To distort an old saying about trailer parks: You can take the 450R off the motocross track, but you can't take the motocross out of the 450R. However, Scott Summers has attempted to defy that logic with his extreme CRF450R makeover. His current steed bears little resemblance to the bike he brought to our annual 24-Hour test (June '04). And after having spent another day with his ever-evolving creation, we are interested to see what changes he'll make to the CRF450X in 2005.
Why do I say that? Take a close look at his Honda, and you'd have to be far-sighted not to notice Summers is a tinkerer-no bolt was left untouched in his quest to convert the red moto-missile into a modern, lighter and faster version of his five-time GNCC championship-winning XR600R. The end result is visually closer to the notorious XR650R-though it could be the fork, color and seat foam that give that misleading appearance. But make no mistake about it: This bike is a racing thoroughbred that rewards the jockey who rides it hard and fast. It gets downright rude at an average trail pace. Trust me on that one: I discovered intimately how Summers' works bike can behave.
It was after about the third or fourth time I stalled the bike, and I was trying my best not to block the trail as I pulled in the hot-start lever and hoisted my ever-heavier right foot up on the kickstarter to pump some life into the quiet engine, that I recalled how I ended up in this mess. I was sitting in my cozy cube editing something or other when the phone rang. The voice on the other end said, "Hi, Bryan, this is Scott Summers. I'm calling to see if you guys would be interested in trying my bike. I've got it pretty dialed in now." He proceeded to inform me that after a year of trials and tribulations, he had his CRF just about where he wanted it, and it was quite different from the unit we sampled previously.
Honestly, I still get a kick out of the fact that the Scott Summers knows my phone number, even after four years at Dirt Rider. My first job for the magazine was to test Summers' 2000 XR650R. It was only my second time on a bike after six months spent recovering from a broken foot. To say it was a bit intimidating to ride a hero's bike would be an understatement. This was the guy I saw win the '92 Blackwater 100. Summers won in spite of breaking his wrist halfway through the 100-mile torture session! He told me he continued on because if he could win the Blackwater, he would have the title sewn up and could afford to miss a round and recover. Yeah, that's hero stuff to me.
Sooner rather than later, it was time to meet Summers at the final GNCC in Indiana. Of course, Mother Nature ensured I would have plenty of mud to play in as it rained hard prior to the race. I was still excited and even considered doing the entire two hours, but test consultant and eight-time enduro champion Dick Burleson suggested it would be good to split the race with Senior Editor Karel Kramer, so he could form an opinion about the bike, too. Hmm, I thought, DB's hinting at something here; he knows my skill level, or lack thereof, so I take his advice very seriously. Sure enough, after not having raced a GNCC in almost two years, I quickly discovered I couldn't hammer through the mud, ruts, roots and whoops and over angled logs at anywhere near the pace at which Summers does. But that realization didn't hit until I got the big girl lit on the starting line. Yeah, that was my plan: Let the crowd bolt off spewing mud and sliding around, then slowly ease off the line and catch the pack in the firmer mud in the woods. Well, at least I had clean goggles when I caught the group-which was cool. I was amped! The bike definitely has get-up-and-go. In fact, I went from almost dead last to passing the rear element before we reached the tight woods!