Yamaha WR250R Mega Thread

[scoprire]

Originally Posted by DougZ73

Speaking of the IMS 3.0 gallon tank..I am considering one., Do they have any or all of the issues people have recently been experienced with the rushed to market 4.3 gallon tank?

Just put one on a few weeks ago. It took longer to get the plastics apart than it did to mount the tank; no problems at all. The tank does make the gaps between the seat and side panels a bit bigger, but I didn't even notice till it was pointed out here.

You can see the pics here

[DougZ73]

Originally Posted by scoprire

Just put one on a few weeks ago. It took longer to get the plastics apart than it did to mount the tank; no problems at all. The tank does make the gaps between the seat and side panels a bit bigger, but I didn't even notice till it was pointed out here.

You can see the pics here

Thanks Paul. Appreciate the response.

[Neonguy95]

Zero problems with mine. Install was a 30 minute job. No worries no issues.

[MiamiMotorcyclist]

Originally Posted by zora

What you can't see cuz of the grass.....



I ended up doing a front flip, but OFF OF MY HEAD instead of my hands. I was bent backwards in half like some sort of circus contortionist. Ouch. Luckily I didn't snap my back or neck in two.

Haha, awesome.

I assume the kill switch/lanyard was pretty straight forward?

[Machtig]

Originally Posted by Chadx

...all of which haven't been an issue for 95 - 99% of owners. I think our little bikes are doing pretty good if these are the few and far between issues that we are talking about. The chain slider (guard seal) is a wear item like tires, chains, oil, brakepads, etc. I guess maybe footpegs and clutch/brake levers are, too, for some riders. I've been known to mangle a few of each. Ha. Just replace and proceed.

I have got to be doing it wrong then. I just chewed up a guard in 1000 miles. Most of which was the last 600 cause at 400 I tightened the chain a bit. It was all highway miles, fully loaded, never faster than 65mph. I don't know what gives? The chain was tighter than I normally run it.

[Chadx]

Originally Posted by Machtig

I have got to be doing it wrong then. I just chewed up a guard in 1000 miles. Most of which was the last 600 cause at 400 I tightened the chain a bit. It was all highway miles, fully loaded, never faster than 65mph. I don't know what gives? The chain was tighter than I normally run it.

To start adding some additional info for the collective, what was the total weight (you and load) on the bike and what sprocket sizes? Was the sag reset (preload adjusted) for the extra weight?

I just came back from Rigby, ID and the KLIM rally and did a 750 mile loop for that. No more slider wear than before I left, but I did notice my chain is starting to loosen up a bit faster...that, or perhaps I'm just not used to putting on that many miles in one weekend. I had my usual soft preload set and I'm around 170lbs and would guess I had 40 lbs of gear onboard. 13/48 are my sprockets. About 400 of that mileage was trails and the last 350 was all highway so we could make good time heading home. Oh, and most of it was in the rain. Soggy weekend!

[Machtig]

Originally Posted by Chadx

To start adding some additional info for the collective, what was the total weight (you and load) on the bike and what sprocket sizes? Was the sag reset (preload adjusted) for the extra weight?

I just came back from Rigby, ID and the KLIM rally and did a 750 mile loop for that. No more slider wear than before I left, but I did notice my chain is starting to loosen up a bit faster...that, or perhaps I'm just not used to putting on that many miles in one weekend. I had my usual soft preload set and I'm around 170lbs and would guess I had 40 lbs of gear onboard. 13/48 are my sprockets. About 400 of that mileage was trails and the last 350 was all highway so we could make good time heading home. Oh, and most of it was in the rain. Soggy weekend!

13/46 Gearing, with gear on I'm easily over 200, about 60lbs extra baggage. I didn't mess with the preload. Maybe I should. I do note when I'm sitting on it the chain is about an inch away from the slider on the bottom. I think harmonics is causing the chain to fling up after it leaves the sprocket, but thats just a guess.

[Jäger]

Swingarm snackies:

Just to recap my circumstances.

I've been running 13/43 sprockets so far, but next set will be 14/49. I'm about 200 lbs all up, dressed for success. I am heavier at times on trips, but none of those with this weather in the last three or four thousand miles. Sag is set at about 3".

I run my chain on the loose side - not the tight side - because I am more worried about what tight chains can cause than what loose chains can cause.

So it gets set to 8mm of swingarm clearance - max - as per Yamaha's specs. Which presumably means that from that point onward it gets even looser than Yamaha specs as I ride it.

I lube the chain on a fairly regular basis and check the chain slack while doing so. A chain adjustment about every two weeks is about normal over the last little while with this chain. When it was new, I kept wondering if it would ever need adjustment.

