Vintage Dirt Bike Q & A
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1981 CR450 Bottom Ten
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Author:  J [ Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:55 pm ]
Post subject:  1981 CR450 Bottom Ten
Often I see 1981 CR450's for sale in the range of $1,000-1,500.

Do the buyers and sellers know this CR was rated one of the 10 worst bikes of all time. It doesn't seem like it would be worth $100. Anybody have an opinion or experience riding these bikes?

J
Author:  RobbieHorner1 [ Sat Dec 04, 2004 6:36 am ]
Post subject:  cr450
I think that the reason they go for so much is the look of the bike as well as its rarity.
Author:  ricortes [ Sat Dec 04, 2004 10:49 am ]
Post subject: 
I own some horrible bikes: Things like a '75 KE125, '71 350SL, '72 125SL.

Also most of the riding I do is on a kitted XR75. I use it almost daily to ride the 1/4 mile to my mailbox and back.

The thing is they are as much fun now as they were when they and I were new. The XR75 may not be a factory works 250 MX but it is perfect for riding to the mailbox and back. For that matter, the XR does its job better then any great MX bike could do it.

The only thing I have to remember is don't exceed the limits of what I am riding.

A $1,000-1500 may sound like a lot for a 'bad' motorcycle but if my sources are correct, Vintage Iron just sold a mint ~73 CR250 to a museum for $15,000+ and a near mint CR250 on eBay was bid up to ~$6,577? and didn't make the reserve price. So in reality the 450CR is selling for 1/15th to 1/4th of what a great bike would. Seems about right to me.
Author:  Nathan [ Mon Dec 06, 2004 9:22 am ]
Post subject: 
In my opinion, the only two things that make this bike worth anything is 1) It was the first production big bore CR, and 2) It was the first year of the rear single shock pro link suspension. These things are valid only from a vintage collector's viewpoint. From a vintage racer's viewpoint there isn't anything that makes this bike worth more than histerical laughter masking the bitter disappointment in Honda for releasing such a pile for public consumption.
Author:  mollyscotty [ Wed Dec 29, 2004 8:18 pm ]
Post subject:  cr450r
have any one with these opinions ever owned or rode this bike-ive owned a BUNCH of bikes and can say good and bad things about them all-even bad things of all those beloved 78-80 CR250's
Author:  J [ Sat Jan 01, 2005 3:13 am ]
Post subject: 
MollyScotty,

I see your point. I think that we tend to think of it terms of how it was compared to bikes from the same year, in competition (racing). That doesn't mean it's not a fun bike for other uses and with time and money it could even be competitive.

Bikes usually have a handling deficiency, need suspension tuning or need engine upgrades. I think what hurt the 450 was that the mags said it needed work on all of them to be competitive in it's racing class.

I'm not in love with my 78 CR250, so you are welcome to rip it all you want. :)

J
Author:  Greg Rose [ Mon Jan 24, 2005 7:32 am ]
Post subject:  0981 cr 450
This debate on the cr 450 is hard for me to understand. I raced a 81 450 back in 1985. Back then it was hard to handle for me wighing in at 155#. But in the spring of 2003 I joined Ahrma and ever since I have been mounted on a cr450 and it has been a real pleasure. The bike is a little stall prone if you don"t use the clutch in tight turns or if you hit the rear brake too hard. I don't think I have to work that much harder to be competitive on this bike. As long as you short shift and don' rev out thru the gears it is excellent to the first turn. The suspension for me has been soft, so I am working on that issue but overall I am very happy with this bike so far and weighing in at 230" in 05 I will be running a 450 again this year. Thanks for the space to write good things on the 450. :D Greg Rose 43c Ahrma midwest region.
Author:  Moto_Recon [ Tue Dec 27, 2005 12:07 pm ]
Post subject:  1981 CR450R Porker
I was one of the first on my block to buy one of these monsters as soon as they were unleashed from Honda. I swear, I thought it was going to kill me! The worst things about it were the "Pork Link" suspension and the factory defective clutch.
I rode desert races and while negotiating gnarly rock-strewn uphills, the clutch would overheat and would not disengage. Your choices were to hang on for your life and try to ride it out, or let the sucker stall in its tracks. A month or so later Honda came out with a retrofit kit for the clutch problem. I wasted only a short time trying to sort out the rear suspension before I dumped the almost new bike for half of what I paid.
Dang, that was a nasty, nasty bike.
Author:  craigjf43 [ Tue Sep 27, 2016 6:08 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 1981 CR450 Bottom Ten
well i owned one for 20 years. it had a power band of a 125 but with 2-1/2 times the power. so it would take off in whatever direction it was pointed. you would always take an extra bounce when landing from a jump. i saw an article that said it got more people out of dirt bike riding due to injury or just scaring you to death. i still liked it though. i did move up to a kx500 in 02.. wow. what was great about it was if you were out with friends that didn't have a bike, no one rode it twice. i was pretty fast on it though. you just had to learn it's personality. i never saw another one in all my years of riding. they must have died. would i get one again? sure i had alot of fun on it
Author:  Milloperator [ Mon Mar 20, 2017 2:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: 1981 CR450 Bottom Ten
Hello...Call me crazy but i just picked a 1981 CR 450R lol. Got a full bike that the previous guy had in his basement for over 12 years. He was driving on the trails and a rock popped a hole in the right side crank case cover. The guy said the bike was just down right stupid to ride and was in no hurry to get it fixed. I currently own a 1986 CR 500R and every time I ride that monster it wants to rip my arms off from the sockets. lets see what bike kills me first lol

Milloperator :lol:
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