The Tenere made me do it - WR250R

[Yamaguy55]

Your photos look somewhat like some of my riding area. I run about 20-22 psi front and about that rear in the 606s, but they have super stiff sidewalls.

As for oil and the murder thereof: small sump capacities and hard use are tough on oil. I run Mobil 1 Racing $t and change every 1K miles, filter every other. It looks like it needs changing at a change, but is not anywhere near as sorry looking as some sumps I've drained on scheduled drains. If standard use was commuting at 55-60, my guess is that 3K would be ok for the interval.

I had a DT400E on hand when I got the WR, so I could compare both at the same time. The original scheme to to keep both. The only things the DT did better was the seat (no kidding) and the lower seat height. In every other category, the WR was better. Which, frankly, I was not expecting. Given my druthers, I'd much rather have a two stroke. I expected the suspension to be better: 1978 vs 2008, but I didn't expect the engine to be better. Between the 30-35 MPG and no significant improvement in rideabilty with the larger engine, I sold the DT. No regrets.

The new (September) issue of Cycle World just arrived yesterday, and along with Kevin Cameron's excellent article on the FZ09, was the year's ten best bike list. I take most magazine's recommendations lightly, but there were some surprises in there. The usual suspects were missing, and the surprises were really surprises. Additionally, the WR made the "the ten rest" list on page 8. I can say I wasn't expecting that, but the comment were pretty close to the mark. Maybe I can believe them after all.

For CW readers, it also may be worth a look to visit page 20, where a discussion of bike mods are playing out in California. You may notice in the center, there's a short concerning the Feds at the EPA are considering making the entire country CARB compliant. Hence my reluctance to do any engine/exhaust/FI mods. It doesn't take a Nostradamus to see what's coming.

 

[wfopete]

I've got about a dozen of older bikes. Everything from a '73 Penton Jackpiner to an '80 YZ 465. They are all great to ride in the right venue. I just put on my rose colored goggles and have a ball at vintage racing events. I just can't seem to let any of them go to other homes. But when the riding gets really nasty and I want my most effective weapon, I'll opt out for my modern KTM 300 XCW every time. I guess it's about having the right tool for the job and what feels most comfortable.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I'll bet the TP was a bit on the high side for off road work.

I've never been one to air down when getting off road. I really am a neanderthal with the finer points of riding. Tire pressure, suspension...whatever, just hit it and go. Could I be making things harder on myself than they need to be...probably. Am I going to change...nope.

 

[viroid]

I love how you folks are comparing xxx350's and xx400's to the WR250R, just makes me appreciate my WRR that much more.

Lets be honest about this for a minute, the WRR is a 300lb, 250cc, street legal dirt bike. The seat is narrow, hard, and otherwise uncomfortable for any sitting ride longer than an hour. (not a big deal if your offroad and standing on the pegs half the day.) Its got about 30 hp, it'll barely do 80mph downhill with the wind pushing you, but it is a fuel injected four stoke that gets 60+ mpg.

Its not a sport bike, a touring bike, or a 400+ cc dirt bike that you are going to win races on.

If you are looking for a reliable little bike that can go just about anywhere and take a serious beating, while still having enough power to have a good time on, the WRR is for you.

One of the things that I noticed when I was researching the WRR was that anyone who owned one, or owned another 250cc bike and had the opportunity to ride a WRR, absolutely raved about its performance, reliability, and fun-factor. Other folks may have 'liked' their bikes, but most talked about, or would at least mention another bike that they thought was better. You wont find that in the WRR community. Take that for what its worth.


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[tomatocity]

I've never been one to air down when getting off road. I really am a neanderthal with the finer points of riding. Tire pressure, suspension...whatever, just hit it and go. Could I be making things harder on myself than they need to be...probably. Am I going to change...nope.

D_D, I have high respect for you and your riding. I don't go off-road much but when I did I had not aired down... until a recent camping trip to Pyramid Lake in Nevada. I did not air down going to the camp site and the Tenere wandered through the gravel and soft sandy dirt. The next morning I aired down to 28F 32R. The Tenere tracked straight and confident. We eventually it asphalt and the Tenere was very stable. I am riding Michelin Anakee 3 tires.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

D_D, I have high respect for you and your riding. I don't go off-road much but when I did I had not aired down... until a recent camping trip to Pyramid Lake in Nevada. I did not air down going to the camp site and the Tenere wandered through the gravel and soft sandy dirt. The next morning I aired down to 28F 32R. The Tenere tracked straight and confident. We eventually it asphalt and the Tenere was very stable. I am riding Michelin Anakee 3 tires.

I'll tell you, if airing down is the secret to riding sand I would do that in a heartbeat. I'm horrible in sand and can use any assistance available...really, I suck. I may not do it anywhere else, but if I find myself in sand, after I stop crying I will try your trick. Thanks for the kind words, and the suggestion.

 

[Yamaguy55]

Weight back, tire pressure reduced as much as 25% for heavy sand. Not a good idea for rocks. The concept is to sort of get up on top and run across, sort of like a boat on plane. Tough to do on a really heavy bike.

