Racer 450 Magazine
1350cc Shootout
January, 2007

CHASSIS:
There isn’t a lot to say about the Honda chassis except for it is great. The only problem we have, like all motocross racers is the ride height (which is actually a suspension problem) and the rear shock and linkage (which is also a suspension problem). As great and strong as the Honda chassis is, the rear suspension setup is an Achilles Heal. The suspension leverage doesn’t stay consistent through the entire length of travel. Compare this to a teeter-totter with one side being two feet longer than the other or one side having a severely warped board. Things simply don’t balance out. The rear of the ATV wants to spring back into the air and not stick to ground under harsh or whoop-like conditions. Honda and Showa tried to fix this by simply improving the rear shock and linkage without a ground up swap. Although they have definitely improved on the problem, this just isn’t the fix. It will take a Yamaha YFZ style linkage, which is actually a Honda CR style linkage to fix this problem. Honda also entirely changed the subframe to compensate with the extended swingarm and improved rear suspension as well. The front a-arms are slightly wider than the 04-05 models and include new spindles. No matter what you’ve heard, these changes are all an improvement and shouldn’t be backdated to 04-05 parts. People are talking, Honda is listening.

As far as the ride height, tell Showa to put some sag in those long front shocks and drop the linkage down at the rear. The 450R really does come with a quality shock they just aren’t set up for racing. Any aftermarket shock company can put the fix on your original shock absorbers for just under $500 bucks per end. Several companies can also put the fix on your linkage. Prices start around $200 for a good easy fix and surpass 1000 clams to exterminate the problem.

What does this mean to the average rider? Nothing, unless you are an extremely advanced rider you will never see a problem. Most racers who make the fix just aren’t fast enough to really experience this problem.

Yamaha has the exact opposite problem of Honda. They have pieced together a pretty remarkable rear end. Everything works well together, is lightweight and now has any easily adjustable round housing axle carrier. Despite Yamaha and Kayaba’s vast improvement of shock valving and spring rates the front suspension somewhat falls short when compared to the other 450 machines. The front suspension is mounted to low on the chassis. Maybe they did this to lower the center of gravity, we aren’t sure. In tern all it did was make the front shocks an inch shorter than the competition. No matter what you do with aftermarket parts, you will always be an inch behind the other bikes.

The Yamaha has good slow steering but tends to wander at high speed and the rear subframe is still inadequate for full time racers. An aftermarket subrame will easily fix the problem and a steering stabilizer will take care of the front. Should you have to spring for these additions? That’s up to you. Some people just flat out like the Yamaha better than anything and some of them work here.

Yamaha’s main frame is unique and a good design although it requires a little bracing here or there for real motocross. We continually would like to stress that fact that this is all Yamaha’s design and nothing was copied from the Honda handbook except maybe the new round carrier.

The Suzuki is unique as well but it is very clear that they did visit the Honda school of design. Unlike the LT-Z400 the new chassis is bad in a good way. It is very strong in most places and works very well most of the time. It sets right at the perfect 7 inch motocross frame height and is damn near 50 inches wide. Our only problems stem from the fact that the chassis is breaking at the rear end. Apparently it was a computerized machine welding error and has been fixed but the problem actually happened to Jeremiah at the Round 1 ATVA National regardless of what you read elsewhere. We have a picture. Why didn’t anyone catch the error before the machines started breaking? What else did someone miss, those are our questions.

As for the suspension; good but not great. We heard so much hype about how this suspension was actually as good or better than the race suspension used on the Z400s last year. What do we think? Not a chance. We actually took a new set of Elkas out on the same track as a new LT-R450 for comparison. The fact is; there was no comparison. The OE suspension was a high end OEM shock absorber that we actually like; the Elkas are a pure racing thoroughbred. Again, no comparison.

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