Fifteen Years Of WR250R Goodness With The WRR/X Forum

Just occurred to me this morning after dropping my WRR of at the shop for another valve clearance check (and adjustments/once over inspection), that I've been doing the gravel road tourist thing on my WR250R since I bought it in 2008.  Fifteen years this year of riding.  In 50+ years of riding motorcycles, primarily various forms of dirt bikes, I have never owned a more reliable and minimum maintenance motorcycle.  In the years I have owned my WR250, it has never left me stranded.  And here high in the mountains of the Continental Divide, the dirt roads I ride may not see another vehicle for weeks - so reliable is a very big deal.  

A few months after buying the bike, I was in on the start of this forum the following spring.  With YamWOW! being the instigator of this forum you're enjoying.  The reason you have this forum as an asset for your ownership of a WR250 is 100% because of him.  And, BTW, the person who still hosts this forum and continues accepting the responsibility of keeping it running.  

YamWOW! and I don't communicate much as moderators, but as best I recall he sold his WRR a few years ago and moved on, but still kept on at the work of keeping the forum up and running.  A huge hand to YamWOW! for doing that.

The number of posts (and users) has decreased over the years for what I think are a couple of reasons.  

First, the forum started when the WR250 was a new bike on the market; you couldn't go to ADVrider or some similar website to find answers to your questions about your new bike.  The owner knowledgebase of the WR250 started right here.  As a result, new WR250 owners with a question about their new bike can probably find that answer here without bothering to become a member in order to ask the question they hope they can get an answer to.

Second, posts decrease because there are fewer and fewer topics that haven't already been posted about and discussed (often numerous times).

And third, the WR250 is unchanged 15 year old technology and now an orphan where there are no more new owners - just used bikes that have changed hands to new owners.

Which is kind of sad for those who prize the WR250 that they own.  But on the other hand, it's a good thing and speaks so well of the WR250that there are very, very few "so my WR250R engine blew up today" types of posts here since the beginning of the forum.  

Catastrophic failures and break downs have rarely showed up as a new topic here; we have approximately 7,000+ members on this forum, and I think you could probably count the number of topics of a WR250 owner reporting having a major malfunction on one hand - with probably a finger or two left over. Bike models that rarely have mechanical/electrical problems don't generate as many topics as the bikes that regularly have those problems (or design deficiencies and problems).

Some of the early reliable gurus of wrenching on the bikes have moved on to other bikes, while relatively new members have joined up and taken their place i.e. johnkol as a primary example.  So the font of knowledge still flows...

It's been a great 15 years on the WR250R... and a great 14 years having this forum to support owning and riding the bike.

Now I'll go back to trying to wear out my WR250R before my body is worn out to the point I can't ride anymore.

I'm one of the new owners of the WR250R and ever since I discovered internet forums, have always appreciated those that had started them as they are always nothing but helpful, so, Thank You Jager and YamWOW!.

I had noticed that this forum has been very slow for quite some time now (and really, the reasons as to why don't really matter), but I had chalked it up to, as you had mentioned, the 2008 to 2020 run of a virtually if not totally unchanged dual sport that was designed and built almost perfectly from day one.

Then there have been many who got a dual sport and then either tried it or rode it for however long and either got injured, aged out or got bored with riding the same trails over and over and over again.

The incredible thing about this forum and the bike is that yes, as the bike had hardly changed, most every topic related to the WRR/WRX has been covered and I had gone and read just about every thread in the entire forum. Some of my favorites have been;

The oil flow check bolt.
Oil change intervals
When to change the oil filter and one that I never even ever considered, will an aluminum skid plate reflect more noise/sound to the rider?
Radiator brace(s)

That the WRR has been described as one of, if not THE, most reliable motorcycle ever built is some very, very high praise and as I have read of all those that have tens of thousands of miles and need reliability more than anything else, I know I made the correct choice in dual sport motorcycles as I often ride alone but only on loops of 30 to maybe 80 to 100 miles total and in fairly well populated areas where a walk out would maybe be 5 miles, at most before gettting back to civilization.

Long live the WR250R

BenWRR wrote:

I'm one of the new owners of the WR250R and ever since I discovered internet forums, have always appreciated those that had started them as they are always nothing but helpful, so, Thank You Jager and YamWOW!.

To be as clear as possible, all the credit for this forum and the accumulated knowledge still being available goes to YamWOW! His wallet has paid for it since the first day and he's kept it up and running despite having long since moved on to a different motorcycle. 

Quote :

Some of my favorites have been;
The oil flow check bolt.  
Oil change intervals
When to change the oil filter and one that I never even ever considered, will an aluminum skid plate reflect more noise/sound to the rider?  
Radiator brace(s)

Swingarms being eaten by the chain should be one to take note of (I was one of the originals to discover my swingarm damaged despite obsessive checking of chain slack). The related discussions on Yamaha changing the specifications for chain slack a few years later. AND, along with that, going to a 14 tooth front sprocket helping to prevent chain slider premature wear with swingarm damage.

Most recurrent "everything stops right now" problem has been fuel pump failure on the early WRRs My 2008 is (by serial number if I understand that) one of the first 100 bikes manufactured. More than a few owners of 2008/09 bikes posted here that it made them sufficiently nervous that they changed out the stock pump for an identical pump and kept the original as a spare if things went sideways. I haven't gone that far yet...

Tire discussions were big. Ditto suspension work/settings/questions.

A lot of topics and discussion on mods and farkles. Power programmer discussions were big - I never got over how many people bought a WR with the intention of hoping to make it the bike they originally wanted with a programmer and pipe.

The dual sport rides I do around here are generally around 200 miles in length, without a house or gas station in sight. Fuel blivets are my friend...