New Bike Day

24-Sep-2022

  I think motorcycles are cool, so I bought a another one. The only issue is I can only guarantee at least one bike for this period in my life right now and may lose access to my other bikes. Fast forward me browsing craigslist every day for a couple months straight and I was able to get what I wanted. Not just any bike though, but one of the most versatile bikes available. So, are we talking about a big giant Adventure bike, right? Not exactly. How about an old DRZ? Closer but missing one key aspect. I wanted this bike to not only be able to do anything but to be able to be competitive in a most races, which is very different when people think of a do it all bike because you end up with bike that’s not great on the road. I think this bike can ready do it all though.

  So, I grabbed myself a hardly ridden 2019 CRF450l for 8gs with only 284 miles on the odometer and that was the start of it all. Now this isn’t a bike I’m going to have and turn around and sell in couple years, I’m riding this thing into the ground dragging it from state to state with me as I start my career in engineering and its going to switch jobs as much as indecisive freshman in collage. One of the first things you expect me to do is get a pipe and ECU, but not I’m leaving stock as I love a quite bike and the mellow smooth power delivery this thing has (that is after you remove the backfire screen from the air filter).

  So here is a little background to help you understand why I picked this bike. I grew up riding dirt bikes and racing throughout my teenage years, even entered a couple WORCS races. Now I’m in my late twenties and always up for going out into the wild completely unprepared whether that be the open water or deserts of Arizona. So why did I get this bike over a KTM EXC? Well for one thing its quieter and vibrates a lot less, second, it’s a Honda so I can get parts for it anywhere, and last this shares it’s motor(mostly) and suspension with all the modern Honda 450’s of which I happen to own a 2020 CRF450r at the moment.This means I can directly take that’s bikes wheels and suspension and throw them on big L and go to town at the mx track abiet with 60 extra pounds wet. I think it's 90 as competitive as the EXC and twice a good to own and live with on the daily.

  When got the bike it had a sad set of saggy foot pegs that weren’t made for the bike and a leopard print seat cover. The good thing was I could tell this bike had never been offroad, even thoughthey didn’t mention the scraps from dropping it on the road. A new air filter to replace the original that was falling apart, a bit of grease, and the bike was ready to go.

  The next thing that had to be put into order was the rider to be able to ride anywhere and anything. So, the motos and diet had to start. Needed to drop about 30 pounds and get pass 5 Laps of pushing on the moto Track. I started riding twice a week, running twice a week, and cut a meal out every day starting in October of 2022. Any type of riding helped at this point I was so out of it. Next thing I did was sign myself up for a race, I picked a December GP at canyon raceway to work toward. This would be a 50 min race on a 7 to 10 mile loop.

Race 1 Report:

  The middle of Dec rolls around much quicker than I expected, I had only got about dozens rides in but ready as ever. Dec 17th and have to get up at 4am to get to race on time for practice at 7:30 and ride my first time on a motocross track in about 2 years. Lucky for me canyon raceway has hardly changed in about a decade so tackling it with 300lb bike shouldn’t be so bad. The only things done to the bike was putting on a set of Dunlop en91 tire (great tire but only for about 6 hours), rim locks, kickstand sensor bypass, new grips, removed mirrors, remove backfire screen, removed license plate holder, and slapped on a set of duct tape numbers.

  First practice and the nerves have already set in, I ride fast like that but also don’t breathe the entire time. It’s a mass start and I’m blowing passed people as the off-road sections are still smooth. But on way in back to the track I end up blowing off back a berm at 40 mph and run into two big green jumping Cholla’s because the sun was in my eyes until about 2 feet from my new found take off ramp. Green cactus pulp was everywhere but at least I didn’t go down and the front wheel handled most of the needles, just bit in my right hand that I had take out with tweezers. I call that a big success as I got most of the jumps in 2 laps even with major arm pump after first off-road section and only lost my left side blinker, which yes did stay on for all my racing.

  Unfortunately, my B class race was at 2pm after the Team Race (main event), ATVs, and UTV. At least I had time for my extreme arm pump to calm down I had in practice, but it was going to be warm, dusty, and rough by the time my race came around. For the start I was able to snag a top five start of about 30 people on the gate only to realize my stock suspension and overweight bike was not even close to being stiff enough to handle the course. While during my training the suspension was fine as I only did off road trails, but as soon as I hit steep 2+ foot plus bump and whoops I quickly bottomed out even going slow. I quickly got a major arm pump but was able to ride through it as the motocross track was smooth and easy to ride. It also helped that I jumped things others didn’t in my class. In the end I got 5th in my class out of 7 and 14/30 in the entire race, which I call a huge success even if I didn’t move forward at all, but I didn’t crash and got out healthy.

  For the next race I signed up for the Outlaw endure in Wickenburg AZ. I had to get a few upgrades like new rear spring, handguards, and real number plates for this race. The new 5.6 kg/mm shock spring was most needed to help the rear end stay up under the 500 pounds of the bike and me. If you know anything about this race you would know that no modification in the world to make a 300 pound bike with DOT approved tire be competive and with me as pilot it was even farther from the front. To say this race any upsides would be a big lie. I crashed twice in the first stage, hard enough for my apple watch to call emergency services both times. Popped a hole in my arm leave blood running down to my hand for the next hour. My bike has to be dragged down the mountain the seconds stage. The bike had trouble starting after every fall due to safety feature. Finally I completely bonked after having a heart rate of 160 bpm for 3+ hours. Which is more then when I run a marathon or half. i ended up only finishing half the stages officially putting me 8th from last out of ~100 people in my class.

  Even if the races didn't go as planned always the first six month of of owning this bike has shown me that I absoluty made the right purchase. There is no other bike I would choose for my style and stupidity I try to achieve on this bike. I can commute to work one day and next hit to motocross track all while being able be 50 state legal. thats all my thought for this chapter but there will definitely be more as I'm taking this bike with me across the country to move to Rainy state of Oregon.