Years ago I lived in an area with fine, dry sand everywhere, consistency of sugar, no rain so always dry. If you slowed down, you were done, so eventually I learned to get up on top and stay there. We always ran wider than normal tires. I ran 3.25x21 and 5.50x18 rubber on my YZ400 that I had then. ( wish I still had it) the wide tires helped with the loose stuff, but not so good on hard pack. Rubber that works for me may be useless for you. Look at Moto-GP for an example of that.

Air down is ok if you don't need to increase before you get back to air sources. I used to carry all sorts of stuff, don't anymore.

are mandatory for tube type tires so you don't rip off the valve stem if the tire slips on the rim.

My D606 sidewallls are so stiff it doesn't matter much what pressure I run. But I have to run something, so I run about 20-22 psi.

 

[tomatocity]

Just started carrying a Slime air pump in a Storm Industries bag mounted in a Altrider rear luggage rack. Easy access. Rode 38 miles on dirt-sand-gravel and the last 40 miles on asphalt and aired up the next morning.

Being aired down made it fun(ner) to ride and I was only down to 28F 32R with a light camping load. Was riding twice the speed if I were not aired down. K60's would have made it more fun.

 

[jajpko]

I have to agree with airing down. I ran 22-24 in the rear 606 when I first started, then ran the same trail in sand and lowered to 18 rear and 16 front. What a difference. The bike handled so much better, and I did not need rim locks. I have run 14-16 and that was good as well. I would not run that in large sharp rocks.

At 16- 18 I don't stop and air up. Those are good pressures for rock, hard pack, and whatever else. jmho

 

[snakebitten]

On the trail, I carry my hat, (I'm can't do a thing with this hair) a knife, (clean my finger nails) a cigarette lighter, (in case someone needs a light ) and my Aerostich mini pump.

I may or may not air down. Depends on if I'm struggling and I need something to blame. But I like to have the option.

 

[autoteach]

rode a WR today, but not for a great distance. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked it, given the reviews I had heard. Might be on my list.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Here's how it looked on Saturday. Unfortunately the camera does not pick up how steep some of this was. There is more rock here than trail. Not my favorite way to ride, but the WR did it better than anything I've ever ridden there, including on ATV. Although there were lots of ATVs and Jeeps, I was pretty lonely as the only motorcycle there on Saturday. Took until the 8:08 minute mark in this video before I found 3rd gear.

Edinburg

After the bike's performance here, I'm thinking this will likely be a long term keeper.

 

[Yamaguy55]

Looks like the area we ride in: same color dirt, same kind of embedded and loose rocks, same mudholes, etc. The beginning section up to the mudhole is about what the fast sections look like, 35-40 MPH average. Tough to do with stock suspension settings. With the link installed and the sag reset, it is much better. Still needs a redo by RaceTech.

I crawl through our mudholes as well: the 4WD guys churn up the holes and dislodge the rocks, so there are all sorts of fun submerged things in there. If it were motorcycle only trails, I'd probably not do that.
I find that I don't need to spin the engine as much to maintain through pace that sort of stuff. Do to the remote nature and access of some of our riding areas, I do anything I can to conserve fuel. I really don't want to get a bigger tank: it is top heavy enough already.

I like how the jeep guys just park on the trail side by side. Nobody but them exists, right? Which is why I prefer to ride where there are no vehicles allowed but motorcycles.

Many complain about the abruptness of FI, I know what they're talking about, but I don't really notice it. Maybe I have a different feel to how I apply the throttle.

But it is a fun and capable bike, as long as you don't think it is a MX or enduro bike, you're ok. Yamaha even says so on their website under the WRR:

"Key Features:
Directly descended from our YZ motocrossers and WR off-road machines, the WR250R is here to make Yamaha’s off-road prowess street accessible.
Not exactly an enduro model and not a streetbike either, the WR250R is for riders who ride off-road more than on."

I think where people are dissatisfied is similar to those that dislike the Tenere: they are expecting it to be something it isn't intended to be. If you buy a hammer, and don't like the way it removes and installs screws, maybe it is you, not the hammer. Just sayin'


But the seat complaint is valid, no matter what else you expect. And I have a Seat Concepts replacement, it is better, but still not good. I know there are worse, but there are better as well. The older bikes really did have great seats. Somewhere along the line, that was lost.

 

[jajpko]

Yep, about the seat, politicians in Texas would call that progress. ::025::

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I crawl through our mudholes as well: the 4WD guys churn up the holes and dislodge the rocks, so there are all sorts of fun submerged things in there. If it were motorcycle only trails, I'd probably not do that.
I find that I don't need to spin the engine as much to maintain through pace that sort of stuff. Do to the remote nature and access of some of our riding areas, I do anything I can to conserve fuel. I really don't want to get a bigger tank: it is top heavy enough already.

After watching that jeep's wheels jump around going through the mud hole I was thinking, crap, I don't want to do that. Staying on the side was my best chance of staying dry there. Before I turned on the camera I went through an innocent looking mud hole that was surprisingly deep. The ATV guy had a good laugh when he heard I rode through that one.

