Shifting is flawless and the gear spacing spoton. This is one of the areas that really separates the X from the R. First is usable down to a crawl without too much need for clutch to go seriously slow. From first on up the gaps in the spacing are never an issue, always a good jump up in speed to drop the rpm back into the sweet spot. Fifth is plenty fast for most off-road riding, but riders who like a sixth speed for dirt road work hate revving the CRF up so high in fifth to go 60-70 mph.
 If you like a moto feel in...  If you like a moto feel in your trailbike, Honda has you covered. | | |
Like we mentioned before, the chassis gets a big reduction in weight feel, especially through the bar compared to former CRF-Xs as well as in comparison to its classmates. The differences are in the lesser amount of force a rider must use to get the bar turning and in how little effort it takes to start the bike leaning into a turn. This feeling also carries to the side-to-side transition in backto- back turns, but it isn't as impressive here as the feeling through the bar. The front wheel also has more bite on the ground, and on our bike the front tire actually seemed to wear quicker than in the past. Good thing the tire got an upgrade.
If there's limited traction, some riders thought the bike was pushing or tucking the front end. Getting aggressive up front has taken away the laziness and requires a little more attention from the rider. And the damper is doing a lot of the work for you. Most riders don't really feel it like they'd expect, a condition current aftermarket decent traction. When you have to use the clutch, steering dampers have conditioned us to. There's very little, if any, feeling you get that would make you say, "That's the damper." But somehow it calms the steering so the bike isn't twitchy, and we never endured any headshake. In fact, almost all of our riders ran the steering damper at full stiff, or very near it, prompting us to think that Honda was pretty conservative on its setting. Yes, even in tight and technical lock-to-lock trees.
The suspension was another area that saw improvement yet at the same time took on another feel we weren't so stoked on. When bikes get a lighter feel, they often get a little bit stiffer feeling on the front end. This is what happened to the CRF. The fork was valved lighter for better performance in Eastern conditions. It definitely acts like it's softer. Now the bike will blow into and through the stroke like an off-road bike should. At the same time it's sprung stiff enough to hold the bike up in the stroke and keep it plush. Whether the spring is just a little too stiff or the new tire, which is stiffer, aids in transmitting this feel, a lot of our riders felt the front end was transmitting more of the trail even though the bike was absorbing the bumps just fi ne. We cured the bottoming by adding a few cc of oil to each leg, and adding a little compression to the fork actually made the ride somewhat plusher, too, yet the bike doesn't display any of that "dead plush" feel of the past, something that felt better yet worked terribly in eastern conditions. The rear end felt as dialed as always, doing it all pretty well.
We're pretty sure the performance on either end of the scale can be criticized, like small bump steering dampers have conditioned us to. There's compliance in roots and rocks or the ability of the bike to handle jumps and high-speed whoops. But for the regular junk you'd come across on a trail ride and in races like a GNCC, the bike will get the job done, and much better than the old CRF-X. The range of adjustment should suit most riders, and the high-speed compression on the shock really aids this.