CRF 450 or KTM 520?

[JMD]

I am going to buy a 2002 thumper, either a 450 or a 520. I am intrigued by the 450's agility and trickness, but I ride mostly woods and hare scrambles. Would the 450 work as well as the KTM, if I make a few minor changes like gearing, suspension revalve? Or is the KTM by far the better woods bike? I haven't ridden the 450 yet. I have ridden the 520, and I felt like the power was almost too soft. I now ride a KTM 300.

 

[Strick]

Or, wait til next year and get a KTM 450 rfs.

 

[JMD]

Oh, thanks. Make my decision even harder! Besides, I hate to wait. I'll probably buy one now and get something else next year. Seriously, though, have you heard anything about a 450 RFS?

 

[JMD]

I've heard about the airbox problems on the CRFs. The one I'm looking at has had some trick work done to (purportedly) solve the problem. Overall, though, I'm leaning toward the KTM. The pumpkins are built tough, no doubt. Also, I think I could also register it for the street here in Tejas. It would be cool to have a dual-purpose bike that could blow the doors off most anything on the trails!

 

[marcusgunby]

All bikes have there failings-i had KTMs for 3 years but even KTMs have weak points-a few broken swing arms-lots of broken clevis joints on the PDS shocks ,wheel hubs breaking etc im not bagging on you wfocrusty, just trying to show a airbox leak isnt a good reason not to buy a 450,the 520 from what ive read is too much for most in the woods.

JMD The 520 can be a different bike when the jetting is altered to the YZ needle i believe(as per James Dean-jetting god)so if you rode one and it seemed tame then maybe it wasnt jetted as well as it could be.

 

[HiG4s]

Husqvarna TE450 !!!

 

[OLD STROKER]

If the 520 is to mellow for you, then you shouldn't even consider a 450 Honda from what I've heard.

 

[KevinB4stk]

A good friend of mine own's a CR450, another has a 02 400 E/XC I have a 01 520 E/XC. For all out wood's racing I would pick the 400, for just trail riding and ocasional wood's racing the 520, I absolutly would not own a CR450 for wood's riding or wood's racing.
I like the power of the 450, it's when you let off of the gass that I don't like and the lack of flywheel weight to help keep it running for us slow guy's.
If the 450 came from the factory with a wood's setup I would consider it, but it doesn't.

 

[Strick]

Originally posted by JMD
Oh, thanks. Make my decision even harder! Besides, I hate to wait. I'll probably buy one now and get something else next year. Seriously, though, have you heard anything about a 450 RFS?

It is only rumour at this point, but I have heard the 'rumour' from 3 totally unrelated sources. I have been told also that AMA is limiting the 4-stroke cc's in '02 (???) to 450 for the outdoors. Any feedback here welcome. So it would only make sense for Ktm to go that way. Probably along with some of the other colors as well.

I had a deposit down on a CRF450 and bought an '02 400SX. I have a good friend with an '02 520exc, and have recently ridden a CRF450. I am not going to give all my thoughts here, but if you send me and e-mail or PM, we can discuss.

 

[Eric82930]

Has any one compared the gear ratios between the crf450 and the KTM's RFS? The 6th gear would seem to make the 400 sx more versitile in the woods
but is first gear actually any lower? I remember reading somewhere that the older KTMs had a granny low 1st, but the new ones were geared higher.
I know the exc's have lower 1&2 than an mxc or sx.

 

[Nverfastenuf]

In my humble 02, the thing holding the 450 back for woods riding is the gearing. It is geared too high for tight woods. If a wide ratio kit becomes available(which surely will come to fruition), it will work well. One factor here is your mention of the 520 being too soft!!! If it is too soft, stay away from the 450. The 450 is definitely not a slouch, but it is not as strong as the 520. The 520EXC is great do it all bike and the gearing is a real +.

 

[Strick]

Originally posted by Eric82930
Has any one compared the gear ratios between the crf450 and the KTM's RFS? The 6th gear would seem to make the 400 sx more versitile in the woods
but is first gear actually any lower? I remember reading somewhere that the older KTMs had a granny low 1st, but the new ones were geared higher.
I know the exc's have lower 1&2 than an mxc or sx.

I would love to know the comparison. I have the primary ratio and all of the gear ratios (1-6) on my '02 400SX that I can post.

