Agreed 100% I think you mean WR450F, though ).

Yep, there's no such thing as a WR450R. The WR450F is cut from the exact same cloth as the CRF450X...both come from a detuned MX bike lineage, and as such they're not maintenance free road machines.

As supermotos go, unless you're talking track use, I'd think you're already at the point of diminishing returns with your KLX supermoto. I'd keep the sportbike around if I were you, unless your long road rides happen to be like go cart tracks (which would be really fun).

 

The WR450F (off road bike) is based on an engine design that traces it's roots back to the 1998 YZ400F (motocross bike). It has a five valve head that is pretty durable if maintained, but is more expensive to repair than a four valve head. The five valve design works well enough, but really is out of date; the five valve design started in Yamaha sport bikes, but Yamaha abandoned five valve heads in their sportbikes quite a while back for up to date four valve designs. The YZ250F (and it's WR250F descendant) was the last new five valve engine from Yamaha; everything since has been four valve.

In 2010, Yamaha introduced a competely new YZ450F with the backwards facing, four valve head, among other "innovations." Oddly enough, from reports so far, it might turn out the new YZ450F backwards motor is even more reliable than the old five-valve model.

It seems that all the manufacturers have made huge improvements over the past several years in the reliability of their 'performance' four strokes, mainly in terms of valvetrain reliability.

 

ok... that makes more sense.

The KLX is amazing in the local twisties, but i would like something that can cruise the highway easier (like the ninja) if i want to actually go and ride somewhere beyond the immediate area.

I guess i'm just foolishly looking for the best of both worlds, a bike that can do some distance comfortably but one that you don't need to risk a felony traffic violation to actually have fun on.

 

Yes, Lutz...those are the bikes I was describing...WR and YZ. However, I would like to have a WR450R in the vein of the WR250R...LOL!

 

Now that is something I'd like to see as well!

 

my 02, if you want a supermoto for the street buy one. You often get better brakes , shorter swingarm and full legal lighting and quality wiring and switchgear. If you want to race supermoto get a crf or yzf or KXFand covert it if you wnat a japanese bike. If you go euro you may be able to buy a race ready bike.

SM's don't sell well for some reason around here and dealers always have deals on leftovers and used bikes. My bud picked up a 570 husaberg SM recently for a good price, it hauls azz. Huskys also can be found, as their value drops fast, A 510 Husky would also be another good find.

 

Pretty much. No bike does everything well unfortunately. I used to have a KLX250SF and I was looking for more power so I starting checking out whats out there. I wanted more power but I wanted to avoid sport bikes such as the CBR's and GSXRs. There was a lot of stuff I loved about the KLX but a lot of things that go hand in hand with the KLX dont go hand in hand with going fast or covering lots of miles on the freeway. I commute on my bike, mostly on city streets so I love the idea of a 250lb 45 horse bike to tear around on but pretty much all that's out there are race bikes. I don't think you want to deal with race bike maintenance intervals while racking up street miles. If you went with a KX450F (or similar) not only are you looking at $$$$ to get it converted to a supermoto and plated your looking at expensive and frequent maintenance. Then I started to looking into the huskies/husaberg as you get a street legal motard right out of the box from them but their maintenance is insane (like full rebuild every year). I asked a guy who owns a Husky 450SMR if they really do the maintenance or if you could get by withing doing it to the letter of Huskies recommendations. One guy tried to stretch it out and his connecting rod broke and locked the engine up and he ended up in a ditch with a wrecked bike. The last thing i want is a bike I have to completely tear apart every year and spend a bunch of time and money to keep running.

I eventually found the KTM duke. Not cheap by any means but pretty close to what I was looking for 320 lbs and roughly 60-65 horsepower. I've had mine a few months now and its a blast. I checked into the maintenance before I bought the KTM and its practically the same as the KLX! I snagged mine as a dealer left over so I got a good deal. I highly recommend the KTM, it rides just like the KLX just a bit wider between your knees but other wise it feels super light. Its pretty close to the perfect bike for me. A little more wind protection to ease long freeway trips is all I could really ask for. Here she is.

 

in the huskys the 510 is a better race bike, the 610 is more better on the street (wide ratio vs close ration gearboxs). I have seen speedo indicated 100mph on ***** on a TE 610, they have a lot of power. The 510 is much lighter and revs quicker.

If your tall the ergo's on the huskys fit better than the husaberg, even the 570's.

 

The FS570 seems like a sweet bike and from what I read the maintenance isn't awful but its fairly high, or ridiculously high compared to a KLX. Husaberg owners manual calls for a oil change every 15 hours. Heres a link to the owners manual so you can check out the service recommdations.

http://husaberg.com/fileadmin/user_u...l_FE_09_EN.pdf

 

the are good bikes and they are a weapon to be reconed with, in any thing they do my first run in baja was on a 250x and the year after a 450x i have moved up to a xr650r never had a problem with mine i felt the e start only put wieght that could have been left off on the bike but thats just me(a shori batt. basically negates that) send the forks to factory conection and it will feel like a slot car, and the x models are much better for the maintenance side than the r bikes just due to cam specs but with a few parts here and there they will keep going without major incidence with normal service, i personaly love the honda unicam motors the big thing i love on them out of the box is how well they ride and respond it doesn't dissapoint for an off the shelf bike i cant say the same about the new wr450f and because they have been unchanged for so long it makes owning and moding one cheap and easy to do, the only thing i can say is if you are not a experanced rider a crf may not suit you too well because of how abrupt the power can be ans in the tight stuff this could becoume a handfull quickly