HONDA CRF450X PROJECT: BEHIND THE BUILD

To say the Honda CRF450X has a special place in the history of off-road endurance racing is a tragic understatement. The “X” is a dynasty on wheels. Since its arrival in 2005, the Honda CRF450X has won the SCORE Baja 1000 16 times. It has also won the Baja 500 12 times and the 24 Hours of Glen Helen 11 times. It seems that any race that includes sunrises and sunsets is a place that calls to the X.

In all that time, there have been two generations of the 450X. The original, which was based on the first Honda CRF450R motocross bike, returned year after year with minimal changes. The current version arrived in 2019, along with a dual-sport variation built on the same platform. Everything about the newer version was different, except the bike’s general personality. It was still sold as a trail bike designed to be quiet, clean and friendly. It still conforms to the EPA’s definition of an off-road vehicle and is eligible for a California Green Sticker. Nothing about that mission provides any insight into the bike’s record of racing success. Quite the opposite; as delivered, the CRF450X is no race bike. It’s up to the owner to make it into one.

A WELL-TRAVELED ROAD

There are two reasons the Honda X has been so successful for so long. Half is because the bike itself has the right fundamentals; it’s ultra-reliable and handles well at speed. The other half is because there’s a suitcase of knowledge that’s been passed from one team to another for almost two decades. You don’t just show up in Ensenada with a motorcycle and expect to win. It takes information to succeed. That information has to be accumulated the hard way—with success and failure in real races. Bruce Ogilvie started racing Baja in the mid-’70s, and the knowledge bank he’s accumulated has been passed down to Johnny Campbell Racing, Ox Motorsports, Team SLR and Champion Adventures, growing more detailed every step of the way. Those teams have shared members over the years and created a network of knowledge that is specific to the CRF450X and Baja.

So, how does the average rider tap into that bank of information? One way is through Colton Udall. Colton has been a common denominator for most of the teams that have been successful in Baja, either as a rider or as a bike builder. Now he is racing less and working more on Champion Adventures, where he attempts to share some of that knowledge. Last month he teamed up with Nic Garvin and Ciaran Naran to ride the 10 Hours of Glen Helen on our 2023 Honda CRF450X test bike. The demands for the 10-Hour are actually quite similar to those for Baja. Comfort and reliability are high on the list.

INFORMACIÓN DE TRANSFORMACIÓN

In the early days, the main way to transform the 450X from a play bike to a racer was to import as many parts off the motocross bike as possible. Now, that’s not especially true. Udall uses a surprising number of stock OE parts. That includes the head, crank and piston. The list of “R” parts includes the intake valve springs, the intake rocker arm, the right-side radiator and the camshaft. The cam is not a drop-in replacement for the stocker, however. It requires a little machine work.

The aftermarket list of parts starts with a Vortex ECU. The stock ignition is emissions-friendly and locked. Colton has developed his own mapping with the help of Kristian Kibby, who worked for the Geico Honda team. The process of making an EPA bike into a closed-course race bike continues with a coolant outlet kit that Udall makes himself. The stock “X” has a multi-function thermostat housing that includes emissions measures. The Champion kit simplifies it all and is about 3 pounds lighter. The Pro Circuit T4 exhaust system is another big weight-saver. Colton does not use the spark arrestor, but the mapping is effective either way. The airbox is opened up, as much to make filter changes easier as to promote airflow.

On the chassis side of the fence, the bike is the responsibility of Brandon Peterson at AHM Racing. The fork is not that different from that of an R. It’s re-valved and uses slightly stiffer springs. Brandon uses a DLC coating on the lower tubes and installs billet axle lugs. The rear suspension requires a little more work. AHM has a shockshaft replacement kit that ups the shaft diameter from 16mm to 18mm. The valving is reworked, and AHM also uses its own linkage. “The linkage holds up the rear better,” says Colton. “It makes the bike feel like it has more travel.”

The stock fuel tank is a monster on the “X” and only holds 2 gallons. IMS makes a 3-gallon tank that’s a little overkill for the needs of the 10-Hour, so the IMS 2.4-gallon tank for the 2020 CRF450R was used with a drybreak. This means you have to use the “R” shrouds. Other bolt-on parts include a Scotts steering damper with a BRP top clamp, IMS footpegs and Works Connection levers.

RACE DAY LIVE

There was no doubt that the bike would perform. Nic Garvin was clocked at 109 mph at Baja last year with the same basic build. For Glen Helen, the same gearing was used as Baja—14/52, which is 1 tooth up in both the front and rear.

As usual, the bike was completed late the night before the race, then it was rushed to the Dirt Bike studio for static photos. The 2023 10 Hours of Glen Helen was preposterously over-stacked, talent-wise. Usually, the heat of early summer in Southern California scares everyone away from long, tough races. In this case, the Red Bull KTM team was using the race for endurance testing, so the likes of Taylor Robert, Dante Oliveira, Mateo Oliveira and Ryan Morias were all stacked up on one team. No one was going to beat them. Colton, Nic and Ciaran ran third in the early laps, then had to spend time in the pits to sort out a faulty exhaust mount. They dropped to the back, and then slowly worked their way up to fourth overall. Not bad for what was a stock test bike a few days earlier.

There’s nothing experimental or exotic about Project X. It’s the product of years of racing experience. Anyone can build it and anyone can race it. Colton Udall is happy to share all that knowledge and tell riders where to get the various parts. You can contact him at ChampionAdventures.com.