clutching up on the dirt?

ok so i can wheelie pretty decent on the asphalt. now when i hit the dirt my back tire just seems to spin whenever i try to clutch up. this is very frustrating haha. i do have the stock tires could this be somewhat of the issue or is there a different technique for dirt than the road?

Knobby tires.
Gear bike down for dirt.
Ass toward back of the seat.

i have the 12 tooth in the front i gues the stock tires are horrible?

C'mon.
I've read that you are into motocross, or at least motocross bikes.

i have trouble on my kdx too and that has true knobbies if im on hard packed dirt for some reason i just spin the back tire when trying to clutch up

The WR-250R won't wheelie as easily as your typical dirt bike, but it will once you get the feel for it and make the changes I mentioned above.

As you can tell by looking at the tread pattern, the stock tires are made for lots of street riding and won't bite into the dirt as well as a knobby tire.
Also, when off-road, drop tire pressure down to around 12 psi.

I have been told motocross trannys do not need to clutch to shift. Is this true with the wr250, I have tried it and it feels fine but I do not want to damage anything. Any advice would be appriciated.

It depends on how well you can pull such a maneuver off.

If you do it one too many times while on the throttle and/or in a sloppy/abusive manner that results in ugly metallic noises with each shift, you would have transmission problems, eventually.

Me?
I use the clutch while shifting.

Clutch for me too, though it must be possible safely somehow since some sport bikes come from the factory with an quick shifter now. Thats more of a full race thing though, its always better to use the clutch if you aren't trying to shave off tenths of a second.

JBEGNOCHE wrote:

I have been told motocross trannys do not need to clutch to shift.  Is this true with the wr250, I have tried it and it feels fine but I do not want to damage anything. Any advice would be appriciated.

The common call is that the 250r/x is basically one quarter of the R1 engine.

Therefore I'd question if the transmission is a "motocross" tranny or a street tranny.

My guess would be that it's closer to a street transmission than a dirt transmission.

 


Regardless - I use the clutch to shift. Both up and down.

I'd prefer my transmission last for decades.....

while I was getting my first check on the bike when I bought it another guy was having his transmission being taken apart from his R1. He said he was shifting without clutch to improve his lap times... He managed to strip off 2 entire teeth off his second gear. all that to save 1 tenth? half a tenth? you could save double, triple, 10 times that time by improving your own riding skills, taking a better line into a corner, braking harder into it etc.

that's gonna be an expensive 0.1 seconds  

the clutch is there for a reason.

You can shift without the clutch as much as you like without hurting the transmission as long as you back off the gas while doing it.

When riding easy I never use the clutch once moving, Ive ben riding this way for 20 years and havent hurt a transmission yet.

If im going wfo I use the clutch and keep the throttle pinned, bikes are faster when riden this way.

Biglake wrote:

You can shift without the clutch as much as you like without hurting the transmission as long as you back off the gas while doing it.

Exactly. That's how most quick shifters work (by killing the ignition) to unload the dogs.

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like clutch is best but if hanging on for your life with both hands at 13,000 feet and need to shift without the clutch once in a while I probably wont leave parts behind.