Thought I would finally chime in on this post. Just over a year ago, my oldest son was racing a FREE CR450F, with FREE service and parts. He also recieved FREE race entries and gear under the same support. Unfortunately, the CR450F spent more time in the shop with head/valve problems than it did on the trail. Half way through the season, he finally got feed up with not having a trustworthy machine, and returned the sponsorship. Opted for a KX500 with less support, and was actually able to race and ride every weekend without having to have constant motor work.
Don't think this is a unique problem either. Two friends of mine just dumped their red rides because of constant mechanical problems (by the way, neither of these guys race, so are just trail riding on weekends). Both returned to 2 stoke bikes to eliminate the high cost of the 4 stroke repairs. After putting the second head on, one freind never started the bike just to be safe. Just traded it in and purchased a KX250.
A third friend who does race switched from a KX500 to a CR450f. Now this guy is on the big side, but still shouldn't be a problem for a 450. First race out lost the tranny. Pulled the 4 year old KX500 out of the garage.
Finally, the one 4 stoke that seemed to require less maintenance (except keeping the oil level full. A problem for a number of those "high tech" 4 stokes) was the blue bike. In a year of racing at the expert/pro level, no major maintenance was required.
The morale of the story: Make sure you keep the 500 so you will have something to ride while the Honda is getting repaired.
Good luck, and we will await your return to greeny heaven...
Rick
