The 2010 X Arrives :)

Hi All:

Picked up the 10 just before closing time yesterday afternoon…

My office away from home for the next two months or so





The 2010 Yamaha WR250X Review Has Begun…

As I posted at ADV and here, thanks to all for the inspiration and assistance. It has made this bike one of the more special ones by far!




Heading out for a little 130 mile ride to Road America for some track time in a few minutes and I feel like a kid on Christmas morning

Giant Loop Great Basin and Fandango Tank Bags are kick @$$ as well

Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG

Grats on the sweet bike, Wayne! You're gonna have fun on your adventure.

have fun and enjoy.

Hi She Wolf and Matty:

Thank you and I had a very enjoyable time on the X the past two days


0.3 miles into Low Fuel. From initial top off, she went 156.3 miles (OEM Odometer/guess gauge) before the dreaded low fuel light appeared.


156.6 miles into this Review Tank #1 when I snapped the pics.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG

Please don't take this the wrong way....

156.3 miles on 1.5 gallons of gas equals about 104 mpg.

Dude....holy shit......

I've never seen better about 55 mpg....and usually I'm closer to 50 mpg.

Needless to say you are riding way differently than most people.

So what are you doing, and not doing, to get over 100 mpg????

You are not hitting rev limiter?
Short-shifting every gear?
Always 10 mph under speed limit?
Lots of coasting?
You don't live in highly populated area with lots of stop lights?
Very smooth throttle modulation?

Hi Motokid:

Staying just below 55 mph in the far right lane while in the 55 mph zones, and holding approximately 35 mph in sixth in the 35 mph zones when running through smaller towns. Milwaukee’s Interstates are 55 mph rated but once outside, they bump up to 65 mph and that is when I moved to the State routes vs. Interstates. From the IL/WI border to South of Chicago, the interstates are all PSL’ed at 55 mph so no problem there.

When running through towns, if a light up ahead was stale green or yellow, time to coast in. If there was a rabbit behind, I would allow them to pass to trip the light ahead so it’s green (most of the time) by the time I arrived to it. If I did get caught at a red, time to pull over to the side and shut the WR down. Running through the smaller suburbs of Milwaukee is actually a lot of fun on the WR’s as you engage with the texters in the 4 wheel cages with hyper awareness. Some of the crap you can see people doing from the slightly elevated position of the WR is amazing… A lot of people reading stuff while driving in North Milwaukee for some reason???

I had an ~ 10 mph tail wind from Elkhart Lake, WI back to the IL/WI border which surely helped. The other 60 + miles were headwinds/cross winds/no wind.

Regarding acceleration and shifting, just enough speed so that the next gear would not lug with a very relaxed acceleration.

As you all know and I am just finding out, the WR smooth’s out from 40 mph indicated on up in sixth. She will even climb 3 and 4% grades in sixth (around Elkhart Lake there were a few of those albeit less than ½ mile long) if above 40 mph (indicated) which was surprising. Drop to 39 mph and a downshift was needed. Drop below 33 and another downshift to fourth at which point you could climb anything and hold speed while still maintaining maybe 500 to 1,000 R’s above lug. Guessing as to the RPM’s and oh boy do I wish the WR had a tach! When on the flats, I could drop all of those shift points by 5 mph and the WR felt no worse for the wear. After 43 to 44 mph on the slab, the WR felt like it began wasting Rev’s for an incremental increase in speed. When I did ride very short portions of I-94 and I-43 to an indicated 65 mph, she was really starting to gyrate. I think I understand Yamaha’s OEM gearing selection however. They wanted to reach peak power in fifth or sixth at an aero drag limited terminal velocity of ~ 90 mph. There is a lot of wasted REV’s from 40 to 65 mph indicated in doing so and I hope some sprocket and rear tire circumference gearing changes will take care of some of that.

Another interesting thing I experienced last night was the increased power allowing lower speeds in the same gear during colder night time temps. Although RRc and aero drag increase quickly due to lower pavement temps and increased air density as the sun goes down and temperatures fall, power output from a change in air density was easily felt in the WR. While we all know why it happens, to actually feel the change through a small temperature delta was fascinating to me. In a nutshell, the 50 to 55 degree night time temperatures and the resultant increased air density allow the WR to pull sixth as low as 32 to 33 mph indicated without any upset to the engine or the bike. Climbing out of that speed range needs to be done with great care of course but just another data point for me to consider on some of the more lengthy night time rides. Fuel economy at that low a temp is probably lower but at least you can drop a few R's to get some of it back?

I still have a whole slew of things to do over the next few days regarding trips into downtown Chicago and Milwaukee, the run out which I might be able to accomplish today or tomorrow and some speed range and technique work with shorter fill intervals but it will probably bore most of you since you have already ridden your WR/X’s through all those conditions already.

Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG

Wayne,

Did you go through the break-in period before starting your extremely high MPG mileage with extremely low RPM riding?

This little 250 loves to be reved, wondering if such low RPM riding is bad for the engine??

I keep thinking that poor little WRX is having no fun!

Hi DeerHater:

While I have read quite a bit about the high revving and quick break-in procedure most here would normally employ, I am using Yamaha's recommended minimal amount of time above 1/2 throttle for the first 1,000 miles.

Not to take anything away from either method but this is a Yamaha recommendation and fits my riding style so I will leave it at that

By the time I hit the Rockies and Sierra Nevada's on a much longer distance ride in July or August, she will have the miles to pull out the stops for a little longer period.

Regarding fun, I had the time of my life on this bike yesterday in the urban centers. I really get pumped up in traffic which is why I like to ride the inner city slabs so much. Having it for the extended period is making this so much easier than those quick hit LA and NJ/NY type reviews. I cannot wait to install the Distanzia's for a little off-roading next month as well.

Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG

Re mileage: Any consideration for speedo error ? It could be as much as perhaps 7-8% less miles than measured ?

Hi X-Racer:

I will be doing those tests early next week...

I hope the new X's are not as far off as the R's but I have the feeling they are. I saw at least 2.1 miles and possibly 2.2 miles tick by on the OEM Trip A after 2.0 miles of highway markers so that too is a problem. The new taller gearing coming in next week plus the 130/80x17 Distanzia's should both help with this as well. They will probably over shoot in fact?

I have gotten exactly 0 work done today so I cannot go and have fun on the new WR in the garage this afternoon

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG

Quote excel;
"Running through the smaller suburbs of Milwaukee is actually a lot of fun on the WR’s as you engage with the texters in the 4 wheel cages with hyper awareness. Some of the crap you can see people doing from the slightly elevated position of the WR is amazing… A lot of people reading stuff while driving in North Milwaukee for some reason???"

Well living in Athens and with the University of Georgia here I ride thru town a lot. And I see plenty of leg and more from the fine co-eds and business skirt wearing professionals here in our nice town.!!! Yay summertime skimpy clothes!!!

The stock speedo is off, but it's my understanding the odometer is not.

So when you correct the speed, you throw off the odometer.

It's the worst, or best of two evils. Depending on what you want to monitor.

Hi Motokid:

Boy I sure hope the odometer on the X is close as that means the FE achieved so far is real and not a figment of my imagination

And for something completely different…

Meet the Nomad!

Would you sleep with your X or R if offered the opportunity? I would say most would



Open Sesame



While this tent is more of a big displacement base camp solution, I may be taking it with me on the X. I will certainly put it through its paces on the GS next month but if I can make it fit, why not give the X just as much loving care?

I will try and keep that blog live with a weekly update but for now, the only thing left to do is take it down and pray it fit back into the stuff sack(s)...

Wayne Gerdes – CleanMPG

Awesome tent. Just awesome.

Read this thread: speedo corrector

There's some specific discussion on odometer and speedometer there.

Hi All:

First tank complete.



220.8 miles on 2.094 gallons (Top off to MT) = 105.44 mpg. 62 miles into Low Fuel when she finally ran dry... Well sort of ran dry. I will try and post some pics, more detail and a ride report later.

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG

That's impressive, Wayne!

Hi All:

A little detail and some pics regarding the WR250X’s first tank.

I topped off from Yamahas first fill near Waldo, WI just south of Elkhart Lake, WI for the MAMA Spring Rally as previously posted last week.

2010 Yamaha WR250X Elkhart Lake, WI to Home Ride

A few miles ridden around the IL/WI border area and yesterdays business meeting with the MiHG from Wadsworth, IL to Milwaukee’s Museum of Art, Milwaukee’s Miller Park, to Winthrop harbor, IL and back out to Wadsworth, IL.

2010 Yamaha WR250X Milwaukee Ride

Enough of the routes already :rolleyes:

I filled a 1 quart plastic container with .240 gallons of Premium at a local BP before I crossed the IL/WI border. I was already 33 + miles into low Fuel when I left home so I had better have a little reserve to get from fuel starve to a local station and thus the small container with enough air inside to allow for some vapor expansion.

On the way to Milwaukee, I began to run out just after I began a western leg on Highway 20 about 1-mile from I-94. As she would sputter and the weight transfer would move to the front, some more fuel would enter the fuel pump and it would spring to life for another two or three blocks. This was repeated for about a mile. Do not try this at home as it raises hell with fuel pumps… At least if you are on a flat road, you have another .75 to 1-mile range as she begins to reach fuel starvation. After about 4 or 5 of these events, she finally ran completely out. I was still above 30 mph and coasted into a Shell on HWY 20 and I-94 in Sturtevant, WI.


