engine braking

Hey everyone I just got my new 2014 wr250r exactly 30 days ago as my first bike and after creepin' on here since then i finally joined but I have a few questions. I now have 3,271 miles on the bike and the engine braking is almost non existent anymore, when I first got the bike I rode it easy to get a feel for everything since it is my first bike but after that I started to ride aggressively and the engine baking was immense. So could my engine already be wearing out noticeably like this or is it normal for the engine braking to be like this after breaking it? I did oil changes with filter myself at 200, 600, and 2,800 miles myself... thoughts?

I can easily make the rear tire bounce under engine braking if I down shift too far too fast.

I have a 2008 X with over 12,000 miles on her.


Something doesn't sound right, but I don't know what the problem could be.

Are you noticing this on the street, off road, or both?

Ha! You're just getting used to revving it out. Try learning to use the brakes - front and rear in coordination.

I guess that's a fair question.

Are you downshifting and noticing no engine braking, or just letting off the throttle?

Every gear? Every Speed?

Or only occasionally, like when bopping through a school zone in 4th gear and you let off throttle?

Sorry I should've mentioned that, what's concerning me is when I let off the throttle, it used to jerk me forward when I let off but now it's smooth as butter, it only really jerks me if I let off in first which is expected...

You likely are a very perceptive person and are merely expiriencing the lower amount of friction a broken in motor develops, thats why cars get better mpg after break-in. alternatevley if you have messed with the CO settings your motor is now combusting more fuel on decel resulting in less friction because the extra fuel is helping to spin the motor over.

Co settings? I guess this is normal then because even though the engine braking is weaker, under acceleration the engine pulls better than it did around 600 miles. I was just worried my engine was wearing out prematurely.

Idle speed can make a difference

how much trouble would it be to do a compression check?

got a buddy......... so you could ride his/hers?? and see if the two bikes acted similar?

About how much would it cost to do a compression check? I'm in Ohio, I have yet to see another wrr on the road so I have nothing to compare to hehe.

4play wrote:

Idle speed can make a difference

This was my first thought also...idle possibly too high?

If anything I think the idle is too low bec it really struggles to get up to temp here when it's below 50 degrees.

http://www.dansmc.com/compression_test.htm
http://www.snowparthub.com/TU310_PB_LANG_TOOLS__34_hands_free_34_Motorcycle_Compression_Tester_Compression_Tester?src=BingS

Thanks for the info @hog86r

I had not ridden my X for a while due to a very bad back. Yesterday and today was the first time I'd been on my X for about a month.

I can tell you from those two rides that engine braking is very dependent on 3 things.

1) What gear you're in
2) Where you are in the rev range
3) How fast you're going

There are times when I just let the throttle snap back to full close and I feel like I'm coasting in neutral.
Other times I feel like I threw an anchor out.

I also realized as I started paying much more attention, I rarely let off the throttle without a down shift or two being a part of that process.

The same thing that makes the engine go makes it want to slow down under compression, is your power down? If it goes it should slow you down also

Yea I guess what I'm experiencing is normal then motokid because sometimes it really does still feel like I throw an anchor out and sometimes it feels like I'm in neutral when I downshift. Still not as great like when it was new but I guess that was because it was breaking in. I'm done worrying about it. Thanks for all the info everyone