Overall, this bike has a very unique handling character that I'm sure suits Ricky to a T. It starts out planted and stays that way around the track. You can really tell what the tires are doing. Although the bike turns just fine in the normal way, it also has unreal control when you're sliding the back end around. The point-and-shoot style of riding that is so common in supercross, a style that RC's supercross bike exemplified, was carried over to the 450. You can come into a turn and however you get the bike around, it doesn't matter. Finish turning or sliding the rear end, and once you are pointed in the right direction and say "go" with the throttle, or even with the clutch, the bike fires you out exactly where you are pointing and usually lifts the front wheel at the same time. This is the definition of a rear-steering machine. RC's bike didn't seem to need a berm of any sort. By habit I look for berms to hold a little extra speed through corners. RC's bike stuck whether or not there was a berm. And if I didn't like where the berm was, no big deal, because in three laps this bike had created its own or ripped a badly shaped turn into submission. The Race Replica Dunlops were working to their design limits.
With all the spinning and moving parts inside the engine lightened up, the bike feels feathery in the air. It feels as light as the new '05 CRF feels, just not as thin between the legs. And the bike stays light even if the rpm are sky-high, something that just doesn't happen on a stock four-stroke. But on the ground, the bike bites and gives a heavier sensation, almost as if it is sucked to the dirt.
Just as on other race bikes, RC has a very particular brake setup, and the Honda guys gave it to him. It seemed a little mushy, not as tight as on some of the other riders' bikes I've ridden, but just a little extra finger tension to the lever and the binders bite hard. His suspension moves a little slower than average, especially on the rebound side of things, but isn't as stiff overall as I'd expected. But then again, I'm not hovering near 155 pounds. In true works suspension fashion, you could hit things in ways that would bottom production suspension to no end yet still have a very plush and controlled end to the stroke. Never mind that my muscles didn't approve of the same level of G-forces as the shock and fork did. As for the bar and clamp setup, I didn't mind the rearward position of the clamp, as I feel bikes turn a little more confidently with the bar behind the steering center. But the low bar bend never allowed me to get comfortable. However, it wasn't my bike in the first place, and ultimately I had to give it up.
It's a rush and a responsibility riding factory bikes. I'm on the bike that could be argued is the world's best motocross bike, but it takes the world's best motocrosser to put it into first place. Case in point, I was having a hard time passing guys I'd normally ride right past. Why? That's easy: Because when I got lined up to pass, my wrist turned the throttle as it normally does. RC's bike either tried to explode out from underneath me or yanked me so out of shape I had to back off. Could I get used to it? Sure, but then I'd have to be in shape to ride it as it needs to be ridden for more than one lap. And if this level of machine, which in racing terms is way closer to what you can buy than in any other form of motorsports, is what it takes to run at the front, it is easy to see why so few are up there.