The Honda CRF450X will go down in history as one of the marque’s greatest hits. Originally derived from the hardcore CRF450R motocrosser, it’s one of the best enduro bikes money can buy.
It has dominated the Baja 1000 and 500 desert races, and just this year Ricky Brabec piloted a rally-spec CRF450 to Dakar victory. So one thing is certain: the CRF excels off-piste.

Noel Muller at Black Cycles in Brisbane, Australia was well aware of the CRF450X’s dirt bike pedigree when he picked up a 2007 model. But that didn’t stop him from wondering what it would be like as a street bike. After all, 48 hp and a dry weight of just 250 pounds (113 kilos) makes for a very respectable power-to-weight ratio.
Noel’s initial plan for the CRF was pretty basic: ?Renew all plastics and lower it… a lot!?
So that’s exactly what he did. The forks went off to local specialist XXX Rated Suspension and the rear end to Gazi Suspension, and both came back 200 mm shorter. Then the Honda’s knobby tires were switched out for more versatile rubber.
That’s when things got weird. Noel installed fresh plastics and a new LED headlight?but he also fitted clip-on bars, turning the CRF into some sort of bizarre ‘cafe cross.’

He put the bike up for sale and posted it to Instagram, where responses were…um…polarized. It ultimately didn’t sell, so Noel decided that a full street tracker makeover was in order.
The suspension mod...