I adjust chains by setting the proper slack distance in the chain on the kickstand, putting it up on the bike lift to spin the tire a few times while adjusting chain alignment, torquing the axle nut down to spec, then down and on the kickstand for a final check to ensure slack distance is at 8mm or perhaps slightly less and hasn't changed while aligning/torquing down the axle nut. I'm of the opinion that doing it this way and rotating the tire makes the likelihood of a tight or loose piece of chain fudging all the work fairly unlikely.

Having said that, obviously my monitoring program failed badly here - and in a remarkably short time. And this happened while I was overwhelmingly riding on nice smooth slab, with no dirt involved.

I dunno whether tight or loose causes it, but I am relatively certain it definitely wasn't my chain being tight. I think I am going to change seal guards much more often in the future, on a "just because" basis.

And I may fit up a little piece of steel to go in the ground out bit in the JB weld when I repair the damage. I'll take my chain wearing itself out on a piece of steel over eating my aluminum swingarm any day. Will have to wait until I have it in my hands on a work bench before I can really tell what to do with the fix.

[longtallsally]

Originally Posted by DougZ73

Speaking of the IMS 3.0 gallon tank..I am considering one., Do they have any or all of the issues people have recently been experienced with the rushed to market 4.3 gallon tank?

I chose the 3.1 due to what sounds like very few install issues (TBD for when I get home in just over a month). I also chose it for weight as I don't really need that much range for most of the riding I'll be doing (I have the GSA for distance oriented stuff). Finally I chose it for cost. For less than the cost of a Safari, I'll have 6.2 of fuel capacity (3.1 fuel bladder in addition to the IMS). So I saved money (first on the list), will have what has been shown to be a strong fit, retained the stock characteristics of the bike, and dramatically improved the range when I need it. I like to have options.

[Chadx]

Another variable...
I've noticed that the slack in the chain varies a lot with very little movement even when the bike is still mostly weighted on the sidestand. Even my brushing against the saddlebag makes the bike sit more weight on the suspension causing the chain to feel tighter.

I suspect that everyone's 8mm of chain-to-swingarm clearance are quite different chain adjustments for how their bikes are setup. My preload is very soft. My bike is also setup quite tall (factory adjuster all up and much tall than stock MT43 tire) and it is really leaned over when on the sidestand. The sidestand is carrying a lot of the bikes weight. When I push the bike more upright and as the suspension takes more of the weight than the sidestand, even with the sidestand touching the ground and taking some weight, the chain tightens noticeably. Contrast this to my wife's bike has the factory height adjusted to low and a yamalink. When on the sidestand, significantly less weight is on the sidestand and more loaded on the suspension.

When we consider how individually everyone has their bikes setup (some with tall tires, some with factory height tires, some with lowering links, etc.) and the different preload settings we get chain adjustments that are all over the map. When on the sidestand, they may all be adjusted to the same tolerance, but where and how they sit on the sidestand might be quite different from bike setup to bike setup. Now you put riders and luggage of vastly different weights on the same spring (though hopefully different preload settings) and we really have quite a variety of "down the road" chain tensions we are talking about.

[skierd]

In other words, we're all screwed.


If anyone has a FMF Q4 or PC4 and/or a programmer they'd like to part with I'm interested. Now that my R is an X, I'd like more thump for my thumper but would prefer to not pay new prices.

[Krabill]

Originally Posted by boogn1sh

I know I'm not a respected member....but run it loose if you want to replace plastic chain guards, run it tight if you want to replace parts related to your counter shaft. I'm going with loose.

Just an fyi - I run my chain on the tight side. I haven't had much wear on the chain guard in the past 15,000 miles, but my counter shaft seal is just now starting to leak a little bit.

[Machtig]

When I adjust the chain, I do it with the bike upright, off the sidestand.

[debaisley]

yeah i dont know what the deal is with the slider wear, i tend to run mine just a little loose as i do on all my bikes , i have 10k miles on the WR , and the slider is only worn about 50 %

[kawagumby]

I don't think preload makes any difference, chain-wise, on a loaded bike. The spring should be deflecting well past the point of preload compression.

I think someone else hit the nail on the head, chain wear, swingarm buffer wear, etc. depends on a lot of factors - off-road riders who see a lot of suspension travel need to keep the chain loose enough to compensate for things like mud (which tightens the chain system), bottom-outs and counter-shaft bearing wear. (A too tight chain won't let your rear suspension do its job toward the end of travel).You don't need to worry about those things so much if you are primarily a slab adventure rider.

In all my years of riding, I've never had an issue with a quickly-worn swingarm buffer, but have gone through a lot of rear chain guides. I always liberally use chain lube, even on my o-ring chains. I'm not a long-distance slab rider tho', and I've got to believe there are different sets of circumstances that would need to be addressed for a slab rider's continuous higher rates of speed at much more constant suspension positions.