i used to have a ducati 1098 and a tiger 800xc it fellt really weird for me when i started riding the wr but i love the cheap up keep on it verse my 800 dollar service bill i have to pay every time i took my duck in to get serviced
Not a MXer but very similar. They are very dependable though, not much different than the WRR. My son has 1 and I maintain it. The 250F's are low maintenance too. IMHO (wife and I have owned 5 of them)
I was getting all excited about the WR250R as the Yamaha dealer here in Malaysia said they were going to start selling them here. As it turns out he meant WR250F's with lights, and plated. I know they are completely different - the F is lighter, more powerful, doesn't have the electrical output or the 6th gear or strong subframe for hauling etc. Anyone here have experience riding the F back to back with the R on the road? I'm sure I'd prefer the F off road; my bike needs to do it all though - it's my daily comuter on surface streets, freeway, horrific 3rd world potted roads, jungle riding for fun on the weekends/days off etc. Is the F significantly less road worthy? The biggest downfall in my mind has been the reliability/longevity difference. I notice Yamaha's website is now touting the F as extremely dependable....
I believe the main thing determining the long-term reliability with either bike will be the care and feeding (or lack of). Neither bike will appreciate dirt inhaled through the air intake, or going 8 billion miles between oil changes. I also do not believe a WR-250F needs constant valve clearance checks or adjustments unless you do something brilliant such as suck in dirt. So, to me, reliability or fear of having to constantly work on the bike is not the real issue with the choice. The WR-250R is a much better road bike mainly because it has a 6th gear and is geared much taller, so it can comfortably cruise at higher speeds out on open roads. It also has a smoother-feeling engine (less vibration). The WR-250F feels twice as capable off-road, but it's much shorter gearing is the main drawback for regular street riding. Plus, when you get right down to it, using a bike that's better in the dirt for lots of street riding seems like a waste of all that off-road capability to me. Been there. Done that. Next. In my opinion after owning a WR-250R and two WR-250Fs, if your street riding is all lower-speed stuff (no open roads or highways where you want to cruise at 45mph or higher regularly), either bike would do. If your daily riding is more slanted toward off-road use, get the WR-250F. If you really ride more on the road at road bike speeds, and if you want a bike that feels 100% at home on practically any road, the WR-250R is better for it.
Is that with a corrected speedo or GPS? I top out at 78 on flat pavement with a corrected speedo and my mods.. still a 250.
My speedo is waaay off - 82 mph indicated is really 70 mph on the GPS. That said, my 2010 WR-R with 22K miles can hit a true 85-87 mph (GPS) on level ground or about 90 mph on a downhill. Mine has FMF pipe, AIS and EXUP removed, opened up airbox with K&N filter. Gearing is 13/47, but I'm running a larger diameter MT-43 rear tire, which makes the gearing very close to the stock 13/43.
I use to have a DR650 with a FCR, GSXR 1000 can, and some suspension mods. I also have a 2003 KTM 450 EXC which has a sweet motor on it. The DR650 definitely had a bunch more 'grunt' than the WR250R. Then I made the mistake of renting a WR250R for a day during a vacation in Townsend TN (GSM Motorcycle Rentals - I think the owner is an inmate here, GREAT PLACE). My girlfriend was on her Ninja 250 and we hit some of the twisties and Forest Service roads down there (she is very good with that Ninja on FS road but I think she wished at a couple of points that she had her Super Sherpa instead). When we were on the twisties she remarked that she had a tough time keeping up with me but once the road got straight and our speeds got up she owned me then. That day I decided to sell the DR650 and get a WRR. Why? Well a couple of reasons: The first being that when we are doing a DS ride our speeds are seldom over 35 MPH up in the mountains. For the short bits of pavement we cover we seldom went about 55 and the WRR handled that really well. The second reason is that the bike is so easy to ride when things go south. I remember on one ride I went hot into a decreasing radius turn on a dirt road and knew I was going to head into the ditch. As I hit the ditch the first thought that came into my head is 'this is going to hurt'. To my amazement the bike went in and climbed back out and I was now riding on the ridge that paralleled the road. I was quite impressed but then realized I needed to get back to the road. So I steered back into the ditch and climbed back out to the road. About a year prior the same thing happened to me on the DR on our TAT ride. The front end washed out in the ditch, hit the bank, and then I went over the top of the bike and landed hard. No real damage other than some pride on my part. When I first picked up my WRR I was really disappointed since it did not have the snap that the rental did. I changed the sprockets on the bike and ended up with a 13/48 combo that I really like. That mod was the best bang for the buck out of everything that I have done. What the WRR does not do as well as my DR650 was cruise on the highway or Interstate. But I have a DL650 for when I am doing riding that requires long stretches of pavement and what I was looking for a bike that had long maintenance intervals (compared to my KTM) and handled well on tight/twisty dirt roads and the occasional single track. For me that bike is the WRR. After my first weekend of DS riding in the mountains (after the gearing change) I was so happy with the bike I decided that I was going to sell the KTM too. Then a couple of weeks later I took the KTM out on a 200 mile DS ride with Bluelightning and realized that I could not sell that bike since that motor brings a smile to my face when ever I twist the throttle. For now I have my Epic Ride DS bike (the WRR) and my Play DS bike (the KTM).... oh yeah at some point I picked up a 2001 GasGas XC250 woods bike. So I guess I am set for now.. until my disease kicks back in and I do something like sell the GasGas and KTM and pick up a new KTM 350 EXC... I try not to think to hard about thing like that though.
