.advpulse.com/adv-bikes/things-to-know-honda-crf450l/
That helps explain away a few rumours but the service intervals are not an attractive feature.
Well, it IS a dirt bike with blinkers! That’s the market they were shooting for. If you want a dual purpose bike there’s the 250’s.
And as they say in the link you provided, “OEM recommendations are notoriously conservative. If you plan on cruising down dirt roads at a quarter throttle, you aren’t stressing the engine like blasting single track at race pace.”
It is what it is, and at $12K it’s competitive with KTM, Husqvarna, etc. Having said that, I wish they had built a 450 dual purpose bike with less engine performance but with this suspension and chassis.
At $9k, I’d test ride it but at $12K? Pass. Also, I’ve read, could be rumour, that the bike is going to be neutered compared to its off-road counterpart for reliability purposes. If so, that will be two strikes right from the get go…
where’s the Monkey???
It’s a great looking bike, and bound to be a good performer but for those dollars, I think I’d go orange.
And then keep paying for the crazy maintenance price that comes with orange. I would rather pay once for quality and long term reliability.
Don’t believe everything you read on the web. I’ve had 4 KTM’s and the maintenance burden isn’t what you think and I’ve never had a reliability issue either.
Two words.
Hydraulic clutch.
That’s the selling point for me on KTM/Husky bikes over the Japanese ones. Especially the big bores.