XR650R No longer KING of Baja???

[TriFire]

Seems like the XR650R has lost its crown to its small block cousins CRF450's, thats what honda predicted.. Any thoughts guys??

[philipstjohn]

Seems like the XR650R has lost its crown to its small block cousins CRF450's, thats what honda predicted.. Any thoughts guys??

Lets do this, I will buy your 650R, since you are not happy with its "power or whatever", you buy the 450 you seem to want, and we can race in the Baja 1000 next year, me on your underpowered 650R and you on your crowned 450? I would ride my 650R, but I really want to win on your underpowered

650R to make it a sweet victory!

[xr_guys]

Well not really, the XR650R can just simply turn around at the finish line and take a second round of punishments while the 450X would require a new top end and new transmission, nuff said…!

[hill5150]

The 450 stock will never finish the 1k , ever......period.

[resslera]

Guess what? Do you think it might be the riders that makes up about 50% of the equation here? If those two were on the 650R again the results would be the same except the 650R would be the reining king. I think if you put the team Honda riders on KTM 525s then that bike would now be the king. No doubt, the 450 is a great bike but this is business for Honda, and now they can say the 450 is the new king of Baja. Nobody wants a big heavy bike, except us power junkies There is still nothing better if you are looking for brute power and maximum reliability. I'll keep my 650R.

[philipstjohn]

Guess what? Do you think it might be the riders that makes up about 50% of the equation here? If those two were on the 650R again the results would be the same except the 650R would be the reining king. I think if you put the team Honda riders on KTM 525s then that bike would now be the king. No doubt, the 450 is a great bike but this is business for Honda, and now they can say the 450 is the new king of Baja. Nobody wants a big heavy bike, except us power junkies There is still nothing better if you are looking for brute power and maximum reliability. I'll keep my 650R.

Yes the winning team would have won on a handful of bikes

[wcorbett]

i agree with the people on the 650 side. if honda let their riders ride the 650 it would have still kicked ass like always. im betting that those honda riders had alot of fatigue compared to last year on the 650.

[DJWALS]

10/4.. I have to admit I personally finished the 1000 behind the 450's on a 650 and the bike still ran like it was new.. ready to race back to ensenada.. but my body said He$#7k l no!

9x

[motopsycho650]

I promise the 450 the Honda team used was HIGHLY modified. I bet it took twice the upgrades the XR650R uses. Much more $$ involved for a non-sponsored rider to get a 450 to work well.

It's cool the 450 won, but that had to be a 100% custom suspension for a lighter bike like that to handle the terrain at high speeds. Not to mention an oil tank, custom transmission gearing, lots of engine work, custom electrical system, etc.

I've ridden a lot of bike in 22 years of riding. I have a XR650R, and my cousin has a WR45O, (close to the same weight as a CRF450). Both have stock suspension, and engine, just highly tuned uncorking on both.

Having ridden both, I would prefer the 450 for tighter, technical terrain. The inverted suspension & lack of weight shine in those situations. For the Baja, I would rather ride my 650R. A bit older technology, but tried & true technology. It's very stable at higher speeds. Sometimes it's more stable going fast as opposed to slow. I grew up mostly on heavier dual-sport bikes, so I'll take my 650R on just about anything.

[motomonte]

One question tough,was there any CRF450 being ridden by a privateer or any other team besides factory Honda?Now that would be proof enough as to being king of baja.Just a few mods an hit Baja.'Till then....XR650:worthy:

[BajaBoundMoto]

was there any CRF450 being ridden by a privateer or any other team besides factory Honda?

There were plenty of private CRFXs, lots of them.

The top finishing private CRFX was 6th OA bike/quad, 3rd in Class 30. I would bet that bike was pretty stock motor.

Then at 9th and 10th OA bike/quad were the top 2 guys in Class 21 (450 4T & 250 2T). I'm not sure what motor stuff was done on those.

I think the guys who got 3rd in Class 21 at 13th OA posted in the CRFs section and said they ran stock top end without any problems.

[Boston Mangler]

At that level of riding, the bikes arent that much off a factor.

I bet Campbell, Hengeveld or Childress could win in Baja on a 50cc pitbike!

[Potts228]

Guess what? Do you think it might be the riders that makes up about 50% of the equation here? If those two were on the 650R again the results would be the same except the 650R would be the reining king. I think if you put the team Honda riders on KTM 525s then that bike would now be the king. No doubt, the 450 is a great bike but this is business for Honda, and now they can say the 450 is the new king of Baja. Nobody wants a big heavy bike, except us power junkies There is still nothing better if you are looking for brute power and maximum reliability. I'll keep my 650R.

This is an excellent point!!!! I think the guys at KTM have some huge smiles on their face now. Their 450 or 525 could easily be the Baja Champs next year if they can find some help for Grider!!!!

[rockn6gs]

I think it takes more than one win to say it's the new king. That's were the word proven "like time after time" king say's it all.

Seems like the XR650R has lost its crown to its small block cousins CRF450's,

[wcorbett]

I really dont care what others say...the 650 is the G.O.A.T

[loufish]

Rumor has it there might be a Baja 2000 next year...How many 450's does it take to finish a race like that? After 1000 miles of Baja I'm sure the 450 is pretty well done, finished, cooked...Are they running the same oil for the entire 1000 miles?

Of course everbody spends bu-ku bucks on suspension, but the 650 needs the least amount of work in the eng/trans dept...

[Kritter]

The 450 stock will never finish the 1k , ever......period.

I dont think any bike stock would. Any bike racing the 1000 needs a good prep no matter new or old. Thats why Precision concepts charges 8k to prep a stock 650 for baja wether new of the floor or used.

[BWB63]

I dont think any bike stock would. Any bike racing the 1000 needs a good prep no matter new or old. Thats why Precision concepts charges 8k to prep a stock 650 for baja wether new of the floor or used.

We are Talking stock as far as in engine. There are lots of stock XR650R's (uncorked and suspension setup for the rider and guards, lights, blaaa, blaaa, blaaa but, still stock 20K on the engine and still raced the Baja) These CRF450X's have different valves, conecting rods, piston, clutch, cams, valve springs not close to stock engine and they are finished at the finish line. Pro or not the CRF450X has a much shorter life then a XR650R. Without a doubt the XR650R engine can/has raced all the Baja races and quite a few D-37 races for three years without nothing more then maintance done.

[frankstr]

It still the King for me, at the baja.....

[wcorbett]

a baja 2000 would be flippin rediculous.