If Honda puts out a new sport quad, it will not be the CR450F. This motor has serious compromises that would make it near impossible to use in a fun and reliable quad. This motor is for racing light weight bikes. It cannot handle the weight/punishment of a quad. You think the Raptor has problems, the CRF450 would make the raptor look like the most reliable quad you ever rode. I see these issues with the 450 motor:

Single Ring cylinder - did you know this bike smokes when it is new? the top end is supposed to be rebuilt ~every 100 hours. The guys who race Baja have issues with the thing running low on oil during a race (it only holds a quart). the general ATV market will not be happy with a quad the consumes oil. As well, the EPA would love this quad!!

The flywheel is too light for a quad. This bike barely idles. It is only good for full RPM and never let off riding. If you let off, the motor will stall. The bike barely idles. Put this into a quad and you would never get "off the line". using a bigger flywheel will require significant motor re-desing. the case is barely big enough to hold the 20 flywheel in it. for a quad you will need about 40oz - where will put all that mass? I would guess that even if you got the mass in there, the crank would be compromised with all the added load. The guys running these bike for other than "competition" riding are wishing they could get a bigger flywheel in he 450. Also, do not forget about the charging system. This motor is not capable of running lights let alone an e-start. Adding the charging capabilities is not going to be free. You will need to increase the size of the motor for the bigger stator and flywheel.

The Gear train is too weak for a quad. The gear ratio is also way off for a quad. The CR450F is ~220lb. A quad version would be about 400lb - this thing puts out so much power, the gear train come apart in no time with an agressive rider.


The cooling system is too weak for a quad. did you know the head pipe glows on the 450 in about two minutes of idle? Also, the bike will start to boil in about three minutes of idle.


Almost all of these issues are addressed with the 650 motor. I would expect that IF honda ever gets off their ***, they will put out a 650 or even a punched out version of the 650. This motor is bullet-proof and a much better candidate for a quad.

As I am in the business of aftermarket parts, I would love to see a 450 quad - think of all the parts we could sell!!! As I am also into reality - I doubt it.

 

There not shere if they are coming soon

 

<< That's funny, I've talked to two different dealers in my area, and since the Z's release, neither have a single new ex. Seems to me they're just shooting themselves in the foot. >>



dealers don't know S#!T!!!

 

Thor2,

Nice dissection of the cons of shoehorning a CRF450 into a production machine. It is nice to hear from someone that has some experience and knowledge with the bike.

 

maby istead of making the cr450 why not just update the EX engine add liquid cooling and reverse for the same price that way they could maby keep the &quot;most sold quad&quot; title Cause if they don't i don't see them gettin that title again with the Z and all the other new sport quads

 

what about the aftermarket companies that are making frames for the CRF450? if the engine couldnt be used in a quad frame why would they bother?
in dirtwheels there are some crf450 quads home brewed and i havnt heard that the motor cant handle the quad weight?

 

Thor2 - I agree that Honda's 650R engine would require less redesign work to get into a quad chassis &amp; up until recently I believed this would be the next natural step of progression for Honda in designing their next sport quad.

You make several good points about the CRF450R engine, however, you don't take into account that Honda is the largest engine manufacturer in the world. They certainly have the resources available to redesign the CRF engine as they see fit to work to a satisfactory level of reliability in a quad - never has Honda taken a motorcycle engine and directly dropped it into an ATV without some significant redesigning.

Just before the 400EX came out there were many that would have told you that Honda wouldn't cast new cases and make an electric start version of the XR400 engine with a beefier gear set, clutch, lower compression, timing, etc... They did.

Who would have thought back in 1985 they would take a CR250 engine redesign it, cast new cases, add a counterbalancer, lighting coil, etc and throw it in a three wheeler chassis. They did.

The 400EX was an experiment to see if the sport market would come back to life if a decent machine was produced. Now, Honda knows that if they build it, the customers will come. You can bet your hind quarters Honda's marketing folks have a VERY good idea how many CRF450 quads they could sell vs an XR650 based machine. It's all a matter of timing, market conditions, and demand. With demand for the 400EX tapering off quickly, it wouldn't surprise me a bit if they do something soon....

None of us really has much of an idea what Honda is up to, if anything - I prefer to sit back and see what they do instead of telling everyone what they cannot do.

 

I heard they were going to rename this forum instead of honda it is going to be called the dream network.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

No doubt that Honda could make the CRF450 motor work ina quad but it just makes more sense to work form the 650 - fewer mods required.

 

Hmmm... Some interesting thoughts here. I would personally LOVE to see a 450 quad, not saying I want one, but just saying it MIGHT mean that they would have some SMALL amount of interest in quad racing. I don't care if it's faster than my quad, has more power, is lighter, or what ever, because if it helps out the sport I love, than I would support it all the way either by buying one (not likely since I LOVE the C-dale,) or by talkin people into buying one.

I would have to agree with Thor2 though. So far, Honda has shown NO interest in quad racing so I'm willing to bet that IF they come out with something new it will be a 650 since it would be the cheapest for them to produce and they could probably make almost just as much money off of it.

Terd - The dealers may not know a whole lot, but I&quot;m sure they would know how much they are selling more than you do.

evhwg - Most of the aftermarket 450's you'll see are used for some sort of racing. Most of the things that Thor2 listed were disadvantages for the &quot;nonracers&quot;.