With the current gearing I felt most comfortable keeping the RPMs up most of the day. That is where I had the best throttle response. We'll see how that changes with the new gearing and computer.

So far it's getting a pretty consistent 65 to 68 MPH.

 

[Yamaguy55]

After watching that jeep's wheels jump around going through the mud hole I was thinking, crap, I don't want to do that. Staying on the side was my best chance of staying dry there. Before I turned on the camera I went through an innocent looking mud hole that was surprisingly deep. The ATV guy had a good laugh when he heard I rode through that one.

With the current gearing I felt most comfortable keeping the RPMs up most of the day. That is where I had the best throttle response. We'll see how that changes with the new gearing and computer.

So far it's getting a pretty consistent 65 to 68 MPH.

Years ago, (not around here) we used to take our dirt bikes to an area frequented by ATVs, bikes and 4WD vehicles. The bikes rode the trails and woods roads, the others used to play in this large mud hole off to the side of where everyone parked. Not being a fan of mud, I never bothered with it. One day, while loading our bikes into our pickups after a ride, we watched another guy on a dirt bike blast right into the big mud hole, and disappear! Apparently they kept churning it up and making it deeper and bigger until it could swallow a jeep. The poor guy had to "swim" down, for lack of a better term, and hook a chain on his bike and have it pulled out.
Since that day, I've not ridden through any water/mud hole that I can't tell the depth of beforehand.

My fuel mileage averages about 60 with mixed road/off road. Stock it got closer to 70. So I reset the odometer at fill up, then at 80 miles, I start looking to make a gas stop.

 

[trikepilot]

Been following this thread and emailing with DirtDad as I am desperately in need of a smaller bike to complement the Superten. I am finding that I am getting myself into rougher and rougher terrain on this 600lb beast and have had to, on several occasions, turn back when it got to the point where I was worried about injury or getting somewhere that I could not get out.

My research elsewhere and this thread have had me aiming primarily at the WR250R and the DRZ400s. I have ridden both and have been underwhelmed by the power of both - as has been noted by many others here and elsewhere online. Truth be told, the power of these two bikes is likely to be enough for me for a long while I was figure out how to ride a smaller bike in bad offroad conditions and hone my skills. But I have seen where many who ride the WR250R or who are looking at one have lamented that the "perfect" bike would be the WR450R if Yamaha would only bring it to the US.

So a Kawasaki KLX450R that has been plated here locally by WV has popped up for sale and I have been scrambling to edumacate myself on this thing. It is lighter than both the WR250R and the DRZ400 and more powerful - so at first blush it seems to address any concerns in the power department. It appears to be in very good shape with only 4k on the odo. The asking price is right on target with the two WRRs I am looking at here.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=321180070475#ht_2046wt_1165

What I need - with my limited dirtbike background - is some help to figure this thing out. I have been furiously reading online about the KLX450R and have found some stumbling blocks that I would love to have some of you more experienced riders debunk for me.

The first is that this is not a dual sport bike. It is essentially and off-road racing engine that holds one quart of oil. As such, it requires frequent oil changes - like after every 4th or 5th ride. And it also requires regular valve work and full engine rebuilds (rings, pistons, cranks, etc...) at a cost of $1000-1500 every 4-5k miles. And second, due to what I just proposed above - this is not a dual sport bike that can handle longer pavement rides as the sustained higher rpm runs just wear the engine out that much faster.

I have the S10 for all but the worst dirt rides. What I want to add to the mix is a plated 250lb bike that can handle about 50 miles of pavement/gravel at 40-60mph to get to and from the dirt riding. I am not so concerned that this bike is "comfortable" for the non-dirt riding, but I do want a bike I can keep and use for years without having to tear apart and rebuild the engine every other year.

I want to ride - not work on my bikes. I have had this luxury with my KLR and my S10. I would get that luxury with either the WR250R or the DRZ400s. What I want to know from those of you who have tons of experience, is would the KLX be a bike that would require all this fuss, or would it be a bike that I can put 4-5k per year on and not be overhauling all the time.

Thanks!

 

[twinrider]

I want to ride - not work on my bikes. I have had this luxury with my KLR and my S10. I would get that luxury with either the WR250R or the DRZ400s. What I want to know from those of you who have tons of experience, is would the KLX be a bike that would require all this fuss, or would it be a bike that I can put 4-5k per year on and not be overhauling all the time.

Thanks!

I would stick with dual purpose bike, not an mx bike. Being equipped with a carb, the DRZ is an inexpensive bike to uncork with a jet kit, exhaust, air box.

If that isn't enough you can add an Athena 440 kit, as well as change the cams.

 

[trikepilot]

Interesting ronH. I have not run into any mention of this need to change the oil every 4-5 rides if the WR250R is ridden in the dirt. What exactly does the dirt have to do with it? Are you intimating that the dirt gets into the oil? Clarify??

 

[Firefight911]

And the next oil thread has begun......

It's got a one year no mileage limit warranty. Ride it, service it per the manual, quit your worrying.


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