Thoughts on the wr250r in single track?

I have recently been looking at a wr250r. I have been riding an older kx125 which never had its suspension done and it was set for around a short 150lb rider with gear while I am around 6'1 220 with gear. So with proper adjustment and respringing can I make the suspension feel good hitting trees etc? I was just wondering how the wr will fair on the single track because I have been riding light 2 strokes my whole life but I want something I can legally use to ride over to the local trails due to the fact that I cannot put a trailer hitch on my car.

ItzNotLuck wrote:

I have recently been looking at a wr250r. I have been riding an older kx125 which never had its suspension done and it was set for around a short 150lb rider with gear while I am around 6'1 220 with gear. So with proper adjustment and respringing can I make the suspension feel good hitting trees etc? I was just wondering how the wr will fair on the single track because I have been riding light 2 strokes my whole life but I want something I can legally use to ride over to the local trails due to the fact that I cannot put a trailer hitch on my car.

I would characterize the WR as single track capable but not ideal. It will do it but it's a bit of a handful. It will probably seem huge if you're riding a 125.

What do you drive? it's pretty rare to find a car that won't take a hitch.

-morgan

They will get by much better than most other dualsports, but yeah, it'll feel heavy compared to a small 2-stroke.

morgan9283 wrote:

ItzNotLuck wrote:

I have recently been looking at a wr250r. I have been riding an older kx125 which never had its suspension done and it was set for around a short 150lb rider with gear while I am around 6'1 220 with gear. So with proper adjustment and respringing can I make the suspension feel good hitting trees etc? I was just wondering how the wr will fair on the single track because I have been riding light 2 strokes my whole life but I want something I can legally use to ride over to the local trails due to the fact that I cannot put a trailer hitch on my car.

I would characterize the WR as single track capable but not ideal.  It will do it but it's a bit of a handful.  It will probably seem huge if you're riding a 125.

What do you drive?  it's pretty rare to find a car that won't take a hitch.

-morgan

I drive a 2006 bmw m3 you can't fit a hitch because of the HUGE exhaust system under the car.

Jens Eskildsen wrote:

They will get by much better than most other dualsports, but yeah, it'll feel heavy compared to a small 2-stroke.

I'm not racing or anything but still going pretty fast through the trails. Will it be noticeably slower in the trails then the kx with horrible suspension?

I'm 6'2" and 210 lbs. without gear and ride my WRR mostly on mountain single-track and ATV double-track with occasional forest roads and pavement linking them together. In my opinion this bike is a bit of a pig for this kind of riding as configured from the factory. The factory Bridgestone Trailwing rear tire is simply awful. I also had problems with low-speed stalls due to too high gearing and the rear tire wouldn't hook up in the loose stuff due to soft rear shock rebound dampening. I also had challenges with the relatively heavy weight compounding the effects of front tire deflection off of rocks and roots etc. It was hard to quickly bring the front tire back in line and on the trail before riding off into the proverbial weeds. Adding to all of that was the relatively low height of the factory handlebars that made it hard for a tall guy to ride standing up without riding bent over.

The following tweaks to my bike made a huge difference for me on the trails:
- Installed a Dunlop D606 DOT knobby on the rear. I left the front tire alone until it wears out.
- Adjusted rear shock static and race sag for my riding weight.
- Increased rear shock rebound dampening to maximum and left compression dampening at the stock midpoint setting. This helped keep the rear tire hooked up.
- Increased front shock compression dampening to near maximum to keep the front from diving when hitting rocks and roots.
- Decreased front shock rebound dampening to lightest setting to get the head back up ASAP after diving.
- Swapped the stock 43 tooth rear sprocket and 108 link chain for 51 tooth and 112 links. (Top speed is still 65+ MPH.)
- Added bar risers and Pro Taper Evo Woods High Bend bars to make for more comfortable riding while standing.
- Installed a steering stabilizer to minimize front end deflection off of trail obstacles. Also helps with head shake at highway speeds.

Still on my wish list:
- Go Race suspension
- Pro Moto Evolution footpegs (installed in lowboy position.)

If you're looking at a new bike it's also worth noting that this bike is missing some key pieces of trail riding armour from the factory too. You'll need:
- Skid Plate
- Radiator Guard
- Hand/Bark guards (Highway Dirt Bikes Ultimate are the best available.)
- Remove the factory mirrors for trail riding, or replace them with the Highway Dirt Bike Ultimate folding mirrors.

In a perfect world I'd have a dedicated lightweight dirt bike, but I don't live in a perfect world. This bike is the next best thing for mixed riding. It's like the Energizer Bunny... it just keeps going and going. My last oil change was 1500 miles ago, which is only halfway between factory suggested oil change intervals.

