HONDA CRF450L
The CRF was the bike most riders professed to be surprised by. It’s fair to say most expected less from it, but to a man everyone came away impressed and keen to see what it was capable of over a longer term.
As we’ve described before, the CRF405L is what Yamaha should have released as the WR450R (Yamaha Australia knows this), but Honda beat them to it. We have more choice in ‘race-ready’ bikes than we need and a hole where all the trailbikes used to be. This is a problem arguably caused by the Japanese, but to see Honda address it directly is encouraging and they’ve done it damn well.
The CRF offers typically Honda-like ergos that are open and very ‘on-top.’ It’s a somewhat racey feel, borrowed from the CRF450R motocross bike on which it is largely
