Rode my wr250r first time offroad. Abit dissappointed.

I think i got it.

The rear shock spring pre load needs to be almost full soft. Means a soft spring also has a very weak rebound. I have set the sag for 30% of the suspension travel. The recommendation here is a much more sag. Basically almost full back off ( for my weight ). Therefore rebound needs to be almost max. Will test it

At 3 clicks out, it is supposed to be very slow rebounding, it is slower than 10 clicks out, but way to fast if you compared it to a normal d/s or off road shock. It kicks back hard especially someone like me who is 160 lbs.

Even with the rebound set on max and the spring as soft as it goes the shock is very bouncy but that's as good as it gets without spending money on it.

When you revlave it you add 50-60% more rebound, its off a country mile.

If your used to a properly suspended bike this is very noticeable, if your new to off road bikes or bikes in general you wont know the difference.

Made another test ride.
Fork settings are stock
Shock pre load is back almost to the end

Shock compresion is stock
Rebound is stock aswell.

Bike felt MUCH better. More feel of control and leas rebound and kicking

Yet still it feels like it could be much more smooth. It feels that the rear is abit unstable

The stock setup just doesn't work well for hustling around offroad. It's very comfortable on the street, and works fine for gravel road running. It's up to trail work as long as you keep the speeds down. Start to pick up the pace, and the wrong kind of bump tries to spit you off the bike though. Given the intended market as a true dual sport, it's a compromise. Going by what Go Race (and everyone that knows suspension) says about the rear shock, it's a cheap compromise that has a lot of room for improvement. Having a good suspension builder go through it that knows what they're doing, makes such a huge difference in off road ability that it's not funny. It can be made to work well for less money than a new shock would cost. The front suspension isn't terrible to begin with, but has room for improvement also. It will never be a motocross bike, but it can really hustle once it's better sorted.

Then you can jump on the pavement and ride it home or to the next state without a hiccup.

Go Race gave me a quote for $900. That's removing the fork and shock and sending it out to them.
I am considering it now, but i did not plan this kind of expense the first year of owning the bike. To me d/s is not just gravel roads. It's woops. ruts, log crossing, single track sections, rocky trails, hill climbs but also long forest road sections and short sections of twisty pavement. If any of you did any of the official AMA d/s rides, you would understand.

The bike was built as a 50/50 machine.   It's damped soft from the factory as a result.  I raced moto-x back in the 80's, then rode big bore 2 strokes well into the 2000's and so I'm used to more suspension damping for higher speed stuff.  I was a bit disappointed in the suspension stock, but it's not a $9K plus offroad bike, so they had to cut a corner somewhere.   It's a solid compromise suspension, and a lot of the people in their target market like it just fine stock.  I'm not one of those people, so I just tailored it for myself and now it's a lot more fun for me.   A lighter rider probably wouldn't like my bike.   Start pushing it in the desert, and it really makes sense.   It's more solid on the pavement also, and is quite enjoyable to flick around in the twisty sections.  

Out of the box, I'd say it's a great play bike, which is all it was supposed to be.   For more focused offroading, the KTM, Husky and Beta dual sports have you covered.   However, they are more focused towards 90/10 offroad/on-road use, which means they are a compromise in the other direction.   They aren't a long trip, high maintenance interval dual sports.  

I hear you on expense, and I've thought that I might have liked the Beta more as an offroad machine since I do more of that it seems.   However, I also like to do more than connect trails, and I take 100 mile plus loops to explore paved and dirt roads looking for new trails.   Last year it was taking me 2 hours to get home from work... :)   It's a playbike that does a lot of things well, and there are people that even race them in DS type events.   You WON'T be on the podium unless you're a brilliant rider though, it just gives up too much in weight and lower power.

wwguy wrote:

spontaneously buying the Beta to ride where I can't with my WRR.  

Lol... I just did this last week with a '16 500RS, but to ride wherever I can
can't justify owning 2 bikes, with the limited time that I have to ride
So, sold,the WRR. why I did this? I don't know, as there was absolutely nothing wrong with the WR, I am truly retarded
who am I kidding this Beta is friggin awesome!!!

I run AC10's with tireballs at 15psi, a larger rear sprocket, and the suspension set to soft, but with nice slow rebound so I don't get pogo'd.

That said, it's no motocross bike. It's too heavy amongst other things. But I don't ride fast.

But as a street legal dirtbike that's as reliable as the moon for going just about anywhere it's perfect.

until they come out with the WR450R...

Good to know all this ... I never wanted to take mine off road for any serious riding because it wasn't so great. I think tires was half of my problem personally.

Setting rebound to the soft side + bigger sag than usual solved it all. Finally the bike does what i intend it to. Feels great! I added a rim lock and gone to 12 psi.

Good traction, fork is fine, abit struggling but works, shock is barely managing but still, compromise of Dual sport.

Thanks for all the assistance!

Buy an actual ANSI certified tire guage 0-30 psi, and get rim locks and maybe hd tubes. I've run as low as 6.5 psi, and it makes a HUGE difference.
I'm currently at an actual 8.5 front 9 rear with Kenda Trackmaster 2's. Tires and pressure are free and make the biggest difference, IMHO.