Turning a dirt bike into a lightweight adventure motorcycle!
Wr450f upgrades and modifications
BIKES I’VE OWNED:
Xt250 (in 1990), drz400 SM, xr650l, klr650, wr450f, ttr 125, drz400e, crf1000l.
ATVs I’VE OWNED. Suski 230, kodiak 400 2002, Honda Pioneer 1000-5
So, I went from a KLR 650 to a wr450f because my riding buddies road very difficult technical single tracks and the klr 650 was wearing me out in 30 minutes. Where with a wr450f I could go 3 hours of extreme technical trails…that I would only last 30 minutes on a klr.
I suggest everyone own a KLR 650 and then decide if they want to do more highway/long range or more dirt. If you factor in price, you can not beat a klr 650 for adventuring IMO. Large fuel capacity, large gear capacity, but suckie on power and fun.
IMO, the best is to have a 450 for dirt and a 700/1000cc for adventuring.
So, this is the upgrades and modifications I did to my wr450f coming from a KLR.
MANY OF THESE UPGRADES CAN BE APPLIED TO MOST MOTORCYCLES
I wanted fuel injected wr450, so I purchased a 2012. I believe the first year of fuel injection for the wr450 is 2008.
UPGRADE 1: Removing the rekluse clutch.
I removed this for power gains and I wrecked and the bike was on top of me and wouldn’t stop spinning its tire on me, chewing me up a bit. I love having micro-controls with a real clutch. I can slip it when I want to and I can let it grab when I need to. Getting over logs or other technical obstacles, give me a real clutch any day!
UPGRADE2: Throttle Tamer
After doing a few hours of American Fork Canyon hiking trails, my forearm was painful for days, including most of a night. If I moved the throttle 1/16 of an inch, the bike would do an accidental wheelie…just as I’m near a cliff or trying to go up rock ledges or large roots. Now with the throttle tamer, I still have all the same power, I just can allow my throttle hand/arm to relax a lot and get to the power in a sane manner. It was WAY too snatchy before the throttle tamer!
https://www.g2ergo.com/store/g2-dirt-tamer/
UPGRADE3: Scotts steering wheel stabilizer.
Came with the bike. Pricy, but nice to have.
UPGRADE4: Handle bar holster mount.
I tried every possible way to carry a firearm on a motorcycle. Having a serpa holster makes the gun secure and allows for quickly deploying the gun in under 1 second. Also, I won’t break ribs with an underarm holster, nor lose my gun on a big bump/jump.
UPGRADE5: Hydraulic Clutch.
Expensive, but worth it IMO. With a cable clutch, my left arm/hand would fatigue quickly slipping the clutch for long periods of time on hill climbs in very technical areas where you had to slow down and pick your way through roots, rock ledges etc.
Make sure you get the right one for your machine!
UPGRADE6: trashing my Seat Concepts and getting a comfortable seat from Fisherseats!
I went on a 4 day adventure with 3 KRLs and after that my back hurt for weeks, in fact I injured it days after the 4 day adventure and I couldn’t walk for a few days. So, getting a custom seat was worth every penny!
https://fishersaddlebags.com/seats.html
I’m always surprised how many people say they love their seat concepts, when IMO they totally suck! They are not custom, they are fit most riders, but none well. Fishers seats are the best IMO!
I’m 6’5” and weigh about 220 lbs. So, the foam he uses is customized to me. The height of the seat is also customized to me. There is not downsides, I can stand and work the bike standing just as well as the stock seat, but when I need to rest/sit…I can sit a very very long time with a fisher seat!
Here is a testimonial for you! I trailered my crf1000l from Utah County to Boise area to have Dave Fisher have me, him and the bike in the same place at the same time so we could talk through and get my seat dialed in to perfection. Yes, I drove a long ways, but it was worth it!
The wr450f seat was my first Fisher seat and my crf1000l was my 2nd Fisher seat, but not my last! Every bike I own will get a Fisher seat! Its like motorcycle manufacturers purposely set the angle wrong for tall riders and it messes up our lower backs…quickly.
Get your seat fixed by Dave Fisher! NOT corbon and NOT seatconcepts.
UPGRADE7: Street legal kit
In Utah, its always best to start with a dirt bike that doesn’t have all the smog/gov scam crap on there that robs your horse power & torque. It is WAY cheaper and faster to put a street kit on then to try to de-smog your bike!
UPGRADE8: Boyesen high flow water pump
Previous owner dropped his bike on the trailer and broke the water pump, so he replaced it with a boysen
UPGRADE9: Renthal handlebars
I like these, they seem to be indestructible.
UPGRADE10: Tusk D-Flex handguards
OMG, I love these and for $70 ish, these go on all my bikes! I have never broken a lever with a tusk handgaurd installed properly. I don’t carry spare levers anymore ether!
