Things I hate about my WR250R

GusinCA wrote:

Yep. I have a stock Rhino too, and my buddies Rhino is always breaking down, since he modded the heck out of it.

And he can't even take it to half the off road parks here because he doen't pass the noise regulations.

Stock rocks.

What are the noise regs there? My FMF Q4 is stamped 94 db, is that too loud for there?

I have the X, and would love about 35 HP for passing situations on the road.
Otherwise, there's enough power for me with this little bike.

You'd have to look it up, but for example, at Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area north of Los Angeles, anything louder than a stock pipe basically gets the boot right at the gate. It's gotten so bad that people are going to my local Yamaha dealer to have pipes swapped out in droves.

The ranger always walks back to the bike and looks at the pipe when I pay to go in, and if it's not stock they whip out their decibel meter.

Thanks, I'll stick with quiet....

I hate that the Moto 3 racing hasn't started yet so we can see what the uber rich boys are doing to this motor. Gonna be interesting.

Only thing I hate is checking valves is like doing open heart surgery with all the gubbins jammed in such a small space.

Wow... what a nice old thread. Amazing to see what you once thought about a bike a couple years later.

From July 2009 before my first trip...

skierd wrote:

I've only got 6000 on mine...




... since late march. Another another 5500ish schedule for August. Stop driving and sell your cage, that'll get the seat time up.

and from August 2010...

skierd wrote:

Heh, I guess I should update my opinion since I've put round about 18,000 more miles on the bike(s) total since then.

In response to my initial 4 complaints...

1)Fuel range doesn't suck as much as I once thought, but it would be nice to not have to plan fuel stops and range so dilligently into my rides. The IMS tank will fix it for me I think. Especially since I've found I get a) MUCH better mileage on real gas over gasahol and b) at my 'traveling off-and-on-side-roads' pace I net in the mid 60's mpg.

2) I no longer hate the stock seat. I might get the Seat Concepts cover just for extra cushion but there is nothing wrong with the stock seat as far as my ass is concerned if I decide to not spend the money. Good underwear (not bike shorts for me) and moving around is crucial for road riding of course.

3) Gearing, in the end, wasn't the hindrance at speed. Power was. Pipe+programmer+airbox mods on the new bike and I'm happy to cruise at 75+ with 13/46 gearing and taller 110/100-18 tires (equivalent to 13/44.5 on stock tires). Still wouldn't mind a 7th gear to cut the cruising rpm a tad but whatever. When i put the stock tires back on I'm going to run 14/46 gearing and see how it feels now with the added power.

4)I think it was the grips on the old bike that had me complaining. Too small in diameter, making for tired hands at the end of the day. The Hot Grips I have on now are nice and thick and I haven't had any issues related to vibes at the bars since then. They are a bit hard though and with difficult trail riding I can get blisters from holding on too tight. Worth it cause man I love heated grips!


Adding a new one, i'd like to work on the suspension a little. Can't say its really a complaint though as I always eventually want to start messing with the car or bike's suspenders.

My first WR250R was stolen in January 2010 with approximately 18,000+ miles on it. My current WR250R has been converted to an X and has just over 30,000 miles on it. 5k or so on the X conversion.

I still love this motorcycle.

I did upgrade to the IMS 3.1gal tank finally. Best modification to the bike imo, fits and rides like stock but with an extra 50-70 miles of fun.

I have a seat concepts seat pad sitting in the basement waiting for motivation to go on as the stock foam was pretty well worn out at 20-25k miles as in I could feel the seat pan with my sit bones worn out.

Vibes were 100% tire related. Fresh knobbies were ok. 17" street tires on an X wheel are so butter smooth its probably illegal. I miss my hot grips but will likely replace them eventually.

Gearing... I find stock gearing to be perfect for me and the X setup and 13/46 to be damn near perfect on an R with a D606 rear.

Suspension... the stock suspension, when fresh and new, is fine for 90% of my riding. I got a chance to ride HF's bike and was absolutely amazed at how good the Go Race forks are. Was less than impressed with the shock mods for my riding but God Damn it was a helluva lot nicer on his MX track and hard off-roading than my stock suspenders. If I can afford to I'll be sending the forks off this spring, maybe the shock too unless I decide to go local with it.

One new gripe... I'm finally wanting a bit more power. Or torque, really. Damn HighFive and letting me ride his with an Athena kit. I don't want a lot, just more mid-range punch for passing cars and getting the front tire up.

Otherwise this is still the perfect 50/50 dual sport motorcycle. Nothing better in the woods will cruise on the highway the way the WRR/X does and vice versa. And do it without asking anything from the owner except for oil changes, chain lube, and fresh tires. Every time I think about selling her I realize how much I love this damn bike. If I do eventually sell her, it'll be because of boredom and a desire for something new while not having space for two bikes.

i am a complete noob on this site...but i completely agree with rimbenty...the only thing i think could bite me down the road (read: trail) is all the different size sockets, screw drivers and allen keys required to work on this bike. I also had a KTM and that bike was pretty awesome in this respect. i think cannondale built a prototype back in '93 where EVERY bolt on the bike was a 10mm...AWESOME! why don't the engineers think about this stuff?!?! i see some guys are worried about shedding 15lbs on the frame, plastics, tank, whathaveyou...talk about how much weight you could save if you only needed ONE allen wrench and you could dismantle 90% of the bike.

otherwise...this bike rocks...i am more and more impressed on every ride and except for the fact that i value my marriage and my 1 year old daughter's existence...i'd be on this thing A WHOLE LOT MORE!!!