A good step up

Honda's CRF450 wasn't my first choice of mount when I looked to step up from a dual-purpose trail bike. After all, it has a 96-centimetre seat height and I'm 166cm tall. Getting on it required the sort of contortions I've never been capable of.

But it took surprisingly little work to bring the seat into reach for a weekend of trail riding.

Getting tired of your soft-core dirt bike is par for the course as your riding develops, and replacing it a matter of budget, taste and, often, mates' advice, except when you're short – or even average, if you're a woman. For anything vaguely resembling a step up in terms of power, handling and brakes also means a step up in size, and this CRF's seat height isn't unusual. Dirt bikes have long travel suspension. The more serious the bike, the greater the suspension travel and the taller that bike will be.

Climbing on a box to mount might be an option at the start of a motocross race when you hope to stay on until the finish flag. It's not an option during a trail or adventure ride, with gates to open and rivers to examine before you take the plunge.

Managing a bike with a seat much higher than your inside leg measurement is fine when riding, but less fine if you need to dab a foot during a ford crossing, or stop on sloping or uneven ground.

So I'd put an upgrade into the "too hard" basket and sworn to learn to ride the wheels off my Yamaha XT250 in the meantime. After all, it's a good all-rounder, and I'm not racing.

But during a brief ride on a borrowed Yamaha WR250, I encountered yeehaa power alongside super-compliant suspension. Yes, height was an issue, but now I was determined to overcome it.

My first chance came with this CRF450X, and altering it wasn't as difficult as I thought. Adjusting the pivot position for the rear shock, and lowering the staunchion tubes for the front forks was about it. It's still a stretch to mount, but the seat squats under my weight. These changes wouldn't suit everyone. They would adversely affect the handling for a heavy rider, or one seeking maximum suspension performance, but I'm not and won't be.

Thus, two Hondas headed for the Central Plateau and the 42nd Traverse one damp weekend.

I took it easy at first, getting the feeling of the much-increased power and the quicker throttle response on the wider logging trails, snicking up and down through the gears, testing the brakes and feeling the suspension absorb potholes and lumps that would have had my old XT's wheels pogoing like a hyperactive schoolboy.

I soon began to appreciate how power and suspension can keep you out of trouble. Slippery uphills were dispatched via the judicious use of momentum, and the fact I could keep the knobs dug in, not bouncing clear.

The steep climbs required a twist of the wrist, not the long run-up the XT would prefer.

Mind you, the XT excels in some situations. On the pegs, carefully negotiating a narrow, bumpy, tricky stretch of slick, wet papa rock was easy on the XT last time out. There's not much power and it comes on slowly, which assists in fine control.

The CRF? I gently eased the power on, the scenery blurred, and suddenly I was lying in the shrubbery, gazing skywards.

XT-gentle and CRF-gentle are worlds apart.

Fortunately, the Honda weighs just two kilograms more than my littler bike and I had her up in a jiffy, and none the worse for wear.

Even fording the Waione Stream's deepest water proved a cinch with the CRF's decent ground clearance, again the super-efficient suspension helping keep control as she bounced over the odd rock.

Finally, we were into the faster trails – narrow, fern-fringed tunnels through the bush with sudden twists and drops, brief up-down chicanes over rocks requiring quick thinking and equally quick handling to negotiate.

It was here that I most appreciated this bike's relatively low centre of gravity and, perhaps, it's steering damper – hard to tell how well it's working until you take it off.

The brakes were good, too. I like the front disc cover; this ride wasn't muddy, but it kept that stopper clear of the crud thrown up by the XR650 in front.

I've been through here several times, but never this fast, and never with this much control.

Yes, it's easy to get a rush of blood to the head and overuse the throttle. No doubt that's why novices are advised not to step up too soon. Don't respect that power and you're off the edge. If you're lucky, you'll have one of the track's spectacular Mt Ruapehu views to keep you interested until the helicopter arrives.

By the time we reached the end of the track, I was hooked.

The CRF450X first came out in 2008 as a slightly softer alternative to the CRF450R racer. A serious trail bike with the ability to take on enduros, it offered plenty of bang for buck.

This 2009 bike has had a few changes to boost torque and controllability – and it's that torque I was enjoying as I pulled out of streams and up hills, while its supple delivery made it far easier for a relative novice to manage than I'd imagined.

The suspension has had a few tweaks, too, but again it's aimed at varied terrain and predictable response. The bike's standing ergonomics were always good for shorter riders. While that narrow frame not only makes it easier to throw yourself around the bike, it also assists when you're reaching for the ground.

There were few downsides, at least for this rider. She's a little too happy to lift the front end – fun at first, but not when you're balancing the throttle for a tricky climb. There's still no digital clock and odometer, which would be handy for navigating, but that's about it.

Honda's CRF450X is designed to do everything well, if not brilliantly, with a powerful engine and compliant suspension.

Yes, it's a big step up from a soft-focus trailie, but provided you're tall enough – or can pay for the expertise to properly lower it – it's sufficiently approachable to make the leap, and talented enough to take you much farther.