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Honda Launches Dakar Assault with the New CRF 450 Rally

Intermot, Cologne, Germany, saw Honda announce their new Dakar beast, CRF 450 Rally. After a very long absence from this legendary enduro competition, Honda's interest in this segment seems to have dramatically risen.
Honda CRF 450 Rally 8 photos
Photo: Honda
Honda CRF 450 Rally looks greatLeft angle for Honda CRF 450 RallyDashboard for DakarSporty carbon-tip exhaustsDetails of Honda CRF 450 RallyNice, clean linesDetail of Honda CRF 450 Rally
The last Dakar model dates back to 1989, so it's quite obvious that the comeback is a matter of high interest. The CRF 450 Rally is based on the CRF450X machine, one of the best-loved Honda models in this class.

While the overall design has remained pretty much unchanged, it's the details which make the CRF 450 Rally look great. Despite the first suspicions related to few aspects such as the handguards looking a bit on the flimsy side, we'll probably see the CRF 450 Rally tested quite well before the rally.

Honda has endowed the CRF 450 Rally with their Programmed Fuel Injection (PGM-FI) system, aiming for fuel efficiency without power loss, and are confident they'll win the next Dakar. At the same time, they hope to gather enough extensive and relevant info from the rally bike... and see to implementing the newly-found stuff in their other enduro bikes.

For the next Dakar rally, Honda prepares a 5-member team: Johnny Campbell (USA), Helder Rodrigues (Portugal), Felipe Zanol (Brazil), Sam Sunderland (United Kingdom) and Javier Pizzolito (Argentina).
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