What? The 450f is a track bike plain and simple. How can you even say they have similar maintenance requirements to a wr250r? You're gonna end up smashing the shit out of your valves and toasting your engine if you think you can have the same maintenance intervals as the wrr...
my speedo said 105 mph but my gps said 97.1 i have not done any thing with my speedo yet i just use my gps for now
And what do you weigh in at? A buck nothing? I think you said you still had stock gearing on yours? On mine with my fat ass on it with stock gearing I lose speed in sixth at the top end, need to gear back down to 5th to pick it up. That is why I run different gearing and now my top speed GPS corrected has been 142kms but I think that was downhill with the wind, it seems that my normal top is about 132kms. Last night coming home into a 40km/hr head wind I was struggling to get the bike to do 100kms.
i weigh 196 pounds but with all my gear on im probley about 210 pounds. and my gearing is 13t 42t when it was stock it was 13t 43t cause thats how yamaha does the wrr funny thing is on a stock wrx is 13t 42t yamaha changed the gearing alittle bit cause of the deffent tire the wrx uses. anyway i went down one tooth in the rear. so next time when that gear wears out ill probley go down one more tooth in the rear to make it 13t 41t.
I think this is why most dealers are reluctant to offer test rides. Brand new motor and all... I don't think you need to baby these things, but I usually give them a few hundred miles to break in, seat the rings, valves, etc. before I wring them out. They do run better once broken in. I agree with others, a guy your size really needs a bigger bike, the 250 is probably just too small for you. I'm 5'9" and 175 and it feels good under me, not a lot of power, but it takes me where I want to go and faster than I should go just fine. I have an 1150GS and when I get off that and onto the WR it feels like a bicycle, usually takes several miles before I quit subconsciously doing the size comparison thing and just ride it. It is a WONDERFUL bike. Doug
Yeah, that place is just glorious! If you've never been, you need to go if you like off-road riding. I did the White Rim trail with some buddies once on mountain bikes, followed by two 4X4 sag wagons with our camping gear (3 days/2 nights), beer, and food. I think it was 112 miles total, from Island in the Sky visitor center around and back. That last few miles of asphalt after climbing out of the Green River and leaving the dirt roads was the longest few miles I've ever done on a bike . We were sitting on a rock at dusk at our last camp waiting for the sag wagons when another guy rode by on his bicycle, alone, with nothing more than a few power bars in his jersey and two water bottles. We chatted a bit and gave him some more water then he took off to finish his ride. He did the whole thing in one very long day, alone, to celebrate his 50th birthday :eek1. I said Jeeezuz, Superman, where is your cape?? He said the ferking thing kept getting caught in his spokes so he took it off and ditched in in some bushes. What a stud , it's a seriously long day on a motorcycle! I miss that stuff a LOT. It's a 5000 mile round trip from here. Doug
I had mine up to 80mph according to the GPS the other day and it was still pulling when I ran out of road. I doubt it would have gone too much higher, though. The only "mod" mine has is I adjusted the TPS to 18-99%. Oh and 13/47 gearing. I weigh a little less than 140lbs without gear, so that helps too.
I don't have your experience with the WRF, but it seems inaccurate to write "not much different than the WRR" and "250F's are low maintenance too". They valve check intervals on the WRF are what, 600 miles, vs. 26,000 miles for the WRR? I don't doubt that WRFs may be considered low maintenance compared to some other off-road competition bikes, but for a dual-sport that may see many tens of thousands of miles, I don't think there is any comparison.
Work today - play tomorrow Tank (it's a whopper) Skid plate Hand guards (not going very well - think they are for smaller diameter handle bar) F-sprocket cover Chain & tire maintenance
Ya it looks like your bars are stock. They would be 7/8 bars, they don't get any smaller then that. But might just be the bend of the bars.