Cologne Show: Honda finally unveils the CRF450 Rally

We had been waiting a long, very long time to write these words. We have finally seen officially and definitively the CRF450 Rally!, the bike with which Honda wants to return to the path of victory in the Rally Dakar, known as the toughest rally on earth. Seriously, I’ll say it again, we were so eager to see it.

Since 1989 Honda had not officially returned to the Dakar. The whole HRC team got to work this year to have ready a bike that, ridden by very expert hands, could deliver more than one surprise next January. These riders will be none other than Johny Campbell (USA), multiple winner of the Baja 1000, Helder Rodrigues (Portugal), Felipe Zanol (Brazil), Sam Sunderland (GB) and Javier Pizzolito (Argentina). We will see them, for the first time, at the Rally of Morocco at the end of the month.

This Honda that has created so much anticipation is directly developed from the Honda CRF450X, the one used in enduro competitions. In its evolution to what it is now, HRC has worked to offer a bike that can seriously compete in the Rally, so they have improved top speed, as well as engine power and torque in every rev range. They have also worked to offer greater endurance under the harsh conditions of the stages.

In case seeing it in photos seems too small for you, below these lines I leave you a video posted by Honda itself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J43g0kG6AXY