Yesterday, we brought you photos of the Honda CRF450L Rally concept – a machine that Big Red was quietly debuting at the EICMA show in Milan.
And now today, thanks to our friends at American Honda, we have not only a bunch of new high-resolution photos for you to drool over, as well as a few details on this machine.
Before we get to it though, we want to make an above-the-fold plea to anyone who might be reading in Honda factory back in Japan…
Please Honda, please pretty please, make this motorcycle a production model. Don’t change a thing. Just build it. Thank you.
Details are still pretty light on the CRF450L Rally concept from Honda, beyond what we can see of course and what we know about the model platform.
What we do know that can add to the story is that the concept comes directly from Honda R&D in Japan, which bodes well in terms of the concept’s chances of becoming a reality.
Easy to spot in the photos is a split fuel tank, which we are told carries 5.28 gallons (20 liters). There is a dual-screen setup for the dash, which includes a ~5″ TFT display and it is designed with rally raid road books in mind.
The concept shown is a runner, which is another good piece of news for those hoping to see a production model, and we can see extensive use of pieces from the Honda CRF450L dual-sport in the bike’s build (the headlights are the same, for example).
With roughly 40hp on tap, the Honda CRF450L Rally should have plenty of brap to get one down the trail, while still not being a complete nightmare when it comes to maintenance intervals (1,500 miles for a valve check, by the way).
We can see that HRC’s partnership with Termignoni continues, and that the Italian brand has certainly upped its game when it comes to exhaust construction quality. The silencer design still looks a bit 1990s to our eyes, but dirt bikes are really more of a function over form pursuit, no?
The total package is encouraging, and here is where I am going to get real with you, Honda. There isn’t a well-thought out argument in the world that is going to make me believe that the CRF250L Rally makes more sense than this concept here, as a production bike.
When the 450cc rally race bike debuted, we all asked for Honda to make a consumer version of the CRF450 Rally. It is time for Honda to make good on that hope and that dream. Make it happen.
Source: American Honda
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