Another guy from Austria

Hello from Austria,

I am new to this forum as well as I am new to the whole topic: Made the driving license last summer and bought a Yamaha 2008 WR250R with 11.000km for 3.300 Euros last fall. There are only a few bikes offered in Europe, so I simply had to take it!
I am still quite happy with my decision towards a WR250R, although I have to admit that I thought it would be easier to restore the whole bike as there are many parts to order overseas, out of stock or extraordinary expensive!
The former user handled the bike not very well so it doesn’t even go stock speed which should be around 130km/h, although it currently has stock transmission installed. Currently it runs around 100 km/h!
He has removed not only the flapper but also the whole box holding the flapper so I am wondering if too much air intake already could be enough to take that much power off the engine!? The engine runs smooth without any rattling sounds.

I would be very happy for any help concerning restoring power and design to my bike, so here are my plans:
- FMF Q4 muffler + pipe (any idea where I could get one in Europe?)
- Tires (I think I will get a lot of information in the forum)
- Injection controller (any suggestions to go for EJK or Dynojet)
- Any ideas for an affordable skid plate and radiator guard in Europe?
- Best option for decal kits?

I would be very very happy to get in touch with WR250R-riders around my area because I would like to have my bike tested by an experienced rider who has the same bike.
Best wishes,
Nuomi

When you say that the top speed is around 100 km/h, are you at wide open throttle, i.e. throttle pinned to its stop?

Check the gearing on the bike: if it has been significantly lowered then maybe the lower max speed is a direct result of the gearing.

If I'm not mistaken, the Euro bikes were being sold with an O2 sensor and closed-loop fuel control, which means that even if the air box has been opened, the power should not have suffered.

Hi Nuomi,

cheers from Saxony and welcome.
Those 100 kph are a serious concern. Before going for any mods, I'd find out what's wrong. As John already mentioned, maybe double check the gearing despite you being sure it is stock. There could be a few other things probably. For example, I always wonder how that freakin' exup mechanism on the exhaust is still working after more than ten years and so much dirt.

On where to get kit here in Europe: I got a lot of stuff from various sources in the US. I think the cost of shipping has substantially increased over the last years, but you can try a service like shipito.com to reduce this factor.
OEM parts can be ordered from https://www.yamaha-ersatzteil.de/
Those are expensive, but I never had the situation that they would be out of stock of anything. They ordered shit from Japan in one occasion, took a few weeks due to that, but worked. Behind that website is essentially a large Yammie dealer somwhere in the Ruhrpott area. For more complex orders they might even call you and go through your parts list and what you intend to do etc. to assist you and make sure you have all the right bits and pieces needed. Happened to me when I built an entire new rear wheel on a third party rim.

In terms of exhaust, have you heard of GPR? They make various mufflers for the WRR, where all come with EU-Homologation (Euro-ABE). Now to John's comment on the O2 sensor: yes, we have an O2 sensor on the pipe. (1) I am not sure at all, whether this feeds into a closed loop fuel control. As I understand that, in such case the bike would have something we call "Lambda-control", i.e. regulation of the exhaust gas stoechiometric ratio of CO and NOx for catalytic converter efficiency (by means of fuel/air ratio). I doubt that, here is why: I have to undergo emission testing every two years, done by an authorized workshop in attendance of an independent engineer from one of the large certification offices such as TUV. Sounds like a big deal, but is a simple test. On the related certification document, that I get out of the process each time, it says "Ungeregelter Katalysator", which is catalytic converter without any such fuel/air ratio control. Otherwise it would say "Geregelter Katalysator".
Now, (2) those GPR mufflers with Euro-ABE have no converter whatsoever inside. Moreso, the O2-Sensor, sits on the muffler part of the pipe. Not on the header, as with many other bikes. Once you swap the muffler for a GPR (or any other none-OEM for that matter), you drop out the sensor and the exup with no replacement, and you still stay within emission requirements. Otherwise they would not have received the Euro-ABE for their product. Those actual emission test requirements are ridiculusly low, compared to the ones required for new vehicle homologations. In my case it is a simple CO test at 500 rpm above idle (4.5 vol% max. permitted vs. 0.476 vol% actual in last test).
My personal theory is, that the O2 sensor data is just used to control the AIS (for Nuomi: Sekundärluftsystem) to optimize catalytic conversion in a more simplistic way. After all, you just need enough oxygen to oxidize the excess CO in the converter, as no NOx test is ever done on these bikes. And as the example of the GPR muffler shows, there seems to be not much of a CO problem at all. That's at least where I am at with my thought process on the hole exhaust topic. Maybe I am wrong at some point of above. Maybe the TUV guy is wrong and does the wrong test each time, not knowing the exact specifics of the bike, as rare as it is over here.

Btw: https://gpr-germany.de/GPR_Auspuffsysteme/WR_250_X-R_IE_2007-2014.aspx

Anyways, good luck with your new toy!

p.s. if you wonder what freakin O2 sensor these guys are talking about, it sits right behind the frame, so you won't see it from the exhaust side of the bike. Here it is: