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Was visiting my friends over at San Diego Power House the other day...Guess what I found? A Plated CRF450L (big deal they are all plated! well please read on) that I would consider even over my usual taste for pumpkin. Below are some photos of the owner's (SD power house) bike. He has been the go too mechanic shop for the Honda Baja team 1x. They even had an "Overall Finish' faster then the dreaded trophy trucks. Bob preps and builds all of 1X's bikes. So...he knows Honda's for off-road. I have been watching the classifieds for 2019 Honda CRF 450L's and I'm finding bikes with less than 1K miles on them in the $7.5K range. Why is this important? Imagine an uncorked Honda CRF 450 that sports a Cali Plate? This is what he creates for customers pretty much every month or so. A "Stage one" offering (around $1.9K) takes all the unnecessary stuff off the bike and replaces a few things with CNC'd goodies. IMS 3.0 gallon tank. Baja Designs head light, A Vortex engine module with Dyno created maps by the Honda 1X Baja Team and Bobby at SDPH is installed, a Pro Circuit pipe/muffler system too. The air box will be massaged for deep breathing. The rear fender will be a CRF450 version with tucked in turn signals and tail light along with a tiny plate mount. The "Stage Two" version contains all of the "stage one additions and subtractions" but gets into the suspension components, steering damper, a new cam, mill's the head, and will dyno at 62HP...all for another $1.5K. I wonder if having the three ring piston...Honda's history of longevity, Honda's reputation for decent maintenance check durations...plus less expensive replacement parts would just make financial and fun sense? A new KTM 500 exc would be close $12K out the door... and to get the bike to where I would want it...close to what I have now the 07 450exc RFS, I could see dropping close to, if not over, $3K into a new bike! Nope! Just a thought...