     HONDA CRF450L / CRF450RL SUPERMOTO CONVERSION GUIDE: Benefits: The beauty of dual sport bikes like the Honda CRF450L/RL is that it can be two bikes in one... with the stock knobbies, you have a capable off-road bike, and by adding a set of 17" supermoto wheels and tires, you can also have a capable commuter or back road corner carver. Some of the additional benefits when riding on the street are...
Conversion.... what you'll need to do: Converting a Honda CRF450L/RL to a supermoto is pretty straightforward. All you really need is a set of 17" supermoto wheels like the ones we use from Warp 9 Racing, and then some 17" supermoto tires like the Dunlops or Avons we use (see details below). There are a few things you need to do to fit the smaller 17" wheels/tires. Up front, in order to clear the smaller 17" supermoto tire, you have to re-route the front brake line to the outside of the fork leg and also trim the plastic lower fork protectors so they clear the front tire. One bonus with the CRF450L/RL.... you won't need to source a shorter kickstand like you do on most supermoto conversions, to accommodate the 17" wheels/tires... the stock CRF450L/RL kickstand seems to work just fine. Please note, that if you've lowered your bike with a lowering link, and you convert to a supermoto, then that kickstand will be an issue and the bike will sit more straight up than you'll want it to. Gearing: What front and rear sprocket size you choose to run on your supermoto is a personal preference thing, and really does depend on the type of riding you do. On our CRF450RL supermoto project bike we initially went with a 50T rear sprocket (stock 13T front) but the bike was turning too high RPM at higher speeds. We then switched to a 46T sprocket, and on the mostly twisty back roads we ride with speeds topping out around 60-65mph, the 46T works nicely. On another one of our CRF450RL SM project bikes, we did a 44T rear and I really liked that as well. It seems like the most popular choices for this bike are 44T, 45T, or 46T (with stock size front sprocket). Speedo/ODO Calibration: If you purchase our Warp 9 supermoto wheels, they will include a ring that mounts to the brake rotor that the speedo/odo sensor reads from, and this will keep your speedometer and odometer accurate. So there is no need to re-calibrate it once you install your new wheels. HONDA CRF450L / CRF450RL SUPERMOTO WHEELS: We use Warp 9 Supermoto wheels on all of our supermoto conversions. Their wheels are available in a couple different styles, and many different color combinations, Warp 9 offers a traditional spoked wheelset requiring tubes, and they now also offered those spoked wheels in a tubeless option, and lastly they offer a forged aluminum mag style wheelset that is also tubeless. Included with each wheelset is a rear sprocket as well as front/rear brake rotors. Listed below are the two different styles of Warp 9 supermoto wheels... Honda CRF450L / CRF450RL SUPERMOTO TIRES: With the Warp 9 wheels discussed above, there is an option to order the wheels either by themselves, or you can order them with tires already mounted and balanced. Current tire options from Warp 9 are listed on the product page for the wheels. If you don't like Warp 9's selection of tires, you can obviously source your own separately and have them mounted/balanced locally. We've put together a separate CRF450L/RL Supermoto Tire Guide which you can access at the link below... As for tire sizes, for a CRF450L/RL supermoto we generally run a 120/70-17 front tire, and either a 140/70-17 or a 150/60-17 rear tire (we use the latter). Honda CRF450L / CRF450RL Supermoto Inner Tubes: We only use high quality Michelin tubes on all of our supermoto's... OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER: The stock mirrors are functionally OK, but they don't look very good, especially on a supermoto. We've got the answer with our under-handlebar mounted supermoto mirrors... Protect your forks, swingarm, etc from being damaged in a tip over or crash, with a set of Warp 9 axle sliders for the front and rear... Your stock front fender might look a little big once you put the smaller 17" front and rear wheel/tire setup on, and if you don't like the look, try a smaller supermoto fender like the one from Polisport... we use it on our CRF450RL supermoto conversion and it looks much better than the stock fender IMHO... Skid Plates are popular on off-road bikes, but we also use them on all of our supermoto's. They help keep the front of your engine and frame clean, and also protect it from road debris. It's much easier to wipe off the skid plate than trying to keep the underside of the engine and frame clean. We like the plastick skid plates from Moose and TM Designworks... The stock footpegs on these bikes are pretty nice, but if you are looking to upgrade, we like the ones from DRC and Zeta Racing... HONDA CRF450RL PROJECT BIKES: Click images below to see our Honda CRF450RL supermoto conversions...
HONDA CRF450RL PROJECT BIKE VIDEOS: |
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