misery loves company:

my 05 CRF450R:
2006: injured, so took a moment to replace piston/rings w/higher compression, full valve job done.
2006: power noted as less not more. what??? ran hot, boiled over. hard to start. had to put a larger sprocket in rear to compensate.
2007: bike sat pretty much idle till last year.
2025: was cleaning up bike to sell it or trade for X model or WR.
* removed birds nest in air cleaner; lucky there was a stainless mesh in there.
* cleaned carb
* found cam advanced by 1 tooth during lash procedure. ah ha!

Now the bike might be faster than when it was new. No immediate plans now to sell or trade.

My youngest boy bought that exact same bike brand new in 2005. It was probably the second fastest dirt bike I’ve ever ridden.

Bill, we see you have a mild fender obsession

Ha. It was a lot worse…… I came across a guy who was big into estate sales. He came across a house that had a closet full of Boss Enduro plastic fenders. They were popular in the early 70s when I was a kid riding dirt bikes. He got tired of trying to sell them at swap meets so he ran a Craigslist add showing large stacks of fenders for I believe it was $20 a stack. I made a lowball offer for two stacks and he accepted it. I believe it worked out to be less than a dollar a fender. I have since used them as bargaining chips for other parts that I need. Just this morning I used two fenders and two pairs of low rise handle bars as partial payment for two K & W fork braces.