[Lovemy03&08/450]

I used to have a 2003 CRF450r that I bought new way back in 04. I was 19 at the time and put about 200 hours on that bike and loved the neck snapping hit that that bike had. I only had it for 2 years then it was stolen... It's a good thing I never found who stole it!!! Anyway I have had other bikes since but just now decided to get another 450. I chose to buy used and wanted a 2008 due to all the good reviews on it. After getting the suspension set to the stock settings and finding the carb needed re jetting..
This bike is completely different from the beast I once owned. And it is not stable at all in sandy/ loose conditions. As for the neck snapping hit!?!? Could I use a 2003 CDI to get the HIT back??
And as for handling... I get a light head shake feeling in 2nd gear on sandy/ gravel just putting around. I believe I need to get a lowering link for the shock but how much lowering will give me a 2005 feel??? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[JimDirt]

Welcome to the site !!

I think part of your issue with head shake may be the weight bias to the front , you said you got the suspension set to stock , does this include the Sag ?? , do you have the correct Free Sag and Rider Sag ??? if the rear spring is set to tight (if the springs are wrong for your weight for example) it would change the weight bias to the front of the bike making the steering more sensitive (basically causing the Stinkbug effect that everyone complained so much about with the 09 450's , rear high , front too low) , if all is well with the spring rate (verified by correct sag numbers) then you could lower the rear slightly (say 110mm sag instead of 100mm) and/or lower the forks in the clamps to raise the front which will also take away some weight bias to the front , also if your getting some wobble i would guess its attributed to the 22mm offset clamps that the 08 has as opposed to the 02-07 clamps that were 24mm which would make the steering quicker but make it have some head shake at speeds , its kind of a trade off , to get more responsive steering , you lose top end stability

As far as performance , many people like the power delivery of the 08 cam , you can swap out the cam for a older model , but will most likely need to change the cam tower (the part that holds the cam in) along with the cam , to get that low end grunt back , the CDI wont make much difference , the cam is the key to making the bottom end hit harder

Hope that helped some

[Lovemy03&08/450]

Thank you, this is an awesome site and very helpful.

I didn't mention it before but, I just bought the 2008 450. So I don't have much time in the saddle. However I have been doing some checking, and researching, and I think I found the solution to my problems.

For my suspension I double checked my sag and its at 105mm and the free sag is at 57mm. From doing some searching I found this means the spring is too stiff and I need to go softer.. I will revisit this if need to. The real reason for the stink bug effect was that I found the steering dampener was turned all the way to the soft setting. DUH!! For soft sandy conditions it needs to be on the stiffer side of stock. I will see if this fixed the problem on my next ride...

And now for the reason the 2008 hits like a girl on bottom end!!!!!! Its that it has different ignition timing for each gear, and the gear position switch determines witch mapping the CDI unit uses. Now on a MX track this is a good thing, the smoother you can be with the throttle the faster you will be. But woods riding is different, you need that bottom end hit to get the front end up and over things. Below is a quote from a forum that explains it all. Now I haven't tested this yet but I will update on my results after my next ride. I hope this helps someone else.

http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/977120 ... ay-better/

found this quote by Shawn in a former thread.. i just unplugged mine but i am having hanging idle issues. What does anyone think is going on with just having it unplugged? i think i better do as shown below as some gears seem to be more snappy than others with it simply unplugged.. i want my 08 to feel like my 04 down low for woods riding, and having to roll the throttle more from closed seemed to make my bike run silly rich as it's not delivering the expected power just off closed throttle. (the reason i unpluggd it to try it like that). i'm getting odd idle characteristics. hanging lots of times, and some gears seem to be snappier than others.. need to try the below idea i guess.

You can trick the gear position sensor so it doesn't back the timing off in the lower gears. Then it'll be at full advance and harder to ride for you. Seems like that's what you want. The 08 makes gobbs of low end power and I'm sure you'll find that out when you get the gear position sensor out of your way.

Just pull the shifter and the sensor. Put the shifter back on, put the bike into 4th gear, set the sensor switch so it matches that position and then pull the roll pin out of the sensors switching shaft and put the sensor back. Full timing, all the time. Shouldn't take more than 15 minutes. And you can put it back if you dont like it.

I will make a HOW TO later so other people can find this info easier.

[Lovemy03&08/450]

In 1st gear, between the green wire and ground the resistance is 1 ohm The grn/red wire is 17meg or open...........In 2nd gear the grn/red wire to ground is 2 ohms, and the green wire is open. In 3rd 4th and 5th the green wire is open and the green/red wire is 16.7meg or open with respect to ground. So unplugging the connector by the the steering head should give full power to 1st and 2nd gears

[JimDirt]

Sounds like you got the power delivery figured out , the damper is only for cornering and some deflection anyway so having it cranked down is not really helping the situation , you can almost achieve the same thing by tightening the Steering Stem Nut , thats what i do in lieu of a dampener , it works great because it is the same tension thru the entire steering radius , i do it on my 02 R and my 06 X , as for the springs , what do you weigh and what is your riding level/and age ??