Pro-tip: bend in vice to ensure connecting bolt to handle bar is the correct angle.
UPGRADE11: Oversize desert Fuel Tank
Even with the larger gas tank, my range on the wr450f is 110 miles. Either the terian is challenging or I can’t stop myself from having fun with the throttle, so its all the bikes fault I don’t get good gas milage 😉
UPGRADE12: Brake Rotor and Chain Protection
UPGRADE 13: Rear hand brake
This kind of makes my handle bar “busy”, but in really difficult terrain, its a MUST HAVE. Using both feet to stabilize and still having a rear brake is priceless. Not to mention getting back on your bike in a sketchy spot allow you to keep the bike from slipping back down the hill. We all know facing up hill, the front brake will NOT hold your bike from sliding down hill. You could turn the bike off and keep it in gear, but at some point you got to start the bike back up.
UPGRADE14: LED bulb for headlight!
MUST have, increases lighting by 4x at least.
This might be the right one for wr450f, I’ve ordered a few of these for a few different bikes.
UPGRADE15: LED flood light.
My front fender bag gets in the way of my headlight for close/technical terrain.
Besides, having a flood is NICE while trail riding to see all around, not just ahead.
If you have two bikes, consider getting one spot and one flood light and put one of each on each bike.
Currently I only have one flood light on my wr450f and one flood on my drz400e.
UPGRADE16: double take mirrors
I know they are pricy, but they don’t break. At worst in hot weather and lots of vibrations, the ball may degrade, but if that happens get an aluminum ball. You got to check these out, they are pretty unbreakable!
UPGRADE17: clutch adjustable lever
OMG, on so many bikes, I have loved the micro adjustable clutch and brake levers. When I got my hydraulic clutch, I got rid of my adjustable clutch lever. Search ebay, these are really nice IMO.
UPGRADE18: Tubliss tires.
These make it pretty impossible to get a flat. However, you still need to keep the inner-tube at or near 100PSI. I’ve managed to do the impossible and had to redo my Tubliss tires several times.
I don’t think its worth it. Its expensive and the benefit is not as good as you think. Tubliss told me I’m 1 of 3 people that have put nails through their kevlar 100 PSI protector.
I’ve had to redo my front and rear. Not worth the Money IMO!
UPGRADE19: Home-made radiator fan.
My bike was overheating on my American Fork hiking trails. So, I fabricated a shroud and installed this fan. I can turn it own when I think my bike might be working very hard to climb impossible hills.
SPAL 4 in 147 CFM Low Profile Electric Cooling Fan P/N 30103018
This works great! Between blue ice, and this fan, I have not had a problem with my bike over heating…unless I lay it over and all the blue ice dumps out.
UPGRADE20: TRAINING!
IMO, this the most important upgrade! I know ridered sucks, but you should go to the basic at least once and go to the intermediate every other year or if you get a new bike. Slipping your clutch and dragging your rear brake for slow maneuvers is so so key on and off the road!
On this note, I hired 1:1 training from http://dualsportschool.com/sign-up/ worth every penny! This will save you thousands of dollars, prevent/reduce injury. I’d say, do the gov training with rider ed, get about 1000 hours of dirt time and then hire dual sport school and you should be good to go.
I’ve trained a lot of riders with bluetooth intercoms, training is accelerated 10x with comms! I can talk through it, demo it and then give them instant/real time feedback as they are practicing a challenge.
UPGRADE21: Rider personal protective equipment (PPE) gear!
I have seen so many people get hurt, go to the hospital and have a long long recovery because they didn’t have the correct training and because they didn’t have the correct gear!
BOOTs: get the right boots brothers/sisters! Alpine stars tech7 is my recommendation.
Knee guards: wear them inside your pants so they don’t slip to the side when you need them most.
Back: d3o is high tech armor, it flexs when warmed up by body heat, and during impact is removes a great deal of impact. I have d3o on my gloves, knee, hip and back protection!
Don’t waste your money on anything else, just buy this and be good to go in the heat:
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/riding-gear/moose-racing-xc1-body-armor-p
I do NOT go riding with people unless they have their PPE squared away!
UPGRADE 22: Bluetooth helmet intercoms.
What can I say, they are expensive and a pain to use, but they are worth it!
- Safety…hey, watch out for xyz, including other vehicles. “That is a stop sign…”
- Navigation. Why waste hours of getting lost and taking the wrong turn!
- Enjoyment, with comms, you can talk as you ride and not having to stop all the time and talk.
- The list goes on, get comms! I started with cardo, then went sena and came back to cardo.
UPGRADE 23: green chili adv straps and bags
The green shili extreme soft rack is awesome because you can move it from bike to bike, allows you to slide off the back of your dirt bike or attach a giant loop for a multi-day adventure.
