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I recently bought an 2007 Honda CRF450X (with Baja Designs street legal kit already installed) with the intentions of enjoying going to places off asphalt where my FJR can't take me.

I intially thought it would be the dirt extreme of a dual sport bike, but after putting some miles on it, I quickly realized it is a lot of fun to ride on dirt, but not very comfortable on asphalt (even 10 to 20 miles of highway).

I also have been told that the engines of these four-stroke dirt bikes are not really made to be cruising around at highway speeds for long periods of time, and that extended period of highway travel can hurt the engine.

What is the general consensus? It is safe to ride it 20 miles to a local trail or should I just trailer it to different off-road locals.

Welcome to the site !!

A lot of people use them as Dual Sports and do fine with them ... the biggest thing is to put a full quart of oil in the transmission side , so it does not spin the oil off the gears going for long distance , the extra oil will not hurt anything and will keep the gears bathed in oil keeping things from getting dry and scorching the bearings and gears ... , also a cooling fan for sitting in traffic , as air flowing thru the radiators is what cools the bike , so if you are sitting , it is going to get hot , a thermostatically controlled fan , like the Trail Tech , will eliminate the majority of that , as well as going to a higher bar radiator cap (stock is 1.1 bar , go to a 1.6 -1.8 or 2.0) this will raise the pressure before it pops and overflows , so it can get warmer without puking all the coolant out , even though you have a overflow bottle it can still overheat , that is why taking those steps will help ... also Engine Ice or Evans Waterless Coolant will help raise the boiling temp , when sitting in traffic

As far as riding rough , you can soften the top compression clickers on the fork and shock and that will help smooth it out some (click counter clockwise) a couple clicks , then when hitting the trail , put it back where it was set , the only other option would be to get a Seat Concepts seat , they have a wider better padded seat made just for that purpose ... the stock seats are a bit harsh no matter what you are doing , so either softer foam , or swapping the seat out , would give you the best ride comfort ... along with the clicker settings ..