Yamaha WR250R Mega Thread

Yeh--I'm sure of that---I think the thing has to be in the bottom middle of the tank.

Now the race is on----the first to post a pic of it mounted.

And then somebody run it out of gas to see just how far you can go.

I'm going to try to run my stocker out of gas and see how far it will go---iffin' I can stand the
cold weather---I got my plug installed for heated clothing----I'll see how the battery holds up.
All my other bikes have a switch on the low beam so I can turn the headlight off if I want. I did this to
the WR also--drilled a hole in the side of the plastic headlight housing and put a switch there.

I"ve tapped in for my heated grips (haven't arrived yet) and my gps---so we'll see how the alternator and battery does with a load on it. My Husky only has a 230 watt alternator and I ran heated grips, heated vest, arm chaps and heated gloves with it with no problem.

Of course I went to the battery for the heated clothing.

For my heated grips and gps---I powered them off the same wire. I tapped into the hot wire going to the headlight switch. It is only hot when the bike is running---so if I leave my grips on they won't run the battery down. I use to run gp's to a tap that was hot all the time---not necessary now as my 276C has a rechargeable battery and will stay on.

The headlight circuit has a 15 amp fuse and a wire big enough to support 15 amps.
Figuring at 12 volts--the headlight will draw 5.4 amps on high beam---the heated grips draw 3 amps on high--the gps and tailight draw next to nothing---so I probably have about a 9 amp load on a 15 amp circuit---and if the volts go above 12 (which they will) I'll have even less.

I'm goin' riding'---see if I can run the battery dead !!!

The yoshi is quite a bit different with and without the spark arrestor and end cap. I run mine without the spark arrestor and with the end cap and its just acceptable. The wind and the exhaust at 65 mph is about the same. with the spark arrestor in you can barely hear it when at 65 unless revving wfo but its not irritating. if your going slower on the trails you will hear the exhaust and it will be almost a problem without the spark arrestor. sounds almost like a race bike. I think they rate it at 96 db with the spark arrestor.

bigdog,, you have to give us a take on what conditions you would rather be on the 610 vs the 250r. I see the 250r being about twice as reliable.. would you agree with that?
Thanks,

I had ordered a 12T and 14T front, but they didn't arrive in time a for a trip. I put the 51T bc I had 3 of them in the garage and the chain that fit. If you're going to start playing with the gearing, a masterlink or new chain save a ton of work. I red loctite my front sprockets and dont have my air tools at home, ,so the the rear is actually easier for me to swap.
A riding trip is planned for next weekend, so I'll def be putting a 51t back on for that weekend. Gearing changes work for me b/c I truck my bike out the the dirt and back, so no compromises. Then I commute about 4 days a week, all fwy at 40 to 85mph, so the 13/43 works pretty well for that. I put the 14T front on for extended hwy trips. 300mi at 80mph with the 13/43 is very doable, but the 14t feels much easier on the bike.
I don't mind the work, and I've got very little invested in parts. Long term, I want a second set of wheels, probably 17's for the street. Then dirt-only tires on the 18/21 with dirt-only gearing.

Motorcyclist did a dry tank runoff in their October issue. They put one gallon of gas in each bike and ran them up route 33 north of Taft at a steady 55 mph until they stopped, one by one. The results:

Kawaskai Ninja 250 -- 67.5 miles
Yamaha WR250R -- 69.1 miles
Suzuki DRZ400SM -- 71.6 miles
Honda 250 Rebel -- 80.7 miles

The Yamaha had the most fuel sloshing around when it ran out. One bright fellow on this site speculated that the tank is deliberately shaped to keep some gas around the fuel pump for cooling. The DRZ was able to burn the whole gallon and leave the tank dry.

Now that I looked that up I guess it doesn't have that much to do with seeing how far you can run on a full stock tank.

By the way, BigDog, your posts with Gaspipe on the TAT are some of the best reading I've enjoyed on ADVrider, and I want you to know how much I appreciate all the work you guys did to chronicle that adventure in words and photographs. For those who missed it, Gaspipe rode a Honda XR650R and BigDog rode a Husqvarna TE610. It is a huge compliment to the WR250R that Mark has decided to add one to his stable.