I love their strapping system and their bottle holsters. I got two for my wr450f. One for tools and one for fluids (anything heavy).
UPGRADE24: In field jack stand.
Many say they can improvise a jack stand with 2×4, wood/rocks from the wild, but when you need a jack stand, you REALLY need a jack stand.
UPGRADE 25: 2nd rear wheel.
If you are trying to get one bike to do everything you need, this is critical. With two wheels, I can customize one for street with smaller sprocket for higher speeds with a shinko 244 50/50 tire AND I can customize the other wheel for dirt with a large sprocket for “granny gear” with a full knobby tire. Takes about 5 minutes to swap between the two wheels.
I often bring the other wheel in case the tire goes flat, I’ll have the other one handy (I keep it in the truck or trailer).
I found my extra wheel on ebay.
UPGRADE 26: heated fly gloves
I got these instead of heated grips because I wanted to be able to use them on other machines and other use-cases. They are a bit thick, but if I’m doing a winter adventure, I’m not likely doing highly technical riding. I can charge them on my bike, which was a priority1 for me.
UPGRADE27: Lithium battery
You can save some massive weight with a lithium battery. I got the tusk one so it was not too over priced. For my wr450f it requires very high cold cranking apps (CCA), but lithium doesn’t have the best CCA, so I often kick start my bike when its cold. Once it warms up the estart works great!
UPGRADE28 Hour meter
I hope its not all wr450fs, but mine doesn’t have an hour meter nor forever mileage counter.
Having an hour meter helps me stay on my maintenance intervals/schedule.
I keep all maintenance done in a google sheet so I can keep track of it for all my machines.
I loved the tusk hour meter so much, I got one for my drz400 and motorhome generator!
I was going to buy a trail tech, but everide says they break quickly…at least for him, they always break within about 6 months.
UPGRADE29: RAM MOUNT phone mount
I have 3 ram mounts, but more recently I found a wireless charger xgrip similar to ram mount (without high prices), the thing I LOVE is the taller xgrip so I don’t have to mess with the rubber bands to keep my phone.
I can move this wireless charger from my big bike to my 450 using anderson power poll connectors.
One downside is, the wr450f is usually in rough terrain, so the wireless charging is spotty. I never had issues charging my phone on the crf1000l, but it usually is doing dirt roads or “sane trails”.
I can’t tell you how many cables I’ve rattled to death.
I prefer this one:
Taller xgrip and wireless charging!
UPGRADE30: USB charger.
ALL my bikes get these so I can charge my elec devices.
I can also charge my bike battery w/o removing the seat.
UPGRADE31: tire selection.
I know this is super personal, but I’d like to give my opinion.
Super super aggressive on the front tire. Why, because you don’t want your front tire to slip…and the front tire is less likely to wear as quickly as the rear. Replace the rear 2x for every 1x on the front!
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/tires-and-wheels/michelin-enduro-medium-terrain-tire-p?v=10512
&
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/tires-and-wheels/shinko-r505-hybrid-cheater-tire-p
Has been good to me the last two riding seasons.
Once it wears out, I will replace it and the rear with tusk Dsport tires (https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/tires-and-wheels/tusk-dsport%C2%AE-adventure-tire-p). I have them on my drz400 front/back and they rock! They clean, they wear well and they really provide a lot of traction.
In fact, if they had dsport tires for my crf1000l, I think I’d try them!
UPGRADE 32: clear coat with film rear side panels
I really jack’d my side panels up with saddle bags (giant loop) on a 4 day adventure, so I replaced them and then had them coated with film from the local tint guy. This will protect them from rubbing and most scratches.
UPGRADE 33: Tank bag
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/search/go?w=tusk+tank+bag
UPGRADE 34: 2nd air filter
Having a 2nd air filter prep’d and ready to go is helpful
UPGRADE 35: Gear ties
These are so handy and came be used to improvise.
UPGRADE 36: Ignition key
Adds “some security” by removing ignition key, I get some peace of mind.
https://www.rockymountainatvmc.com/parts/sicass-racing-universal-keyed-kill-switch-p
UPGRADE 37: Foot pegs
You really need to upgrade your foot pegs for your own safety!
I couldn’t find these to fit my wr450f, but these are my fav so far!
UPGRADE 38: Go pro helmet mount
I think I’ve tried every possible mount, but my fav is a chin mount so I can see if my camera runs out of battery/disk space or even if it is working properly.
Chinese cheap knock off of a go-pro: https://amzn.to/3cFTfgk
I needed https://amzn.to/2z06QB8 to get the correct angle.
UPGRADE 39: Hydration pack.
This should be number one priority! Having safe water when you are in remote locations.
HAWG is about the right size IMO. you can always pack less stuff.