Final Tally: 0.240 + 1.854 gallons/220.8 miles (Trip A and Odometer from first top off to odometer at Fuel Starve matched) = 105.44 mpg.

Now that that ordeal is over, I traveled to a local Culver’s to meet with Bradlee and Justin Fons of the Milwaukee Hybrid Group for a business meet. A few Pepsi’s later; it was time to hit the road again. While in Milwaukee, I may as well see some sights?


The Quadracci Pavilion is a sculptural, postmodern addition designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Highlights of the building are the magnificent cathedral-like space of Windhover Hall, with a vaulted a 90-foot-high glass ceiling; the Burke Brise Soleil, a moveable sunscreen with a 217-foot wingspan that unfolds and folds twice daily; and the Reiman Bridge, a pedestrian suspension bridge that connects the Museum to the city.

My nephew who is attending the Milwaukee School of Engineering said one of the sections was so large it had to be flow from Europe to Milwaukee on an Antonov AN-225, the largest transport plane in existence.


From there, it was a quick ride down the lakefront (actually trying to find a good way west towards Milwaukee’s Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Once I got onto Wisconsin Avenue, it was a straight shot to the stadium. I belive the Yankee’s were playing the Brew Crew at Miller yesterday but this was a few hours after the game had ended.


If you want to go see a MLB game, Miller Park is easily one of the best. Not too much of a rip-off for parking, great employees, clean as a whistle and a very comfortable park to attend a game at.

If I had more time, I would have stopped in at the Harley Museum plus added some pics of the X on the shores of Lake Michigan. I will try and get some of those on my ride to Chicago sometime this week…

It may not be the Grand Canyon, Moab or Big Sur, for a slab rider from the Midwest, it is about as good as it gets ;)

Good Luck

Wayne

Hi All:

I missed one from my ride into Milwaukee last week... This is Friday's at Miller Park. While open year round, it is a Sports Bar that overlooks the infield. If you ever need a fix to see an actual ball field in the middle of winter, this is a pretty nice place to visit.



Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG

Hi All:

A little ride into the Windy City today… One of my most challenging rides due to traffic and stop sign after stop sign along my chosen route.

First stop...

The Chicago River flows through Downtown Chicago but there are two items that make it notable. First, it used to flow into Lake Michigan. Today, it flows to the Mississippi river. And second is what every Chicagoan knows happens on St. Patrick’s Day. The city dye’s the river green!


John Hancock Center Building Facts

• Completed in 1970
  
• 100-story mixed-use complex
  
• 896,980 sf of office space
  
• 171,771 sf of retail
  
• 17,371 sf observatory on the 94th floor
  
• 34,307 sf TV and radio broadcast facility
  
• 49 floors of residential condominiums
  
  
  Millennium Park CloudGate
  
  
  
  At Millennium Park with CloudGate (otherwise known as the Bean) in the background. Chicago police were all over me anytime I crossed that darn rope so that was as close as I could get :ccry:
  
  Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor's first public outdoor work installed in the US. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city's famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a "gate" to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.
  
  Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high. Cloud Gate sits upon the AT&T Plaza within Chicago’s Millennium Park.
  
  
  Art Institute of Chicago
  
  
  
  Some Chicago visitors were happy to help by taking my Canon and snap this one… The Art Institute of Chicago Lions with Blackhawk helmets. Can anyone figure out why that is
  
  The Art Institute of Chicago is featuring the artist Henri Mattise until late June with 120 of his most ambitious and experimental paintings, sculptures, drawings, and prints from the period. Matisse himself acknowledged the significance of these years when he identified two paintings, Bathers by a River and The Moroccans, as among his most pivotal. These monumental canvases from the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art, New York, inspired the collaborative work of this exhibition and serve as major touchstones within it. This is the first exhibition to offer an in-depth investigation of Matisse’s art from this time, revealing information uncovered through extensive new art-historical, archival, and technical research.
  
  
  Buckingham Fountain
  
  
  
  Chicago’s Buckingham Fountain with the center fountain flowing at full pressure and height!
  
  The Fountain, one of the largest in the world, begins its show every hour on the hour for 20 minutes. What is the show? The Fountain produces a major water display and the center jet shoots 150 feet into the air. Beginning at dusk, every hour on the hour for 20 minutes the Fountain's major water display is accompanied by a major light and music display.
  
  Buckingham Fountain History
  
• One of Chicago's most popular attractions.
  
• The Fountain opened on May 26, 1927. It was dedicated on August 26, 1927.
  
