kind of a strange question about the WRR vs the WRX

I have a question but I am not too sure how to phrase it so that it comes across correctly.

I am considering the WRX. I had a DRZ400-SM 3 years ago and just loved that bike. I rode it for a season then moved onto to supersport bikes and trackdays. I miss the fun and simplicity of a dual purpose bike. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy the high tech gadgetry on my '08 YZF-R6 and learning to go fast on the track...but....it's not what I live for.

I only have street riding experience (no dirt, gravel, sand experience at all) which is the reason I am looking at the X. It would be great to take the X to some a kart track to give that a try, but that would not be its sole purpose.

However, the more I look at them, I wonder if the R2 is a better "all rounder".

How well does the R2 handle with the stock tires? Can the R2 rail corners on paved roads almost as well as the X? I know the tires on the X are very good for being stock tires (and even if they were not stock tires, there are many reviews that say how great they are).

But, I am looking at it this way, if the R2 handles almost as well as the X that would be a better choice for me (with having a curiosity of doing light trail riding)

I would probably be like 95% street to 5% gravel roads type rider (So the X makes sense here)

I have read that some guys buy another set of wheels depending on the type of riding they do. I am not really interested in doing that though.

I would be giving up supersport bikes in order to get back to something like the WR250R/X.

If you are even thinking about doing dirt then I would recommend the R. The R is much easier to find street tires for than the other way around. Once you start doing dirt you might find that you like it more and more.

I did not even entertain the idea of getting an X. I want mine for dirt.

I also don't like the setup of the X wheels. I helped my buddy change out his tires on his X and the tire bead is very hard to break. The rim is built more like a tubeless rim with a rim ridge to hold the bead in place. This would make it very difficult to change the tube in the event of a flat. Do you know if your DRZ was like this?

I only had my DRZ for a season....and traded towards something else right when it was time to invest in new tires.

So, I don't really know how the bead/rim/tire set up was on that bike.

First, the WR-250X would be a lot like your DR-Z400SM was with a bit lighter handling and a bit less power.
If your DR-Z was hopped-up with a big bore kit and FCR39 carb (as many are), it'll have a lot less power.

With street-biased tires (like it comes stock with), the WR-250R handles just fine and dandy out on the streets.
Won't be as grippy as the sporting street tires on the WR-250X, but you can hustle it down back roads.
The front brake rotor is small, though, and you won't be setting the world on fire with a fierce front brake on the streets - it's adequate, but not strong.

To me, the choice would be to do with what you imagine as being more important:
A motard that has sucky tires for off-road use, or a dual-purpose bike with better off-road tires but not as good playing motard on the street.

I used to own a 2009 DR-Z400SM, by the way, and spent some decent dough on the common hop-ups.
Awesome on the street from 0-70mph. :)

Get the x

I have an X and have a set of 21 / 18 wheels with 606's mounted up. The street handling with the stock 17's on the X is WAY better than the 21 / 18 's on the street. Get the X.

I've felt the sides of my boots touch down on pavement on my R at Deal's Gap on D606's. I think the dirt options handles pavement just fine. :)

I was in the same same spot...I was going to be ridding street alot more then dirt/off road. But I ended up getting the R cause I know if and when if I ever want to hit off road I can't with the X compared with the R. So I bough the R...and haven't regreted it since and I have only rode on like couple trail less the 1 hour all the rest of my 2,700 miles street.

TMR wrote:

But, I am looking at it this way, if the R2 handles almost as well as the X that would be a better choice for me (with having a curiosity of doing light trail riding)

I would probably be like 95% street to 5% gravel roads type rider (So the X makes sense here)

I have read that some guys buy another set of wheels depending on the type of riding they do. I am not really interested in doing that though.

I would be giving up supersport bikes in order to get back to something like the WR250R/X.

I have an R and, having ridden an X, wouldn't swap it for an X. I'm probably an actual 50/50% dual sport rider, and enjoy the R in the twisties of some of our local convoluted paved roads. I'm not a boot-scraping slab burner, but I did spend more than a few years screaming around those same roads back in the day on a succession of RD350's, so I don't have chicken strips on my tires either. With the stock tires, the R will lean over and stick a lot more than I'm prepared to attempt at my age these days. Whether that would be good enough for somebody addicted to railing corners at track days on a supersport, I have no idea. I don't have a supersport, but the R sticks enough in the corners to provide me with lots of fun and adrenaline. And certainly more than enough to ride any street or highway at the posted speed limit.

The other thing is most people appear to hate the Trailwings. They work great for my slab riding and the hard dirt/gravel road conditions around here, but if you replaced them with a different kind of dirt tire, the bike may stick even less for you on the slab.

If you're only going to ride 5%, and that on gravel roads, that would seem to suggest you should probably go with the X. Particularly if you enjoyed your supersports and track days. You won't be the first guy to ride an X down a gravel road once in a while. But the R still has the major fun factor and in my opinion is the more capable of the two over both environments. An R will get much closer to the edge on the slab than an X can get to the edge in the dirt.

i got an x because i found one for a good deal. I put knobbies on it, & it works great off road. Changing wheels is almost as much trouble as changing tires, & then there's the brake caliper. The wide rims are easy to change.. the tires pop off them fine. If i were going to do a long bit of pavement, i'd just put the stock sm tires on it. But since most of my riding is off road, i just stay with the knobbies. The pirelli's work surprisingly well, even in the twisties. If you're going to do 95% pavement, it's more about the tires than the bike. The stock trailwings would be ok for your criteria with the R. The stock X tires would have more problems in that 5% of riding off road. But if it's dry dirt, or gravel, the stock X tires would be fine for that, too.

I've ridden my buddy's R, & he's ridden my X. Neither of us can tell much difference handling off road. The front is a little heavier on the X, but the big old tire plows through everything. I think it's a little better in mud & sand. Either bike will do fine. Get the one you can get the best deal on. Wear out the stock tires, then decide which way you want to go next.

scotty