mxbundy
Sponsoring Member
Christmas came a little early yesterday for the bundster!
I was supposed to go riding with a couple of guys that work at Honda yesterday. But my bike blew out the fork seals Sunday and I was not able to fix them in time, so I just loaded up the kids bike and figgured I would help out with all the kids that were going to be there.( everyone was bringing there kids, plus I brought my brother in laws kids out too)
But I had the forsight to bring my gear bag! :p
Well after getting there and getting the kids setup I settled in for the day just kicking back and watching the kids ride and talking with Bruce. ( one of the Honda guys, and my brother inlaws neighbor)
There was at least a group of about 15 to 20 riders.
After a while the subject came up about my bike, followed with the comments like "should have bought a Honda" and what not.
but what blew me away was when Chuck says " Well did you at least bring your gear?" Hell yes I replied!
So lets go for a ride he says! With which I say what am I gonna ride?
So Chuck comes back with, "Well Bruce has his 650 here and you can ride that, and we can take turns on my bike, a CR-450F."
Now I knew this was no ordinary 650, i already knew it was the 650 that they had raced in the 2000 Baja 1000! :aj:
That was the main reason I had went ahead and brought my gear. I had wanted to con my way into a ride on that bike. Bruce has been talking them up, and I am considering one as a race bike for the Best in the Desert series.
So we take off , me on the 650 and Chuck on the 450. First off, this bike had the tall baja gearing on it, good for 115 mph, and it still was a beast! First was still almost to low and 5th, well I never really got up to 5th gear! :scream:
It is basically stock motor wise, just the power up cam and a Pro-Circuit pipe. But man this thing rips. It is not a rever and I thing the tranny is optional. No mater what gear I was in nose bleeding acceleration was just a throttle twist away!
And the bike handled great for such a heavy bike. Those that know me know that I am no lite weight. (6'4"-265#)
But the bike handled the deepest whoops just fine, and the suspension was with out a dought the plushest I have ever ridden. Plush with great bottoming control.
Then we stop to take a break and Chuck says, do you want to switch bikes? Sure, so off we go with me on the 450.
Now, I dont think there could be 2 bikes this much different that are buy the same manufacturer. The tourqe of the 650 was replaced with a mad almost 2 stroke wail. It makes my KTM seem like a minibike and would spank any 520 too.
Any movement with the throttle translates into either a forward burst of speed, or a front tire clawing at the sky, usually both!
And the suspesion was beyond words. it deflected in the rocks, MX valving I thought to myself, but would suck up whoops and G outs like no bike I have ever ridden. In fact the faster you go the plusher it gets. I could hold it wide open in the nastiest desert whoops and it would just go staight as as a board. And with the power that this thing has, it would wheelie in the same whoops almost efortlessly.
After we got back to camp, I got off the bike and was just dumbfounded. I have ridden plenty of 450`s before.(a ridding buddy has a new 03) But not like this one.
So i give it the eagle eye. Almost immediatly i notice it has a works shock and fork. Okay, that explains the suspension.
So I ask Chuck about the motor, " Whats this thing got for a motor, because I have ridden plenty of 450`s and this is on another world. Cam, piston? He says it has everything and then some. Then that is when he drops the bomb, yeah this is a special bike, it was Ryan Hughes works bike and Larocco rode the last 3 nationals of the 2001 national mx series on it! It was just gathering dust in the back of the shop, so I put a clean filter in it and brought it out.
Man I just about died. :flame:
So with a closer inspection , sure enough, there was all the little frame gussets, the reinforced works radiators, the works brakes and master cylinders.
And it has a rather unique hot start button/ compression release system. When you go to start a warm engine, you always pull the hot start lever, you can feel it working on the cam lobes as you kick it. But it will start right up. I know as I stalled it a couple of times.
So you can say that I was in heaven. After our first ride I took both bikes out several more times until I flattened the front tire on the 650 slamming into a g- out that must of had a sharp rock in the bottom. So with that , I decided that I had tempted fate one to many times and decided to call it a day and just watch the kids ride.
