"Another fan favorite moment came when Dirt Wheels Magazine's Cain Smead pulled to the +30 class gate on Honda’s previously unseen TRX450R, -- the Dirt Wheels test quad in which he picked up the week prior. Smead's 450R was sporting IMS nerf bars, ITP tires, and a White Brothers exhaust, other than that it was bone stock. Smead finished second in the first moto behind Yamaha Motor Corp's Mike Ulrich and won the final moto. Smead's win marked the first 450R motocross victory."

 

i guess the 'domination' begins...or continues (baja 1000).

my only problem with this bike is that they shoulda put electric start on it! Electric start is not for wusses or anything. Those days are over. It's for STARTING FASTER and easing rider fatigue, especially in a race where seconds count. Believe me, that little starter motor can turn that engine over faster than a person's leg. How would you feel if you had to kick start your car, if, say you bought a high performance car like a vette or a ferrari or something like that? would that be cool? would people think you were a wuss if you had to use the key to start it? NO! It would suck to have to kickstart or crank start a car. If fact, it would look plain stupid and really wouldnt be as 'cool.'

And if your boot is slippery, then guess what will happen? you slip off and you dont kick it therefore you dont start it. electric start should be a standard on a high performance machine.
all the other bikes in this class have it... why not, honda? this bike would have been near perfect (if it lives up to its proclaimed rep as the true 250R successor) if it did. just my $.02 and pet peeve with it.

 

....Weight matters a lot more in quads than cars. They put kickstar in to reduce weight. No battery ect. While in a Ferrari or Vette, your pushing tons, in this your pushing hundreds.

 

they could have trimmed the weight elsewhere and still done it. yamaha did.
is yamaha better than honda, no, so why not?

You know I'm sure a rider that has stalled and is kicking his butt off on the track is thinking, "Man im glad I dont have electric start..i really saved alot of weight." while other RACERS pass him by and he loses the race....

 

I seriously doubt that a Honda rider would have to be kickin his a$$ off to get it started, even if it stalled. Any machine that is tuned correctly should start on the first kick, especially if it's warmed up.

 

Thats why they have a decompression valve, so it will start first kick. Also dropping the battery, and all the extras drops quite a bit of weight. There trying to get it the lightest they can... so why not drop the electric start if it isnt essential?

 

Keyword there is "should."

Anyway, the starter can still spin that engine faster than a leg.


Look, I'm not trying to start a pissing match. I own a honda and love them, so im not bashing them or anything else. .. I'm just saying honda could have done it and made it a better package.

 

you mentioned that all the other bikes in it's class have an electric start. Isn't the Yfz the only other bike that's really in its class? I'd say that its 50 50 right now. I agree electric start would be nice but I don't mind kicking over a bike every now and then.

 

You have the answer to your question within your own post. The 450 is the successor to the much heralded 250R, did it have electric start? No, and it kicks forward like it should as well!!

 

they also make a kickstart mod for the yfz.........