I don't buy that 69.1 mile figure for the WRR.

Yamaha factory specs show the stock tank with
a 2.0 gal capacity.

Personal experience this past weekend had mine
going 78 miles between fill-ups per the onboard
odometer and the reserve warning light never
even lit up.

Edit: Duh - if they only put 1.0 gals in a two gal tank
maybe 69.1 MPH ain't too bad...

The fuel pump assembly is mounted at the bottom rear of the tank, back where the tank levels out.

Take off the plastic on both sides, the seat, then the bolt at the top front of the tank, and the two bolts securing the rear of the tank to the rear subframe. Don't lose the little metal sleeves. The tank will lift up. Then you can disconnect the electrical connector to the fuel pump where it connects to the pump, and the fuel line - but disconnect the fuel line down at the top of the engine, where it connects to the metal fuel rail at the injector. Now you can lift tank, pump and all off the motorcycle.

From underneath, the view from the bottom of the tank, the pump assembly looks like this:



To remove the pump assembly from the tank, take off the big retaining ring. Then the whole thing just comes out. A pic of the pump assembly from the side - the larger vertical silver can is the pump itself, the smaller horizontal black and white plastic on top holds the regulator, and the tiny silver can is the low fuel sensor. The big flat bag on the left is the fuel filter. We doped this stuff out over on TT.



There's nothing else in the tank. I don't know how they can drop "wings" down the sides with that pump where it is, and nothing else. The pump has no way to suck fuel up from lower than the pump base itself. But soon we will know for sure what they have come up with.

/dh

Feel better? Go ahead, do it again and again. Anybody that can survive that hot desert in Iraq with full gear deserves a whole page of them. Go for it!

And...keep thinking "Colorado 09"

R²

HF

p.s. You're also delusional about "no farkles". $20 says you can't last 6 months pure stock!

How bout some photos of your socket mounts...BD? I like seeing how & where folks anchor this stuff. I've got a BMW plug, but haven't got around to installing yet. Been looking R² over and haven't settled on any desirable location yet.

Your plan sounds good....just keep some extra fuses (as always). I'm nervous about pulling from the headlight circuit cause I don't want any chance of blowing the headlight fuse (or worse). I've lost headlights on night rides twice! Its a MAJOR bummer!!

So, I was thinking about tapping the hot lead from the key switch....what you think?

HF

Yes I would.

I'm guessing your right----I'm expecting to have no motor trouble for more than 40,000 miles--maybe way more. But nobody's done that----just what I feel. It just my gut feeling----the fit, finish and build quality of this thing is superb.

I'm thinkin' it would be really rare circumstances I rather be on my 610---so rare I'm having a hard time coming up with some ????:huh :huh

Maybe passing semi's on the interstate ??????

Right now I'm thinking even tho at altitude the fuel injection will keep the jetting spot on---but there's still a lack of air and you will have a loss of power on any vehicle---except maybe a turbo that forces the air in.

Loosing a little power on a 250 is not a good thing---but I will suffer thru that cause the dang thing shines so well everywhere else. Be interesting to see what it does at altitude---I've had horrible experiences at 13,000 ft. with carbed air cooled 4-strokes. I finally had to bring back a 400cc bike to climb Mt. Antero in Colorado----14,000 ft.

If it hadn't been for gravity--my old XR250 would still be 3/4 the way up there

Last weekend on our DS ride down in Big Sur we had
altitude changes between sea level to 4000' up and down
and the R²'s handled that without a hiccup.

I've been getting more like 53 mpg but that includes some off roading.
Fuel light comes on around 80- 88 miles into the tank.

I did 106 miles on a tank- 26 of them were hard throttle on a dirt road, 60mph plus, some slower speeds through a flooded road, 50-70 mph on road/highway, maybe faster and some stop and go traffic thrown in.

I really was hitting it hard from lights for the last several miles trying to go dry before stopping.

Didn't stall out but when I gave in and fiiled it, the reciept said it took the full two gallons.

