Recently-signed Crankt Protein Honda Racing rider Todd Waters is confident in the 2017 Honda CRF450R following his first days aboard the all-new premier class machine.

Waters, who rode the new CRF450R for this first time this week in New South Wales and was in attendance at today’s Australian media launch, shared his confidence in the base the bike delivers out of the box in which he and the team can build off heading into the 2017 season.

“My first thought on it is that it has better power than last years model, so that’s good,” Waters explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “The suspension is good straight out of the box, it works well and it’s balanced – they’ve brought the spring fork back again and it’s based off the Showa A-kit.

“Coming from Suzuki, the bike is super light – that’s a massive thing I’ve noticed. I’ve heard [Ken] Roczen comment on it also, it’s like riding a 125. Overall, for me – a professional side – it’s a good base and something that Jay [Foreman] and I can work on, so that’s always helpful.”

Being a completely new model, the Queenslander is excited about the prospect of developing the CRF450R from the ground up, mentioning it will allow him to find greater direction and gauge the difference when adding new parts to the motorcycle. Waters is also pleased with the appointment of Jay Foreman as team manager, who he has previously worked with during his time at Suzuki.

“We can see what’s better – with these big factory teams, you jump on their base and you don’t know if their pipe is good – you have no feedback on their sort of setup. We’ll know if the pipe is better or if it’s not, and we’ll choose to run it if it is,” he continued.

“It’s a good attack for the 2017 race season I think, it’s a new team for me and Jay has moved over here – I’m familiar working with Jay, so that’s exciting. We’ve got some good partners onboard, Paul [Free] runs a successful road bike team that won the championship this year – he’s running our motocross team, so we’ve got good management on our side.”

Waters is planning on making his first racing appearance on the Honda in next year’s New Zealand motocross championship that he will use as preparation the 2017 Motul MX Nationals.