Linkage????? What?
  • RockstarSMP
    Posts: 170
    Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:51 pm

    by RockstarSMP » Sun Jun 21, 2015 10:40 am

    Real quick, hopefully someone can enlighten me...

    A friend has a 2009 crf450R for sale, I'm thinking about buying... It's main purpose will be for racing Big6 and grand prix.

    A different friend has the same bike. I didn't like it the first time I rode, but it felt good when I tried it out again in the desert last year. Apparently he changed out the linkage, which is what I would do too since I liked the feel. This obviously gets rid of the stinkbug feel, but my question is...

    Is the linkage truly a fix all, or does it do anything bad to the bike? i.e. Is it better to skip this year bike and get something different?

    Thanks!
    --2009 crf450R
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    JimDirt
    Posts: 4406
    Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 6:31 pm

    by JimDirt » Sun Jun 21, 2015 9:05 pm

    PM Ken , he can give you the low down on what the different links do/change on the 09+ bikes

    There is nothing really "wrong" with the 09 up bikes , just the first generation of a major change always has some quirks or bugs that need attention , but all can be ironed out for the most part , i understand they are more twitchy on the higher speeds , but once you get them dialed they are no worse than any other bike , one of the keys is to put stiffer springs in the forks , they were notoriously under sprung in the front for the first few years of that generation bike (they have since fixed that issue as well as the linkage issue on the 14-15-16 bikes (air forks and better linkage geometry) , and go with more sag in the rear (around 110mm instead of 100mm) , doing those things really help the bike feel less twitchy and are a plus once you replace the linkage

    Its kind of funny , but the newest ones (15-16) , are almost like the 02 again , its almost like they went back to the beginning and just added fuel injection (not exactly , but the bike is more like the 02 now in weight and specs , than it is like the 09-12)
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  • RockstarSMP
    Posts: 170
    Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:51 pm

    by RockstarSMP » Sun Jun 21, 2015 10:32 pm

    yeah I kind of figured Ken would see this since he had replied to the same thread before... If the linkage is more-or-less the "fix all" for the most part, I'd prefer to buy a bike from someone that I know took care of it... Sounds like I'd be fine to buy the bike. Thanks!

    And, hey Ken! Input?
    --2009 crf450R
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    crfsonly
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    by crfsonly » Thu Jun 25, 2015 9:23 am

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