Hope this helps. Giddyup!

wwguy wrote:

I'm 6'2" and 210 lbs. without gear and ride my WRR mostly on mountain single-track and ATV double-track with occasional forest roads and pavement linking them together.  In my opinion this bike is a  bit of a pig for this kind of riding as configured from the factory.  The factory Bridgestone Trailwing rear tire is simply awful.  I also had problems with low-speed stalls due to too high gearing and the rear tire wouldn't hook up in the loose stuff due to soft rear shock rebound dampening.  I also had challenges with the relatively heavy weight compounding the effects of front tire deflection off of rocks and roots etc.  It was hard to quickly bring the front tire back in line and on the trail before riding off into the proverbial weeds.  Adding to all of that was the relatively low height of the factory handlebars that made it hard for a tall guy to ride standing up without riding bent over.

The following tweaks to my bike made a huge difference for me on the trails:
- Installed a Dunlop D606 DOT knobby on the rear.  I left the front tire alone until it wears out.
- Adjusted rear shock static and race sag for my riding weight.
- Increased rear shock rebound dampening to maximum and left compression dampening at the stock midpoint setting.  This helped keep the rear tire hooked up.
- Increased front shock compression dampening to near maximum to keep the front from diving when hitting rocks and roots.
- Decreased front shock rebound dampening to lightest setting to get the head back up ASAP after diving.
- Swapped the stock 43 tooth rear sprocket and 108 link chain for 51 tooth and 112 links.  (Top speed is still 65+ MPH.)
- Added bar risers and Pro Taper Evo Woods High Bend bars to make for more comfortable riding while standing.
- Installed a steering stabilizer to minimize front end deflection off of trail obstacles.  Also helps with head shake at highway speeds.

Still on my wish list:
- Go Race suspension
- Pro Moto Evolution footpegs (installed in lowboy position.)

If you're looking at a new bike it's also worth noting that this bike is missing some key pieces of trail riding armour from the factory too.  You'll need:
- Skid Plate
- Radiator Guard
- Hand/Bark guards (Highway Dirt Bikes Ultimate are the best available.)
- Remove the factory mirrors for trail riding, or replace them with the Highway Dirt Bike Ultimate folding mirrors.

In a perfect world I'd have a dedicated lightweight dirt bike, but I don't live in a perfect world.  This bike is the next best thing for mixed riding.  It's like the Energizer Bunny... it just keeps going and going.  My last oil change was 1500 miles ago, which is only halfway between factory suggested oil change intervals.

Hope this helps.  Giddyup!

Thanks a million! This is the reply I was looking for!

For sure the stock tires and gearing gotta go if you want to do anything overly tight / technical. I have most of the goodies including go-race suspension and I rock the hell out of a lot of singletrack with my WRR. It's definitely very different than the 300 XC-W 2-stroke I rode prior to it, but I don't feel that the WRR holds me back one bit. I would consider myself a fast C / slow B woods rider.

I used to race mine (I took last year off) in the intermediate class of the local scramble series which includes single track in every race.

I kept up with the faster/lighter race bikes in the single track portions of the tracks but they would pull away from me on grass tracks and mx tracks where hp rules.

The WRR is night and day better than stock in the woods with taller bars, better tires, lower gearing and revalved suspension.
I have race tech suspension on mine which is by far the best thing I did to it, go race suspension is as good or better than race techs so its a good choice too.

Just like every other bike it will need a skid plate, hand guards and rad guards to survive nasty trails or single track.

Biglake wrote:

I used to race mine (I took last year off) in the intermediate class of the local scramble series which includes single track in every race.

I kept up with the faster/lighter race bikes in the single track portions of the tracks but they would pull away from me on grass tracks and mx tracks where hp rules.

The WRR is night and day better than stock in the woods with taller bars, better tires, lower gearing and revalved suspension.
I have race tech suspension on mine which is by far the best thing I did to it, go race suspension is as good or better than race techs so its a good choice too.

Just like every other bike it will need a skid plate, hand guards and rad guards to survive nasty trails or single track.  

Awesome! I have a local suspension place that does race tech I'll look into it! Thanks for your response.

Yup, ride mine through some of the nastiest single track and love it.

But I did the same mods as the other guy. Bigger rear, bashguards, knobbies, tireballs, lithium battery, bigger tank, etc.

Love. This. Bike.
Reliable. As. Dirt.

GusinCA wrote:

Yup, ride mine through some of the nastiest single track and love it.

But I did the same mods as the other guy. Bigger rear, bashguards, knobbies, tireballs, lithium battery, bigger tank, etc.

Love. This. Bike.
Reliable. As. Dirt.

GusinCA, what are tireballs?

They are those things that hang down from the back of trucks... :)

Actually they are the best thing ever. Never need to worry about flats again. http://www.tireballs.com/

Not great for street, but perfect for off road. Nice soft tire feel (I keep mine at 15psi) and amazing grip with the Michelin AC10 street legal knobbies.

GusinCA wrote:

They are those things that hang down from the back of trucks... :)

Actually they are the best thing ever. Never need to worry about flats again. http://www.tireballs.com/

Not great for street, but perfect for off road. Nice soft tire feel (I keep mine at 15psi) and amazing grip with the Michelin AC10 street legal knobbies.

Never heard of them but sounds interesting.

AM very familiar with those things that hang down from the back of trucks.  We have lots of diesel trucks (belching black smoke and making almost as much noise as a HD motorcycle) here in my part of the world.