Wr250r sand set up

I am planning a trip to Pismo beach with one of my friends who owns a jeep as a part of a jeep rally event. I would like to be able to have fun in the dunes with him and i understand that i probably have to change a few things to be capable in the sand. When i bought my bike, the owner threw in a few parts, one of them being a 50 tooth pro taper rear sprocket that he said he used when he rode dirt. So my questions are:

1) Should i use this sprocket to get more torque in the sand?

2) Do i need to add links to my stock chain or do something else to accomodate the new sprocket?

3) Suspension wise, i did the stock lowering of 1" in back and 5/8" in front. Is there anything i need to change?

4) I am running Dunlop D606 tires without rim locks on stock rims. Should i, or is there a way to add rimlocks to this.

5) Anything else?

This is my first time going to the dunes, so your help is very much appreciated.
Thanks,
Shane

I run a 14/50 set up on sprockets and that seems to work fine for my 250 lbs.

D606 is a good rear tire but I think you may want to also be concerned about the front as well in sand. My gf has a Super Sherpa 205 and use to run Shinko 244's on it which worked really well for her most of the time. However she really struggled in the sand when ever we were down in south GA. She wrecked several times on one trip and ended up injuring her shoulder on one of those.

Awhile back I replaced the 244's with Pirelli MT21's - 110/80 rear and an 80/100 front. We went down to the Polar Bear Rally in the beginning of this year and she mastered the sand to the point that she will not mount any other tire on her Sherpa. At least any other front tire. The problem she had before with the 244 was that the front would just push and plow and no matter how far back she sat on the seat or yanked on the throttle she just could not get the front end to plane up on the sand. For some reason she can make the MT21 front work on her bike.

IMHO the thing with riding in sand is all about the technique. You need to keep the front from digging in and feel comfortable letting it float a bit while you ride. I never have really felt comfortable letting the front of my WRR float on the sand so I ended up putting on a steering damper. The result is it still floats but I just don't feel it as much and stop trying to over correct for it.

Is the damper needed - probably not. Is the bike nicer to ride with the damper - for me a definite YES.

I ride in the sand on the beach close to home all the time.

Low gearing helps as you need to keep the revs up all the time.

You may need a longer chain for the 50 tooth rear, I have no idea whats on your bike bike now.

I'd get rim locks so you can lower the tire presure down to 10psi or so, this helps you float in the sand, 606s will be fine.

I run my bike lowered 1 inch in the rear and stock height in the front, I think I handles beter this way, it will handle better in the sand this way.

If my bike is stock and I'm aiming to ride in the sandy trails of south jersey, what chain/sprocket would I order?

I know bigdog was super afraid of wearing out his swingarm

martin_nj wrote:

If my bike is stock and I'm aiming to ride in the sandy trails of south jersey, what chain/sprocket would I order?

I know bigdog was super afraid of wearing out his swingarm

I guess it would depend on the sand....

Right now I am running 14/50 same as BigDog and for most of what I do it works out really well.. including the sand roads in south GA.

If I were to riding something a bit more technical and maybe some really deep sand I would probably drop the front sprocket to a 13 tooth so I would be running a 13/50 setup. I would not have to change the chain length for that move.

martin_nj wrote:

If my bike is stock and I'm aiming to ride in the sandy trails of south jersey, what chain/sprocket would I order?

I know bigdog was super afraid of wearing out his swingarm

Lots of other guys run a 12 tooth on the front without issue, I'd get one so you dont have to mess with the chain.

I have 13-50 its great off road but a bit too revvy on the road, im going to 14-50 so I dont have to mess with my lenghtend chain since im running on the road more now than I used too. My next set of sprockets wil be 12-43 as I have them already, I just need a new chain to go with them when my current one wears out.

I ran a 12/45 and then 12/47 sprockets on my WR-250R for something like 6,000 miles before I eventually sold the bike without so much as a worn-through chain slider (AKA seal guard on the Yamaha parts catalogues), never mind any swingarm damage.

I have always believed you see this on bikes with long-travel suspension where the drive chain is always adjusted too tightly with insufficient slack.
The WR-250R and X seem especially plagued by this since the swingarm pivot location is a bit lower than most bikes, and this bike is a popular candidate to be loaded-up with camping/adventure gear, compress the rear suspension, and have the too-tight chain grind through the chain slider.

As for riding exclusively in sand (or, where it is your main concern), I tend to favor the front ride height to be a bit higher than normal, and this can be achieved by simply dropping the fork tubes a few millimeters.
On bikes I've owned where the fork springs were boarderline soft even on firm ground, I'll install the next stiffer springs in order to raise the front and give me a good feeling with the front-to-rear balance of the bike.
This tends toward straight-line stability, something you want when riding soft sand all day long.

Sand tires are better in sand than tires meant for typical street/dirt use, too.