Review | Honda CRF450RL
There are two ways to read the CRF450RL. If you came from a KTM 500 EXC-F, it feels like a dirt bike wearing a lead vest. If you came from a KLR650 or a DR650, it feels like someone finally built the thing you always wanted. Both reactions are correct, and which one you have says more about your riding history than it does about the bike.
Honda launched it in 2018 as the CRF450L, then renamed it the CRF450RL in 2021 to stop people filing it alongside the friendly little CRF250L. The name change did not entirely work, because the R in the middle implies a relationship to the CRF450R race bike that does not really exist. The RL is built much closer to the CRF450X trail bike. Once you understand that, everything else about the bike makes sense.
The engine is deliberately polite
The 449cc Unicam single is the same architecture Honda has been refining in the motocross line for two decades. Liquid cooled, four valves, 96mm bore against a 62.1mm stroke, 12.0:1 compression. On paper it should be ferocious. In stock trim it is not, and that is on purpose.
To make a 450 motocross engine survive a road registration and an emissions test, Honda fitted a catalytic converter, leaned the fuelling, and quietened everything down. Claimed output sits around 24hp, though dyno figures at the rear wheel come in considerably higher and vary a lot depending on who ran the test and what was fitted. The number matters less than the character: the RL makes its useful power low and early, pulls cleanly from 3,000rpm, and never tries to hurt you.
For trail riding, that is genuinely good. Tight singletrack on a peaky 450 is exhausting. The RL lets you sit a gear high and roll through terrain that would have you slipping the clutch on a race bike.
The catch is that most owners find the stock setup asphyxiating within the first few thousand kilometres. Exhaust, fuelling and airbox work is the near universal first modification on this bike, and it transforms it. If you do nothing else, this is the one.
Chassis and suspension
The aluminium twin spar frame is proper race lineage, and it shows. The RL steers accurately, holds a line through ruts, and feels narrow between your knees in a way no adventure bike ever will. A 49mm inverted fork up front and a Pro-Link monoshock at the rear give you long travel and real adjustability.
The stock springing is set up for a rider lighter than most Australian adults in full kit. If the bike feels vague on braking or blows through its stroke on square edged hits, you do not need new suspension, you need correct springs for your weight. It is the cheapest meaningful improvement available to a CRF450RL owner and it is routinely skipped.
Seat height is 942mm. There is no polite way around that. It is a tall bike, and short riders will be on tiptoes. Lowering links exist, though they change the geometry the frame was designed around, so go in knowing the trade.
Living with it
Braking is a 260mm front disc with a twin piston caliper and a 240mm rear. Adequate off road, merely acceptable on tarmac at highway speed. Sintered pads sharpen it up considerably.
The clutch is cable actuated with no slipper mechanism, which feels distinctly old fashioned next to anything modern. The pull is heavier than you would like after a long day. Cables stretch, so keep a spare.
Stock rubber is IRC GP, chosen as a compromise between road manners and dirt grip, which is to say it does neither especially well. Almost every owner replaces them, and the choice of what with is the single biggest lever you have over how the bike behaves. Tyres are tube type, 80/100-21 front and 120/80-18 rear, so carry a spare tube and the levers to fit it.
The subframe will carry light luggage. It will not carry a pillion and a week of camping gear, whatever the internet tells you.
What actually wears out
This is where owners spend their money, in roughly the order it happens.
Chain and sprockets
A 450 single is hard on drive components, and dirt accelerates everything. Gearing changes are common too. A 14T front sprocket in place of the stock item drops the overall gearing for tighter trail work, which is one of the cheapest and most effective changes available.
Air filter
The single most important maintenance item on this bike and the one most often neglected. Riding in Australian dust means service intervals far shorter than the manual suggests. Keep two filters and rotate them.
Fork seals
Long travel forks in gritty conditions will eventually weep. Seal savers extend the interval significantly.
Levers
Brake and clutch levers are consumables on any bike that gets dropped, and this one will get dropped. Note that CRF450RL levers are not always shared with the CRF450R, so check fitment carefully rather than assuming. The WMP brake lever for the CRF450X, L and RL is one of the few in the range that explicitly covers the RL.
Radiators
Vulnerable to rocks and to tip overs. Guards are cheap insurance.
Who should buy one
If you want a road registered bike that can genuinely ride technical terrain and get you home afterwards, the RL does that better than almost anything Japanese. It is reliable in the way Hondas are reliable, which is to say boringly. Parts availability in Australia is good. Resale holds up.
If you want race performance with a numberplate, the Austrians and the Italians will serve you better, and you will pay for it in maintenance intervals and rebuild costs.
The RL is the sensible choice, and it is worth saying that the sensible choice is often the right one. Most people ride more than they race. A bike that starts every time, costs little to run, and never bites is worth more over five years than a few extra horsepower you use twice a season.
A note on parts fitment
The CRF450 family is large and confusing. The R, RX, X, L and RL share a name and a great deal less than that suggests. Parts listed for the CRF450R will frequently not fit an RL, particularly anything to do with the electrical system, exhaust, brakes or bodywork.
Always check the model designation and year against the part before ordering. If a listing says CRF450R and your bike is an RL, treat it as incompatible unless the fitment explicitly says otherwise.
Riding a CRF450RL? Tell us what you have changed and what you would not bother with again.
Keeping a CRF450RL healthy comes down to a handful of collections. Dust is the enemy of any big single, so oils and lubricants and a rotating pair of air filters do more for engine life than any bolt-on. Drive components wear fast on a 450, which makes chains and sprockets a recurring purchase rather than a one-off, and dropping a tooth at the front is the cheapest gearing change you will ever make. Anything that touches the ground when the bike does belongs in the same basket: brake and clutch levers, hand guards and fresh grips. For the forks and shock, the suspension range covers seals, springs and service parts, and correct springs for your weight remain the single best value upgrade on this bike. Tube type wheels mean carrying spares, so keep tyre tubes and tyre levers in the pack. If you would rather stay factory, the genuine Honda parts range is there too.
Shop Honda CRF450L refined by year
