Great handling starts with a superior frame. The CRF450RX’s chassis was designed to be narrow, lightweight, and more responsive thanks to reduced lateral rigidity. The result is a bike that gets into, around, and out of corners faster.
For 2023, we’ve made the cylinder-head engine hangers stronger and stiffer, and made the frame thicker where the hangers attach. The whole assembly is more rigid now, to enhance handling.
More robust suspension mounting points this year enhance chassis and suspension stability. When the suspension works better, the chassis works better, and you get better drive and handling everywhere.
Designed in conjunction with the frame, by using narrower main members (just like the frame uses narrower main spars), we’ve matched the swingarm’s lateral rigidity to the rest of the chassis. What you get is a balanced, fully integrated approach to frame stiffness, letting you get around corners faster and with better feel.
The battery box is positioned low, for an improved center of gravity. It’s also easy to service, as well as water-tight, so there’s less to worry about when racing in wet conditions.
Increased front suspension stroke offers better handling and rider comfort. The axle holding fixtures are positioned at the bottom of each fork leg to help increase rigidity, and enhance steering precision and suspension performance.
The CRF450RX is a perfectly matched package. With the frame and swingarm featuring a retuned lateral stiffness, and the fork legs featuring a stiffer axle fixture, we joined the two with upper and lower triple clamps. Working in concert, they help improve and balance total rigidity, responsiveness and turning performance.
We’ve optimized the shape of the rear shock to match the frame, and gave it settings to work with the chassis. The shocks valving resets faster for better response. And, of course, the RX gets its own shock settings optimized for Enduro riding.
The 49mm Showa® fork is specially tuned just for the CRF450RX, and features a conventional spring design that helps increase the CRF450RX’s front-suspension precision, handling and feel.
The CRF450RX’s swingarm uses a special fabrication technique that lets us fine-tune the flex to work with the chassis and give you better rear traction and cornering precision.
The single-muffler exhaust is positioned closer to the center of the bike to help improve weight distribution.
New this year, we made the CRF450RX muffler stronger, by using a new outer shell. We also changed the inner pipe construction. Even with these improvements, it still weighs the same. Changing the muffler’s construction to a pressed-alloy design last year let us reshape it too, for better rider ergonomics and lighter weight.