Yamaha WR400F

[a1fa]

Everywhere I read about this bike, people praise it how reliable and worthy it is. Even the oil blow-back is not an issue for many of the guys that ride WRs.

How really is reliable this bike? My current gearing is very low.. I am constantly slipping and sliding the rear tire on the pavement. It does 60mph just fine with this low gearing, but I do have 15T or 17T front sprocket that's supposed to make it a better road bike. I feel bad for maintaining constant RPMs on this bike. It just feels like its not meant to be ridden like that. It sure makes a fun ride to work.. Makes for easy wheelies too.

How reliable is this bike going to be as a dual-sport. I really don't want to trailer it. Most of the good trails are only 40-60 miles away.

[a1fa]

I mean, it cant be that bad.. Can it? There is a guy going to Alaska on TW200. With lower gearing, I'd make it too.. Probably.

[huggybear]

I have a 99 400 with 10G on it runs great and is a low maintainence bike,15 cs is as large as you can go,I have a 15-47 combo an it is pretty smooth at 60-70 with that combo,I have Kenda K270's on both ends,they get great mileage,about 4000 before I change them,no good in mud but for rocks and greval rds they are fine,watch the frame slider behind the CS they wear fast because the frame weld is high under the slider
I ride mine every day during deer season 38 miles each way
Great Bike

[Pablo83]

The YZ400F was the first modern 4-stroke dirt bike and Yamaha didn't exactly know what they were getting into so they made it a little more bulletproof than it needed to be. Your bike has almost the same engine. One of the main reasons people think this bike is more reliable than other modern dirt bikes is the steel valves. On the 426 they went to Titanium like the CRFs have. Steel valves requre a lot less adjustment. This engine isn't any more reliable than older 4-stroke designs like the XR's, but it tends to do better than modern CRFs and LC4s.

IMO it takes a lot of getting-used-to when riding it on the highway. As you point out, the bike wants accelerate (and turn) more than it wants to go in a straight line at a steady speed. Plus starting it kind of sucks. Some things that will help make it a better DS are a steering stabilizer, less-knobby tires, TPS cutoff switch, an auto-decompression cam, and a cush drive rear hub. ThumperTalk offers a lot of opinions on how much of this is really neccissary.

Enjoy your bike.

[a1fa]

bumpty... took 'er to work today. she has been neglected ever since my neck started bothering me. she is a dream to ride.. wheelies in 1st, 2nd, and third... i wanted to sell her because she sits unriden, but, she is a keeper. a true wolf in sheeps clothing..

I think DR rack would fit with minor adjustments. I am going for it!!

[Zecatfish]

Originally Posted by a1fa

bumpty... took 'er to work today. she has been neglected ever since my neck started bothering me. she is a dream to ride.. wheelies in 1st, 2nd, and third... i wanted to sell her because she sits unriden, but, she is a keeper. a true wolf in sheeps clothing..

I think DR rack would fit with minor adjustments. I am going for it!!

I think you better get a good seat, and LOW fuel light.
I seem to remember a ride where the seat was your enemy.

[MiamiMotorcyclist]

Love the traditional yami colors complete with Bob Hannah lightning bolts.

[a1fa]

Originally Posted by Zecatfish

I think you better get a good seat, and LOW fuel light.
I seem to remember a ride where the seat was your enemy.

i think it was all the kicking i did.. :P

[Kawidad]

Oil blow back???? What is this you speak of??


(I haven't heard of that one.)

[Zecatfish]

Originally Posted by a1fa

i think it was all the kicking i did.. :P

We got another word for that.....




























CandyAss

[dvgonzo]

I have one I got from a guy after he rode it about 4-5 times and then had to sell it when his wife got pregnant.

I got it licensed but mostly ride it off road on single track up in the mountains. We carry chainsaws to clear the trails when the snow first goes away and I have been horse whipppin' that scooter for 11 years now, and it has never once missed a beat or quit on me.

A buddy I sometimes ride with (owns a Yamaha shop) told me when I first got it to not even bother looking at the valves (after the initial 500 mile check) till it had at least 15,000 miles on it. I wussed out and checked em at 14,000 and had two exhaust's out by one thousandth! Intakes were g STILL good! Amazed the heck out of me!

I am bummed as I had to have a knee replaced here and now am thinking of unloading it as I do not want the constant kick start wear and tear on MY new part. Gonna pick up a newer one with a button and just hope it will be as good to me as this one has been.

I probably ought to keep it and supertmotard it for the street!

Even today I would not hesitate to ride it 60 miles to get to the trails and then another 40-60 miles of trails.

[LILBIT]

I had two. The first a '00 was bought very used. Had the bad rod bearing many are known for. Once inside i could see the crank had been rebuilt once before. Cost me a new crank and piston. Have no idea how many hours the bike had before me or while i owned it. Adjusted one valve while i had it.

Bought a '99 with a tag. Was never happy with any gearing i tried. Decent dirt ruined the road and vice versa. Not a chuggy engine to begin with and high gearing made stalls easy. Kinda soggy power wise with high gearing too.

I owned a tagged 300EXC at the same time and found myself never riding the 400s. Ended up lowering one(for quests that never rode it anyway) about 2" and softening the suspension way up. Think super plush sit down knarly trail bike with better power. Made it feel 30lbs lighter and REALLY fun for screwing around but didn't suit 95% of my trails. Sold them both and went to a 380EXC.

[BIG ED XT FAN]

Got a 2000 wr 400. I think the valves need adjustment. Have maybe 20 hours on here. How do you you do it?
Here in ny state you can not get a plate for my wr:((( So, my only way to the trails is to got a ride there. So the low hours!!! ED!!

[dvgonzo]

Back when I licensed it and up till a couple years ago they would let you license just about anything you wanted to here in NM. That seems to have changed though as I have heard from a couple buddies who recently tried to get dirt scooters licensed that they no longer will allow you to do that.

I guess that alone is a good enough reason to hang on to the old WR!

[Kawidad]

Originally Posted by dvgonzo

Back when I licensed it and up till a couple years ago they would let you license just about anything you wanted to here in NM. That seems to have changed though as I have heard from a couple buddies who recently tried to get dirt scooters licensed that they no longer will allow you to do that.

I guess that alone is a good enough reason to hang on to the old WR!

That's because the Feds are cracking down on states that license vehicles for the road that were intended to be OHVs. Not that it's any of their business, but that's the environazis at the EPA for ya.