So you could do better but that seems to be a realistic, mixed use, spirited riding low number for mpg. At no point was I trying to conserve gas to get a better number- just riding.

That's exactly what I did on my Husky----from the ignition switch I found a wire that was hot all the time for the gps----and one that was only hot when the ignition was on for the heated grips. It worked fine.

LOL. It's cold as shit here right now. I'm going out today with my girlie long underwear.

And if I said I wasn't going to farkle it...I kinda meant the engine. I've got a list...

I just have trepidation that I won't ride the thing enough. That'll hurt double. Meh, I'm just going to keep dreaming. It's keeping me going. I think the van is going to have to go out in the driveway.

Go to Radio Shack and buy a 12v relay for $5.....run 12 gage wire with fuse from the battery to the relay and then to your accessory.....Use your headlight or ignition switched circuit to trigger the relay via a manual toggle switch. Relays draw milliamps or less but then internally power your accessory through the larger gage wire. Very safe....your accessory is not running off the battery connected this way...it's running off your charging circuit via the stator. You'll see a schematic on the back of the package. Hope this helps....

Some of you guys are farkling these little babies as well as some of the GoldWings out there!

Here's a little tip to keep an eye on your power usage when you are running a lot of stuff on your limited bike alternator. Get a little DC voltmeter and mount it in a visible place on the bike. I stuck one on the inner fairings on several bikes including a Tiger, DRZ400, KTM990S, and my Aprilia RXV550 and plan on doing it to the R² as well, since I have it wired for GPS and heated Gerbings gear.

By simply watching the volts you can see if you are overrunning the battery/alternator combo. With basic bike loads the voltage should be 13 to 14Volts DC to keep the battery charged. If when loading it down with electric clothing (the biggest user) and heated grips you start to see the voltage dip below 13volts, down into 12V and less territory, that means your charging system is not keeping up with the load and not charging the battery. That will gradually drain the battery and all of a sudden you'll wish you had a kick starter... :huh It's also a good way to see if your charging system fails, giving you time to "ride on the battery" if needed. EFI systems especially.

As for the little DC voltmeters, here's a handy, easy to wire unit I usually use.

This one has a simple 2-wire hookup and drill a little 1/4" hole to mount, $27

http://www.lascarelectronics.com/temperaturedatalogger.php?location=us&datalogger=116



I do recommend taking them apart (easy) and carefully sealing them better with silicone rubber or similar, to make them more splashproof. Great little units for the price, and rugged, as long as you don't fill them with water. I've had units go thousands of miles on offroad bikes and 80,000+ miles on a street bike, all wether, no problems.

There are fancier, waterproof units out there, even from Lascar, but more $$ of course.

Thanks Thumper & Cyborg! Fantastic info. Now, if I can just decide where & how I want to mount my plugs & switches....

HF

You're right...I did. Shifted thru all the gears. Don't recall what it was doing in Neutral. Not sure I even checked that.

HF

A battery tender couldn't hurt with all that stuff hooked up.

I ALWAYS use one anyway, I like knowing that my batt is topped off regularly, and they last a looong time with a tender.

Yes--a battery tender is a good thing to have--especially if a bike sits for a long time. I rarely use mine as my bikes get ridden so much.

But---unless you leave your bike sit for an extended period---I don't think there is any need to worry about adding electrical accessories to this bike.

It has more useable wattage than my KLR or my Husky TE610---either of which I can run plenty of electrical stuff.

Yesterday I rode my bike in freezing temps most of the day running a heated vest, arm chaps, and gloves----and even tho I installed a headlight switch to turn off my headlight if I like..........I intentionally left it on all day and the voltmeter on my gps read over 13 volts all day---with lots of starts.

One tipover proved the tipover switch works :huh

My Speedo is 7 mph off----but my gps is closer and easier to see--it's usually what I look at anyway.

By the way----that is the coolest thing that yamaha made the headlight to stay off until the bike starts---that would be a good thing for any bike. I always start my KLR with the headlight off in cold weather or if it has sat a while.