Can someone with a CRF post the primary ratio, and a gear by gear ratio (1-5) on the 450?

Thanks

 

[DougRoost]

If a 520 is too soft, I recommend building one of those canyon climbers in last month's Dirt Rider mag! 1000cc 4 cylinder street bike engine in a stretched frame bike might start to feel enough...

 

[dheard4992]

crf vs ktm

i havent ridden the new ktm but if it performs as well as the crf than my hat is off to ktm as they have an amazing bike on there hands.

 

[qtrmiler]

CRF Gear Ratios

I would love to know the comparison. I have the primary ratio and all of the gear ratios (1-6) on my '02 400SX that I can post. Can someone with a CRF post the primary ratio, and a gear by gear ratio (1-5) on the 450? Thanks

Here you are Strick

primary reduction is 2.739 (63/23) final reduction 3.846 (50/13)
1st 1.800 (27/15)
2nd 1.470 (25/17)
3rd 1.235 (21/17)
4th 1.050 (21/20)
5th 0.909 (20/22

love my CRF450 but could use a wider ratio gear set.:(

 

[Strick]

Thanks!

Here are the '02 400SX specs:
Primary ratio: 33:76

1st: 16:32,
2nd: 18:30,
3rd: 20:28,
4th: 22:26,
5th: 24:24,
6th: 21:18,

Stock sprockets : 14/50

 

[Strick]

Hey Rohrich;

Whaddyathink??????

CRF 5th gear ~ SX 4th gear

I find this very interesting!

Thanks again qtrmiler

 

[go4twisties]

Seems like nobody have mentioned that you can get the KTM with different gear ratios (close ratio or wide ratio) ... if i remember correctly, the EXC has the wide ratio ... i have a CRF450 and the gearing is a problem when you are going slow an nasty trails ... nothing that you can't solve though and the engine is really sweet ... also, i wouldn't really want a heavier bike then this ...

 

[wfocrusty]

Eric;

The overall spread from 1st thru 5th on both bikes is virtually the same. There are minor spread variations between the gears, but not enough to be of consequence. However, I would expect the Katoom to have lower gearing due to the smaller engine and the 6th gear.....it doesn't stock. You would have to gear the 400 around 54/13 to make the 1st gears correspond, and then you would still have another gear on the SX. I wonder how acceleration would compare if the400 was geared as such. Keep in mind that this is with the SX gearbox....the EX/C box has a substantially wider spread.

If any of you old farts remember, this is how we changed gearing on Huskies in the old days...the lower 5 gears were spaced farther apart for woods work. If we wanted to race MX, we would lower the gearing to use only 2nd thru 6th on the track.


:scream:

 

[Strick]

The ratios in terms of total reduction (ratio) are completely different throughout the range, except 5th on the CRF is nearly the same as 4th on the SX. You have to do the math to see it.

 

[bud]

If ktm make a 450exc next year and it does seem likely, it seems like that would take away sales from the 520? Unless they change the big bore to a 570 or so. Not that I've heard any rumour like that :D.

 

[DougRoost]

I would think they'd bump the 400 to 450cc for AMA and leave the 520cc for European races.

 

[Shaw520]

Originally posted by wfocrusty
If any of you old farts remember, the lower 5 gears were spaced farther apart for woods work. If we wanted to race MX, we would lower the gearing to use only 2nd thru 6th on the track.

Hmmmm, I resemble that remark,....Heck ,..I'm still doinn it that way, gotta have the granny gear for the most technical woods stuff,..everything else is done w/2nd gear +.

 

[wfocrusty]

Touche' Shaw;

The spread on my EX/C is quite a bit tighter in the upper five than the lower. Probably a bit more dramatic differance than the SX box. I installed a 13 tooth on front and can handily pull modified Banshees in the sand...which I didn't have a chance of doing on my 300 MX/C. According to my Panoram (accurate to the nearest micro-nannu nannu) it pulled 93 mph on the sand at Meunster. I nearly hurled when I hit the max on the speedo! I didn't think I was going anywhere near that fast.

:cool:

 

[qtrmiler]

Strick, your welcome Interesting subject as I too had trouble deciding if I was going to buy 520exc or crf450 parts availability and ease of selling won out this time. I'd love to ride a exc though and see if I made the right choice...