Thoughts on gearing

I have a 2017 WR250R with a yamalink. I use a Dunlop 606 on the rear and have stock 13/43 sprockets. After riding a Honda CRF250R for five years I found the Yamaha to be a bit twichey on and off throttle.  I added a rekluse clutch which tamed the twitchey feeling and made it easier to ride on single track. My thoughts now are that first gear is too low and second gear is too high for technical riding. I feel like I'm lugging the engine while in second gear on technical sections. I have low torque in 6th and must downshift on the asphalt when going up hill.  I have not experienced any rutting of the swing arm chain guard.  I'm thinking 14/50 might be right for me. I use this bike for dual sport type riding. I welcome suggestions.

I can't quite follow your logic here: you complain about first gear being too low (with 13/43), yet you want to go to even lower gearing (14/50)?

If the fundamental problem is the gap between 1st and 2nd gear, then no sprocket change is going to bridge that gap.

JimTid wrote:

After riding a Honda CRF250R for five years I found the Yamaha to be a bit twichey on and off throttle.  I added a rekluse clutch which tamed the twitchey feeling and made it easier to ride on single track.

Your Honda was a 230 lb. 37 HP MX bike with a good offroad suspension.  The WR250R is a 295 lb. 26 HP dual-sport bike with a poor suspension for offroad riding (especially the shock rebound damping.)  Neither are ideally suited for technical single track riding, but both can do it if you're content to endure the performance compromises.

The WRR's notorious throttle twitchiness, and solutions for addressing it, are discussed in dozens of threads in this and other forums.  It's generally attributed to the stock EFI mapping and is typically addressed by customizing the EFI map with a PCV tuner, adjusting the the TPS position, or installing a G2 Dirt Tamer throttle tube.  FWIW this is the first time I've heard of somebody installing a Rekluse to mitigate it.  I had the same problem initially with my WRR and solved it with a combo of TPS adjustment and G2 throttle tube.  (It drove me nuts to the point where I was going to sell the bike if I couldn't fix it.)

JimTid wrote:

My thoughts now are that first gear is too low and second gear is too high for technical riding. I feel like I'm lugging the engine while in second gear on technical sections.

"Technical" riding means different things to different riders based on terrain, riding style and experience etc.  Here in the Idaho mountains and high desert I geared my bike down to 13/51 sprockets specifically for low speed technical riding.  I use both 1st and 2nd gears frequently.  

JimTid wrote:

I have low torque in 6th and must downshift on the asphalt when going up hill.

I had the same problem with stock 13/43 gearing.  Lower gearing addresses that.  13/47 and 13/48 seem to be the most popular combos, but again I personally prefer 13/51 because most of my riding is slower over more technical terrain.

JimTid wrote:

I use this bike for dual sport type riding.  I welcome suggestions.

Regardless of your sprocket gearing preferences you have to bear in mind that this is a 26 HP 295 lb. dual-sport bike with a wide ratio gearbox.  Dual-sport bikes are compromise bikes by definition, which can be both good and bad.  There's no magical sprocket combination that'll let you crawl slowly through technical singletrack and still fly down the pavement at highway speeds.  That said, not many are happy with 13/43 performance for the reasons you mention.  I wasn't either.

The Gearing Commander web tool is a great resource to experiment with various combinations of sprockets, tire sizes, and chain lengths to see their effect on RPM, ground speed, and rear wheel position.

IMHO lower gearing and investing in suspension upgrades are mandatory if you're serious about riding this bike off-road in technical terrain, especially if you're coming off of an MX bike.

If interested, below are a couple of my riding videos of what I feel are near the boundaries of where this bike is fun to ride.  Anything more difficult than this and I'm on my Beta 300cc two-stroke.

For singletracks with just abit of flow, 1st gear isnt needed. Gear it down like youre thinking about.
An easy way to just test it, is to try a 12 front sprocket with your current setup.
See how you like it.

Some say it will wear more on the bottom part on the chainslider, so be aware of that.