2019 Honda CRF 450L

Tex68w

Beach Bum
A few weeks back I took the bike on a back road exploration/discovery ride to the last known company town in Texas. The town of Newgulf is no longer much to look at, it's mostly abandoned streets are spotty with somewhat newer homes and a tiny elementary school that somehow keeps its doors open. The post office closed in 1993 and the mine was closed about the same time. The company was known as Texas Gulf Sulfur, later know as Texasgulf, it's Boiling Dome was and still is the largest producing sulfur mine in the world, having extracted over 81 million long tons of sulfur from the site. During the towns heyday they had over 1500 residents, multiple dry goods and clothing stores, a hospital and pharmacy, schools, a movie theater, a cafe and fountain, and even a country club and golf course. The town had a semi-pro baseball team back in the 20's and 30's and the field is still there and apparently used by a little league.

I was surprised to see that the original brick smokestacks still stood even though they stopped using them in the 1930's when they moved to natural gas. The plant was originally controlled by J.P Morgan and operated 24/7 from 1928 until 1994, if they stopped production the sulfur would solidify in the pipes. It was purchased by the french company Elf Aquitaine in 1981 and remained in their control until it closed. The company air strip still exists and I got a quick glance of it before being run off by a rancher who apparently owns or leases the entire factory/mine site these days. I had no idea that I was on private property the entire time haha.

The golf course, while over grown, can still be seen as it only closed down last year. The country club building still stands along with the pro shop and it appears that they are being maintained. Some of the original row houses owned by the company still stand and the segregated cemeteries are apparently still maintained and groomed as well. I enjoyed exploring what is now considered a "ghost town" but with at least 25 new homes I wouldn't go as far as calling it that myself. I always appreciate the history of place/town and I found myself wondering what it must have been like to be there back in its prime.

dSwjeHf.jpg

BZJYQ1I.jpg

z2nm5dr.jpg

gz5XdVG.jpg
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
I took the bike up to the Sam Houston National Forest last week. I had a lot of fun on the trails, but I was gassed by the end of the day. The trails are extremely sandy and there are miles and miles of whoops. I kept waiting for sections of trail to open the big 450 up, but it never came. Wrestling this big 4-stroke through tight, sandy, technical single track is a chore over an entire day and it has further reinforced my future purchase of a 250 or 300 two-stroke to accompany the 450 for this this type of riding. I plan to be back in the fall to hit the east side trails when they reopen. I wish I had gotten more pics of the actual trail but I was riding solo and trying to get through the entire thing and back home in a timely manner so I kept with the flow for the most part.

t8fyltf.jpg

ynEp8YB.jpg

TL6QKk4.jpg

KsJVPSf.jpg

aylTTDl.jpg

5af35Mh.jpg
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
Met a buddy on his 250L at a local off-road park this morning for some riding on their trails and track. I haven't been there in years but it certainly caters to the SxS and quad crowds these days with an emphasis on mud bogging and all out destruction of anything wet lol. Nevertheless, we made the best of it and rode everything we could and avoided the mud holes when possible. The little 250 did well in the smooth, wide open track stuff but his road biased front tire and crap suspension left him miles behind when we hit the sand, whoops, and berms.

The heat is officially here in south Texas, we started riding at 0930 and it was 81F, by noon when we quit riding it was already 93F and rising. I love this bike, it's really going to shine on my multi-day rides and out west and down in Baja, but I am looking forward to getting a smaller two-stroke soon for days like these.

pW4U1ts.jpg

BtnU1JS.jpg

dwg0rZW.jpg

Ypi9Jl0.jpg

f4N7Dao.jpg
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
I installed the Works Connection Radiator Braces/Guards this morning. I like how streamlined and low-profile the design is, it makes a for a very subtle look. I am happy to have the protection after already having had a few epic off's on this bike lol.

P5QqWZe.jpg

vUa5KGV.jpg
 
wow.....too funny that i was drooling over this bike on hondas website a few days back... i really miss my DR650.... i was going trans continent but never got around to it.
i had a set of supermoto wheels for everyday, larger tank, comfy seat, windscreen and custom pelican style case.
it was not light, and even jetted with exhaust i had to wring it out every day lol the thumper style with a carb was insanely fun

this bike in comparison could be flicked around in the middle of the street or the middle of the woods. Dont get me wrong, i could man handle the DR650, but dirt bikes are a totally different animal. For starters, i know i cant reach the ground on a 450 well enough after my recent back surgery. I do have plenty of experience, and my most recent bike was a Yamaha FJ09 which i was building for the same purpose

I am 230Lbs. I assume i would want to stiffen up the shocks, but do you have a weight of the bike in its current setup? Best all around Offroad oriented Dual sport available. Perfect to save the commuting miles on the powerwagon during the winter months here in florida
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
wow.....too funny that i was drooling over this bike on hondas website a few days back... i really miss my DR650.... i was going trans continent but never got around to it.
i had a set of supermoto wheels for everyday, larger tank, comfy seat, windscreen and custom pelican style case.
it was not light, and even jetted with exhaust i had to wring it out every day lol the thumper style with a carb was insanely fun

this bike in comparison could be flicked around in the middle of the street or the middle of the woods. Dont get me wrong, i could man handle the DR650, but dirt bikes are a totally different animal. For starters, i know i cant reach the ground on a 450 well enough after my recent back surgery. I do have plenty of experience, and my most recent bike was a Yamaha FJ09 which i was building for the same purpose

I am 230Lbs. I assume i would want to stiffen up the shocks, but do you have a weight of the bike in its current setup? Best all around Offroad oriented Dual sport available. Perfect to save the commuting miles on the powerwagon during the winter months here in florida

No exact weight at the moment, but the factory listed high 280's wet, I have already lost over 10lbs with things I have removed/upgraded so I would say it's around 275lbs wet and ready to ride. Don't be fooled by the euro bikes, they always list their weights dry so no oil, gas, or radiator fluid and sometimes that means no battery either. That's another 14lbs+ depending on how many quarts of oil it uses and the addition of radiator fluid, so a bike listed at 250lbs dry is easily 264lbs wet or more. You can at times feel the weight in the tight and technical stuff but it's a big bore bike, not a 200cc two-stroke so that is to be somewhat expected. In this category (450-501cc big enduro/dual sports) this bike is in a league of its own when it comes to on-road handling and ride characteristics.

At your weight you will want to mess with the springs to get the suspension better suited for your build. 160-190lbs and the stock setup should suffice, I still plan to have the suspension reworked eventually and I fall within that weight range. If you get serious, shop around. I got mine for $9100+TT&L and I have seen them listed as low as $8900, so don't pay full MSRP or anywhere near it.
 

Wallygator

Adventurer
I have added weight to mine with the skid and rack, etc. Probably close to 290 right now?? and don't care, the bike is great and keeping it mostly stock because I love how quiet it is.
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
Finally! What will I have to moan and groan about now that it is here lol?!

It is soooooo much better now. Smooth throttle response, no decel pop, smoother idle, no flame out or stall yet, cooler engine and exhaust, very happy upon this initial experience. I can't wait to get out hopefully later this week and ride it.



T2Y4YXa.jpg


4yANjJC.jpg
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
With an upcoming trip to Colorado on the horizon I knew the factory two gallon fuel tank wouldn't provide me with the fuel range I would need in order to cover the distances we are looking at doing. I am not one to have a bunch of fuel bottles, bladders and tanks strapped all over the bike and myself either so I knew I needed to add a larger tank ASAP. The IMS 3.0 tank does a good job of providing another gallon of fuel without taking away from the looks of the bike and it also adds protection to the sides of the radiators as well. Install was pretty straightforward and I will appreciate the longer range next month.

er6G191.jpg

fLG7i6M.jpg

6p9BdGe.jpg
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
I really wanted to hit some trails this morning but I had some stuff come up early on and I had to opt for a back roads ride instead in order to beat the heat. I connected some 62 miles of gravel roads out of 83 miles total and it was a blast. Most of it was ripping along side of row crop fields and I even had a crop duster fly overhead at one point.

She's finally ready for her 600 mile oil change so I'll be knocking that out later this evening.

vzTDhYP.jpg

Sujf5Cq.jpg

nbx5hP9.jpg
 

Wayaway

Member
Beach riding, back lake trails, night ride to the jetties, smooshed rattle snakes, beer run, a salty locals Mad Max fishing bike/quad/contraption, bikes still there in the morning, all in all it was a pretty good weekend.


TFjShrE.jpg
This photo made me smile.
 

Christian P.

Expedition Leader
Staff member
I am very interested by this bike, as I mentioned before. I came across this while looking for one.

Is this a real issue? Have you experienced this? That seems strange.

"I am selling a 2019 Honda CRF 450L. It only has 652 miles on it. A 600 mile service and the 1800 mile valve inspection service has been complete as well. There is a known intermittent issue with this year make model. When downshifting and burping the throttle, the bike can cut out sometimes. The bike is also still under warranty from the dealership so you can take it to the dealership to get fixed and it should be covered. There are also some scratches on the lt mirror, footpeg and rear signal. Because of this, I am selling the bike for under market value."

 

Forum statistics

Threads
185,533
Messages
2,875,601
Members
224,922
Latest member
Randy Towles
Top