Loving this bike

Just got back from Knolls OHV area in Utah where I put miles 170-200 on the beast in the company of three KTMs, a DR 400 and a CRF 250. I had by far the least experience offroad, but the little guy did great. Also excited that I apparently didn't blow anything up by dropping in a 12T countersprocket the night before. Hard to say, but I appreciated every little extra oomph for those sand hills.

Ran into a lot of deep sand (a first for me) - not sure the stock trailwings were the best choice there, but nobody was having fun for that section (soft sandy whoops)

Made some suspension tweaks before I went out (the old HF settings) - thought everything was great except a tendency to build up vertical momentum and buck me off during long series of whoops bits. Handled rocks, gravel, hard pack sand great. Swapped with one of the KTM riders for a bit (A 620 something, others were 525 EXC's)- wow what a motor! Still, pretty happy with the Yamaha and glad to swap back. Didn't have the torque to cover up my mistakes in the same way, but easier to muscle along in the fiddly bits.

Anyway - very happy to have been out. Would *not* have enjoyed this nearly as much on my other dual sport (F650GS)

Sounds like a great ride. That's a long day ! Looks like the weather was agreeable.

The katoom was an LC4 (SXC it looks like). The proverbial (and historical) workhorse of the KTM legacy.

No more pics ?

Sounds fun. I notice that my WR does horribly in the sand. In sandy berms, my front end just seems to dig in and down I go. I've tightened the forks and messed with the tire pressure. Haven't found anything that works yet.

I can't say I was doing great in the sand, but at least I wasn't doing appreciably worse than the others. Definitely kicked my ass trying to stay up, back and on the throttle the whole time. I see bigger pegs in my future.

Mileage-wise, I was unclear above - day was only about 30-40. We're sad wimps. Plus it's a good 100+ miles from our starting point (in the snow!).

No real good R² pics - I had the only camera. This is a good one of some of the terrain:



Hard to believe I woke up to 2 inches of snow today outside my front door. Ahhh altitude. All the more reason to love EFI.

Midnite171 wrote:

Sounds fun. I notice that my WR does horribly in the sand. In sandy berms, my front end just seems to dig in and down I go. I've tightened the forks and messed with the tire pressure. Haven't found anything that works yet.

What's your rear suspension sag measurement with you in the seat?

Looks nice in the pics, but yea they ran the main in the SX last night in SLC in the snow.

It's a little hard to steer a 250 with the throttle in the sand like a big bore. Takes a lot more technique and finesse.

The TWs certainly aren't the tire of choice either.

I run bleeders on my dirt bike (CRF). As the forks heat the initial dampening range becomes more harsh (stiffer) and the bike may tend to "push" instead of turn-in (at which time you need to be "On it" as well). There's a fine line on a 2-5-0.

YZEtc, I am only about 5'5 and about 155 pounds. I got the Yamalink lowering link and I lowered it more with the factory settings. I also have my sag set to almost maximum amount with about 5 threads left showing on top of shock. I think it's only 3 1/2 inches though.

On my CR250, I would come in hard into the berms and punch it and it would just blast through the berm. On my WR, it seems to sink half way through the berm and although I try to get on the throttle, it doesn't always work. I guess it's just a learning thing as I have only had the bike for about 1 month and just found a decent track with decent berms. I got the D606's tires and that has helped a little.

The bike's not gonna' blast out of a turn with the force of a CR-250R no matter what, but I'm wondering if you're just plowing the front end because that's what you're used to.

I'd gear the bike down (if you haven't already) and open that throttle to transfer some of that weight to the rear end. :)

No I haven't geared down yet although I am probably going to go to 12 teeth in the front this week for starters.