Last year, our test riders said riding the ’21 CRF450R was like riding a carbureted motorcycle with a clogged jet, but not anymore. The updated ECU eliminates any of that dreaded lag or gurgle that the previous CRF450R suffered and now offers a consistently smooth delivery on every part of the track. The 2022 CRF450R is what the 2021 model should’ve been-a complete package but with stouter suspension and better throttling. We’ll get right to the point: yes, they did. So, would these mods make it onto the ’22 CRF450R? These were the big questions we had when we rode it for the first time. The 2022 Honda CRF450R got some much-needed fine-tuning from the factory. It was now the motorcycle that Honda had initially intended it to be. Techs from Honda flashed our ECU, and they helped us develop a better overall suspension setting. Later in the year, we addressed these issues with our test bike. The Honda’s culprits were glitchy ECU mapping and undersprung suspension, which robbed a lot of the bike’s true potential. Consequently, our high expectations for the all-new CRF450R fell short, and the Honda brought up the rear in our 2021 450cc MX Shootout. It arrived on the scene with a new frame, swingarm, engine updates, and body styling that gave the bike a striking look, but the CRF450R was hurried into production last year due to the looming pandemic, and, as a result, some last-minute tweaking and fine-tuning were sacrificed. To refresh your memory, the 2021 CRF450R got a ground-up redesign, shedding seven pounds in the process. But the updates it did get, however, are crucial. Honda gave its flagship motocrosser, the CRF450R, a complete overhaul in 2021, so it comes as no surprise that the ’22 model returns with few updates.
Did Honda make all the right fine-tuning changes to the CRF450R it needed to be the bike it should’ve been last year?īy Ryan Nitzen | Photography by Kit Palmer