The development continues through to the chassis. The frame is vastly different to that found on the ‘R’ model. At first glance it appears unchanged but closer study reveals that it is in fact an all new version fourth-generation twin-spar aluminium frame that forms the backbone of the CRF450X.

The lower frame rails have slightly thicker walls than the ‘R’, the steering head casting is all new and the jointing at the front of the frame also differs. New pivot plates bolt to both sides while the frame gussets have also changed in both shape and size. Finally the removable rear subframe is of a stronger new box section design.

All these changes were developed during a gruelling multi continent testing program that ran for 10 months with the aim of finding the best balance between rigidity and flex. As you would expect as an enduro bike is expected to cover terrain with a lot more variables than just the differences between motocross circuits.

I recently sampled a pre production version of the new CRF450X in a variety of terrain across mountain ranges stretching from the ACT into New South Wales. The first day was spent on a mixture of tight open terrain while the second was spent on an extremely tight and tricky enduro loop complete with some hair raising climbs and descents on some very rocky and challenging terrain. The CRF450X was untroubled by any challenge I could muster.

The steering is quite light and the bike reassuringly stable at speed although I am sure safari experts will be fitting an adjustable steering damper anyway.

For a particularly gnarly series of rocky outcrops littered with fallen logs I took some advice from Australian Safari expert Jamie Cunningham by backing off the front compression damping to the tune of six clicks, taking three clicks off the rear low speed compression and a full turn out of the high speed compression. This allowed the bike to shrug off the rocks and branches like they were hardly even there.

Like its smaller 250cc sibling the CRF450X suffers very little from wheel deflection no matter how much punishment is pushed through the dual-chamber inverted 47mm Showa forks. I find this one of the highlights of the ‘X’ models as it allows the rider to relax more which helps to better manage fatigue levels. It also allows those with meagre levels of skill in the dirt to negotiate terrain that on many other mounts would simply prove too challenging. In short, it can make a very average rider look quite good indeed and able to stay upright when otherwise they might be picking themselves up off the ground.

The forks are sublime and feature slightly stiffer springs than those found in the ‘R’ model (0.47kgf/mm v 0.46kgf/mm for those that have to know the specifics) to help compensate for the increase to a road ready 113kg dry weight. 314mm of travel is provided by the forks with 16 rebound damping settings complemented by 16 compression adjustments. Showa also provide the Pro Link rear shock which offers 17 rebound tweaks, 13 low speed compression settings and 3.5 turns of high speed compression adjustment. Enough to satisfy the most compulsive of knob twiddlers but here their time won’t be wasted as the changes can be clearly felt whilst riding.

Compared to the ‘R’ model the rear suspension on the CRF450X provides less of a rising rate progression and slightly less compression damping to help with compliance on the roughest of tracks while the shock piston is a beefy 50mm to help provide fade free performance.

Ground clearance is ample enough to clear just about any obstacle if employing correct technique.

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