I just could not help myself! After a few beers on Friday night at the Marina pub, I shook hands on a deal that added a snorting beast into my stable.
An expat buddy, leaving the island in a hurry, needed to offload this clean CRF 450 X at a killer price. And it is plated!!

Well I took it for a 50 Km loop home over mountain passes and a few gnarly paved two tracks in the forest.

First impressions are that it is always trying to kill you whenever you attempt to move your right hand anti clockwise. The power and acceleration, compared to the KLX is indescribable. And almost unrideable.

But I soon got used to it. It is a lot lighter than the KLX and everything happens a lot faster. This is not a daily driver by any stretch of the imagination. Purely a beast to be unleashed on weekends.

My trusty KLX will remain my weapon of choice for when I want to get somewhere without arriving scared sh*tless and laughing hysterically at the same time.

 

What???!!!...It's not a KTM?...Oh the humanity!

Cool looking rig. I've been impressed with Honda this year at the Dakar. Reigning Dakar champ, Marc Coma, has his KTM hands full trying to deal with all the good running Hondas at the halfway mark of the 2-week race, and a Honda is in first place right now. You're right on the power delivery of these beasts...even the X model. When you look at the power band of modern 250 4-stroke race bikes, riding a 450 in some situations is like trying to ride a Saturn-5 rocket. At least it will make a hoot of a pavement supermoto the way it's set up.

 

That thing looks sweet!!
What's the maintenance like on a machine like that?

 

It needs a rack for the beer!

 

Probably a new top end per tank of gas! Ha.
The manual states a new piston every 15 hours, but forums state you can at least triple that if you are not racing.
I would hazard a guess that once a year top end would suffice if I use it on weekends. I am going to do some research, but for now the previous owner had the bike done a few months ago when the super yacht he works on berthed in the UAE, so I have some breathing space to thrash it a bit..