• Edward H. Bennett designed the Fountain to represent Lake Michigan with four sea horses, built by Marcel Loyau, to symbolize the four states that touch the lake: Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Bennett attributed the design specifically to the influence of the Latona Basin in Louis XIV's gardens at Versailles.
  
• Kate Buckingham dedicated the structure to the people of Chicago in 1927 in memory of her late brother, Clarence. At the time, she also established a $300,000 trust fund to ensure that the taxpayers would never have to cover all of the repair and upkeep costs associated with the fountain.
  
• The funds for the $2.8 million restoration that was done in 1994 came from the Buckingham Fountain Endowment Fund, which the Art Institute of Chicago has administered. Funds from the Buckingham Fountain Endowment Fund also helped fund a portion of the 2008-2009 project.
  
• The Fountain is constructed of Georgia pink marble.
  
  Navy Pier
  
  
  
  Overlooking Chicago’s Navy Pier. Don’t ask how I took this pic but it had something to do with standing in the middle of Lake Shore Drive ;)
  
  Navy Pier is a 3,300-foot long pier on Chicago’s Lake Michigan shore. The pier was built in 1916 at a cost of $4.5 million and was a part of the Plan of Chicago developed by architect and city planner Daniel Burnham.
  
  It is one of Chicago's most famous tourist attractions offering a number of Lake Michigan sightseeing tours and a dinner cruise on the Spirit of Chicago, The Odyssey, and the Mystic Blue. Other attractions include the World Famous Ferris Wheel, the Children’s Museum, an IMAX theater, and the Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows.
  
  This coming August brings to Chicago the "Tall Ships" with real working tall ships coming pier side for all to view.
  
  
  Wrigley Field
  
  
  
  Final stop before heading home… If you do not know where this is, heaven help you. We are still counting on taking a World Series before the second century of MLB is over :rolleyes:
  
  Maybe the following will help? The Cubs became the first team to record three consecutive World Series appearances and two consecutive World Series victories with both championship wins coming off the heels of a record one-hundred sixteen victory season of 1906. In 1908, Chicago's West Side franchise was more than just a winning baseball team; they had just become sports first official "dynasty".
  
  And since that time… I watched many a game in 1969 and for some god forsaken reason I can still name most of the players from that team. Unfortunately the miracle Mets stole the show.
  
  Does anyone want to know about the Billy Goat curse?
  
  Second Tank Details
  
  
  
  
  212.5 miles on 2.124 gallons = 100.44 mpg.
  
  Whooa, that was close… It started to do the run out for ¼ of a block and run for 2 to 3 blocks routine at fuel starve. This time I was slightly ahead of last tanks fuel starve game per the Low Fuel but they were within .5 miles of one another. That Low Fuel sensor appears to be pretty darn accurate when riding smooth surfaces!
  
  I was next to one station (forgot which brand it was) and about ½ mile ahead was a Speedway in Waukegan, IL. I risked it and chose the Speedway. After the third fuel starve cycle occurred, I pulled in the clutch and glided into the station ICE-Off.
  
  Final tally, 212.5 miles on 2.124 gallons = 100.04 mpg with only a few drops not getting into the tank. The first tank was on some 93 Octane Premium in East Central WI that had no ethanol. This tank was 91 Octane laced with 10% of that corn garbage. The 10% ethanol fuel should have nicked about 2 t o2.5%. The other 2% loss probably came from the stop sign and light to stop sign and light in and around Chicago proper. SOB that was a lot of work today and my clutch hand is aching!
  
  Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG
  

Wayne, how do you get that mileage? Even taking into account the difference between imperial & US gallons, my X does around 60MPG (UK imperial), which I believe is approx. 72MPG (US gallon). Sometimes I ride like I stole it, normally I ride tight twisty 'B' roads, changing gear every few seconds to keep the engine in the power band around 8000 RPM. I have 3800 miles on the clock, & probably won't keep it much past 10 to 15000 (subject to cash....). I have heard the motor is bomb-proof, & I certainly didn't buy it to see how much gas mileage I could get

Hi All:

I finally got around to setting up the Chicago Ride Route: 2010 Yamaha WR250X Chicago Ride

This route offered the best views along what Chicago area residents call the North Shore and inside of Chicago proper. If you are ever in the Chicago area (with your WR's or other), I am sure you will find the views worthy of your time and effort as well

Wayne Gerdes - CleanMPG

Hey Wayne, how's the riding going?

Sure, if you want that I can certainly provide. It's interesting watching the eyerolling with the MPG debate. What was called bullshit again was proved what can be done, on any vehicle with an engine. Sure it's fun to ride, it's also interesting to see just what can be squeezed out and the tactics used to do it.