Is The 2007 Honda CRF450R As Good As We Remember?

I guess it really isn’t a versus but maybe a comparison? A 2007/2008 Honda CRF450R was one of the best motocross machines that I could remember but my memory is getting foggy with my old age. As I was driving home one day, I thought about how cool it would be to test an older 2007 CRF450R against a new 2025 CRF450R. That is 18 years of R&D! How much of an advantage does the new bike have over the older versions? Is it huge? Is it even noticeable? Well, my good friend Zeb Armstrong found a gem up in Oregon! This 2007 CF450R was nearly new (0.5 hours) and was kept indoors most of its life. Zeb had the bike shipped to Haeseker Racing Engines in Sutter Creek, Ca. and Jim tore down the whole bike as well as refurbed it completely. He vapor blasted the frame, tore apart/cleaned the engine, cleaned the carb, installed new rubber, fresh wheels and my oh my, is this thing a beauty! UNREAL! The only parts that weren’t stock on this bike were a set of wheels, Dunlop MX3S/34 tires (742FA’s were stock in 2007) and a FASST Co. rear brake clevis. When Zeb dropped off this beauty to my house last week, I could barely sleep knowing that I was going to FINALLY get reacquainted with this machine. I drove down to Glen Helen, met up with Ryan Dudek of American Honda to get delivery of my 2025 CRF450R test machine and I rode them back to back. When you get to ride two bikes back to back on the same track, things become apparent real quick! It’s crazy to feel the difference between 18 years of any machine, but this test wasn’t what I was expecting. For you guys that like to read over watch videos, here is a cliff note version of the video we made over on Racer X as well as my Youtube channel.

Chassis Comparison: Immediately you can feel way more comfort on the 2007 when hitting bumps or even on slap down landings. The 2025 is much tougher feeling when hitting bumps and that translates into a somewhat stiffer ride around the track. I will say however, that the mega stiff feeling of the 2024 CRF450R frame is now in the rear view mirror and the 2025 is a much more compliant newer aged Honda chassis. However, the 2007 is like a comfortable couch out there bouncing around. It’s planted, has great straight line stability, you can feel the knobbies of the MX3S/34 tires more on lean angle than you can on the 2025, there is more front wheel traction, the bike feels lower to the ground and it just has more forgiveness than the newer aged Honda chassis. It’s not like I am sitting here saying that the new chassis is going in the wrong direction, because it is NOT, it just doesn’t have that comfort that I feel “most consumers” would like out of a 450 chassis. I have been wrong before so maybe I am wrong now by saying this and I know there are people smarter than me at Honda, but damn if this 2007 is just not friendly to ride. I am not going to lie and say I was throwing down heaters all day on the 2007, because I was faster on the 2025 bike (according to the stop watch) but I smiled a little more and could ride the 2007 harder than the newer bike. Not to mention lean it over in a corner a little easier than the 2025.

Engine Comparison: It’s no surprise that the carb’d 2007 is just plain not as fast as the 2025 but that doesn’t mean it’s not fun. The 2025 has more excitement, pulling power and a freer revving feel. It feels much more like a race bike compared to the 2007. The older Honda chugs a little more (lugability) and has a heavier crank feel to it, but isn’t slow by any means. The 2007 engine builds rpms more calculated and has more rear wheel traction (doesn’t slide out in the rear under acceleration) than the 2025 but just takes a little longer to get from corner to corner. This engine feel makes the rider ride the 2007 harder, which is a foreign feeling in the world of 450cc power. There are only a couple newer 450 engines that you can really ride super hard without it getting you in trouble. When I did get more aggressive with the 2007 on the track, I would have to shift to fourth gear much earlier than the 2025 but the ol’ girl would pull it just fine. The 2007 engine doesn’t like to rev as much as the 2025 does. You forget how far these newer 450s rev out! If you guys were wondering if the 2007 had a bog, the answer to that would be a “no”. Haeseker didn’t mess with the jetting and it worked just fine for a track like GH. I will say that it did have some de-cel popping near the end of the day (as it got hotter) so it make me appreciate how spoiled we are with how consistent FI is nowadays. 

Suspension Comparison: The 2025 Showa suspension allows the rider (me) to be more aggressive around the track, especially down hills. The 2007 Showa set moved more in the stroke but amazingly enough had some quality damping near the end of the stroke (fork and shock). This was a new bike so I wold assume after the suspension broke in I might not have the same opinion. I was surprised however that the 2007 wasn’t softer as I was expecting a lot of pitching, but it wasn’t horrible. The 47mm fork still has a lot to offer the average rider that rides faster choppier terrain, as it does have a ton of comfort (in the front end) when on the edge of tire under acceleration. The larger 49mm Showa fork with the current setting doesn’t wallow as much on braking but also doesn’t track as well on lean angle on throttle. It would be cool to try some 49mm Showa forks on the 2007 bike as I think it could improve the feel even more under loads as well as braking bumps.

Ergonomics Comparison: Even though you sit more “in” the 2007 CRF450R, there is more comfort with the seat. The 2025 seat is not great on the rear end and gives firmer feedback through your back under acceleration chop. You would think that the old Renthal 971 7/8 bar would feel outdated, but the whole feel of the 2007 feels quite nice. The 2025 is more of a sit “on top” feel and has the best ergonomics of the current 450 bunch but the 2007 isn’t dinosaur like at all. I got confused at one point thinking that the hot start lever was a decompression release but I quickly got corrected was I remembered that Honda did away with that years before the 2007. As far as looks/lines go, I still think the 2007 looks great, but I also really like the new 2025 shroud design. I know I might be in the minority with that opinion, but it looks clean to me. 

Weight Feel On The Track: On paper both weigh 245 pounds fully fueled but the 2025 feels much lighter on the track than the 2007. Side to side movement is easier as that feel helps when making quick line changes. However, with the added weight “feel” of the 2007, I do get more of a planted sensation on the track so there is some give and take. I could squeeze the 2025 better with my legs so that helped me control the bike more when the track got rough. The 2007 fuel tank holds almost two gallons of fuel while the 2025 holds 1.7 gallons so there is some extra weight added to the 2007 via a larger fuel tank.    

So What Do I Really Think? I think that the 2007 CRF450R is one hell of a bike to this day! The chassis is still as good as I remember and has a lot of comfort that makes riders feel safe when on rough style tracks. It corners excellent with a lot of contact feel to the ground. Has a decent engine feel without it ripping your arms out of the socket like other colored bikes can do in the 450 class. Honda should be commended for building an excellent early 2000s motocross machine. I mean it won a lot of shootouts back then so I am sure they know what they built, but to continue with that positivity to this day is commendable. I still think that the 2025 CRF450 is in a much better spot than it was last year and caters to a wider variety of riders than it ever has so we will see how it stacks up against other 450s in 2025. This test makes me reconfirm my thoughts that even though parts of the motorcycle change/evolve as the years go by, it doesn’t necessarily mean that every point of a much newer machine is better. I also understand that 18 years between other colored models may not necessarily give me the same results as these red machines did. This test goes to show that Honda has been building us great dirt bikes for quite sometime and I am looking forward to spending more time on the new 2025 CRF450R. Yes, I wish I could ride the 2007 a bit more, but it must go back to its rightful owner. Special thanks to Zeb Armstrong for allowing me to ride your new/old bike as well as Jim Haeseker for refurbishing this joy of a bike! I hope to do more of these tests in the future. Ride Red!