But man this is one day that I will remember for ever!
bundy
I was supposed to go riding with a couple of guys that work at Honda yesterday. But my bike blew out the fork seals Sunday and I was not able to fix them in time, so I just loaded up the kids bike and figgured I would help out with all the kids that were going to be there.( everyone was bringing there kids, plus I brought my brother in laws kids out too)
But I had the forsight to bring my gear bag! :p
Well after getting there and getting the kids setup I settled in for the day just kicking back and watching the kids ride and talking with Bruce. ( one of the Honda guys, and my brother inlaws neighbor)
There was at least a group of about 15 to 20 riders.
After a while the subject came up about my bike, followed with the comments like "should have bought a Honda" and what not.
but what blew me away was when Chuck says " Well did you at least bring your gear?" Hell yes I replied!
So lets go for a ride he says! With which I say what am I gonna ride?
So Chuck comes back with, "Well Bruce has his 650 here and you can ride that, and we can take turns on my bike, a CR-450F."
Now I knew this was no ordinary 650, i already knew it was the 650 that they had raced in the 2000 Baja 1000! :aj:
That was the main reason I had went ahead and brought my gear. I had wanted to con my way into a ride on that bike. Bruce has been talking them up, and I am considering one as a race bike for the Best in the Desert series.
So we take off , me on the 650 and Chuck on the 450. First off, this bike had the tall baja gearing on it, good for 115 mph, and it still was a beast! First was still almost to low and 5th, well I never really got up to 5th gear! :scream:
It is basically stock motor wise, just the power up cam and a Pro-Circuit pipe. But man this thing rips. It is not a rever and I thing the tranny is optional. No mater what gear I was in nose bleeding acceleration was just a throttle twist away!
And the bike handled great for such a heavy bike. Those that know me know that I am no lite weight. (6'4"-265#)
But the bike handled the deepest whoops just fine, and the suspension was with out a dought the plushest I have ever ridden. Plush with great bottoming control.
Then we stop to take a break and Chuck says, do you want to switch bikes? Sure, so off we go with me on the 450.
Now, I dont think there could be 2 bikes this much different that are buy the same manufacturer. The tourqe of the 650 was replaced with a mad almost 2 stroke wail. It makes my KTM seem like a minibike and would spank any 520 too.
Any movement with the throttle translates into either a forward burst of speed, or a front tire clawing at the sky, usually both!
And the suspesion was beyond words. it deflected in the rocks, MX valving I thought to myself, but would suck up whoops and G outs like no bike I have ever ridden. In fact the faster you go the plusher it gets. I could hold it wide open in the nastiest desert whoops and it would just go staight as as a board. And with the power that this thing has, it would wheelie in the same whoops almost efortlessly.
After we got back to camp, I got off the bike and was just dumbfounded. I have ridden plenty of 450`s before.(a ridding buddy has a new 03) But not like this one.
So i give it the eagle eye. Almost immediatly i notice it has a works shock and fork. Okay, that explains the suspension.
So I ask Chuck about the motor, " Whats this thing got for a motor, because I have ridden plenty of 450`s and this is on another world. Cam, piston? He says it has everything and then some. Then that is when he drops the bomb, yeah this is a special bike, it was Ryan Hughes works bike and Larocco rode the last 3 nationals of the 2001 national mx series on it! It was just gathering dust in the back of the shop, so I put a clean filter in it and brought it out.
Man I just about died. :flame:
So with a closer inspection , sure enough, there was all the little frame gussets, the reinforced works radiators, the works brakes and master cylinders.
And it has a rather unique hot start button/ compression release system. When you go to start a warm engine, you always pull the hot start lever, you can feel it working on the cam lobes as you kick it. But it will start right up. I know as I stalled it a couple of times.
So you can say that I was in heaven. After our first ride I took both bikes out several more times until I flattened the front tire on the 650 slamming into a g- out that must of had a sharp rock in the bottom. So with that , I decided that I had tempted fate one to many times and decided to call it a day and just watch the kids ride.
But man this is one day that I will remember for ever!
bundy
