A Grand Life: What $1000 Did For Two Bikes

In the last few years it appears that current and former dirt riders are realizing that track days or a good ride off-road are critical to mental health and general well-being. Heck, even wives are getting in on the deal. Many of my friends have shown up at rides unexpected, and sheepishly admitted that their better half told them to, "go ride and come back in a better mood!" Despite the expense of our sport, the smiles-per-dollar factor remains high. Still, times are tough, so we asked two folks to build up non-current bikes with no more than a grand in mods. Doug Dubach of Dubach Racing turned pro on the cheap when he was young. He raced rebuilt used bikes that were at least a year old until he earned a factory ride. Jay Clark is a different breed. In politics he would be called a lobbyist, but basically he comes up with project bike ideas, and generally not cheap ones, but we wouldn't budge on the budget, so this is what they came up with.

Dubach knows a diamond in the rough, and he snatched up this forgotten race bike for $3200. The engine was fine, and it already had Enzo suspension mods and a DRD exhaust, but the rest of the bike was a little tired and the header was smashed. Though most of the suspension work could be performed at home, Dubach didn't push our price limit, and he had the suspension serviced and the seals replaced at retail. Two Dunlops came off of eBay for $100, the chain and sprockets were replaced, and an hourmeter was mounted. Dubach Racing offers a pipe refurbishing service, so the rear of the pipe was polished and repacked, and a new-for-2010 header with a sound chamber was added. When the bike was finished, we met Team D at Glen Helen for a true test. Rains had left the track in incredible condition, but it soon grew deep and full of nasty bumps. At the time we were finishing months of testing on brand spanking new and technically advanced FI 450s, and we were testing 2009 and 2010 Honda CRF450Rs the same day. So how did a two-year-old race bike feel in this company? Pretty darn good. The guys at Dubach Racing maintain their own high-level race bikes, and this bike, despite the age and the hours, has solid brakes, a tight chassis, able suspension and a strong, usable engine. A few of our test crew actually prefer the riding position of the '08 to the new bikes.

The carbureted engine isn't as instant in response as the FI 450s. With the DRD exhaust the boost comes on smoothly with low rpm chug that is a little chunky and chuggy, but there is no tendency to stall easily. Pick up the rpm a little and a fat midrange kicks in. That midrange and the good high-rev pull made easy work of the Glen Helen hills. The Enzo suspension was originally set up for an intermediate, and that worked well for our pro guys but was a little stiff for the slower guys. DRD also put on a radiator lowering kit to allow the bike to feel lighter with a lower center of gravity, like the new bikes do.

The important point is that careful maintenance and setup, mechanical refreshing and a good choice when shopping produced a bike that most any regular guy would be proud to have at the track. Add in the fact that the total cost is under $4200, and this is one sweet machine. The new tires will eventually wear out, and the engine will need oil changes and such, but otherwise this 450 is set for another year of track fun. Talk about smiles-per-dollar, this bike is half-priced fun.

Even when you consider the economy, Honda sold a lot of 2009 CRF450Rs, and many of those same riders spent a fair chunk of change working with the suspension on those bikes. Most of those riders would be assuming that a 2010 would require additional costly suspension mods, despite the fact that the 2010 Honda 450R is a vast improvement in the suspension area. The '09 owners know how important personalized suspension is. When Jay Clark eyed his $1000 working capital, he was aiming at an engine package that would make '09 owners want to keep their bikes. His plan worked. One pro tester opted to keep his '09 after riding this bike. For the price of a medium-level exhaust system, this bike makes serious boost, yet is amazingly easy to ride. To start, thinking that any year-old bike should probably have a new top end anyway, Clark installed a Vertex high-compression piston kit. The piston comes complete for $196.99, so it is really not much more money than stock. Next up was a Hot Cams stage 2 cam all buttoned up with Cometic gaskets. Tokyo Mods has a service that will remap the stock FI box for $50. This bike had a general MX curve, but Tokyo Mods has an off-road map, or you can request specifics. If you aren't happy, the company will remap it at no charge. The final engine mod was a stainless steel FMF slip-on muffler. The clutch pull on these bikes is firm, and a Works Connection perch made a nice improvement there. At that point there was money left in the budget, and Clark knew it should go to suspension tuning, but there wasn't enough cash left. In the end he chose Flu Designs graphics and seat cover for $99. On the track the non-slip seat cover turned out to be a performance aid.

This bike has a monster motor. It is strong off the bottom without being crazy, so the bike can be finessed in technical sections. Then in the mid it is crazy fast, yet it revs out hard as well. The Glen Helen track was incorporating some massive hills, and this bike was insanely fun and effective at turning them into molehills. With each gear upshift the rpm drop right into the meat of the power. Starting was easy and clean, and the bike ran fine on pump gas, and that was on a cool day with max traction and huge hills. That is a combination that usually promotes detonation, but we didn't hear a bit.

Clark started with a leftover, but new, 2009 Honda, so the bike obviously felt super fresh and tight, but the stock suspension holds the bike back. Many of our riders had never even considered wanting more power from a 450, but this engine changed the thinking of most. More good power is really nice, and at this price, it makes sense. If you need to do the top end anyway, it makes dollars and sense. But as we said at the beginning, it's a more intriguing concept for a rider who already has the chassis dialed.