Aloha from Maui - 1st Post - 2nd Mod - 3rd bike : )

Aloha everyone, stumbled upon this forum trolling the interwebs for information on simple maintenance stuffs, oil etc.. Glad I found it.. Nice and specific.

So I just got my first on/off road bike and I am IN LOVE. Why didn't I get one looooong ago? Who really knows : )

Picked up an 08' WR250R XL ( I'm 6'5", it's perfect ) with just over 2k miles. The previous owner had babied it so it was in pretty pristine condition.. First thing I had to do was turn it into a "happy bike" in the Maui Pineapple fields!!

Anyhow, just wanted to say hello and that I'm glad to have found such a great forum. I'm a camera/audio fanatic when I'm not covered in mud so I'll probably be posting some pics and videos as the bike evolves : )

My first mod was to get rid of all the junks hanging off the tail but I forgot to make a video : )

My second mod was a Yoshimura RS2 slip on exhaust, I did make a video :


Mahalo, Kalani-

Howdy. :)
Must be nice and warm down there.
It's about 35 degrees where I sit at 7:04 am.

If you haven't already got one, add a fuel injection programmer (FMF Power Programmer is a good choice), get rid of what's called the airbox flapper, and gear it down with lower gearing (different sprocket(s) ).
Much better throttle response and the bike is much more effective with lower gearing, especially off-road.

Also, if you concentrate on off-road riding, git some real off-road-suitable tires, as the stock tires are biased toward street use.

Yes, Maui and the whole uniseason thing : ) Although it's like 60 at night and I'm freezing, haaha..

Will the FMF programmer work with non FMF pipes?, if so, cool..

Will de-flap-her soon as I've read the same somewhere's else..

Was thinking of getting some Dunlops pretty soon as my tires are getting close to the end.

Does the lower gearing affect the ride on the streets much? I'd say I'm 50/50.

Thanks for the reply, I feel right at home now..

The FMF programmer is good for your muffler.

The stock gearing is overly tall by design so the bike will pass a required sound test done by specialists with white coats during the pre-production phase of the bike.
It basically puts the bike at a low RPM while doing a drive-by, making it quieter.
The trade-off is that, when Yamaha produces the bike with the gearing that passed the test, it's actually too tall for any kind of realistic riding.

The bike comes with 13/43 sprockets.
I used 12/47 sprockets, and the bike was mucho more effective on the trails, and still topped-out at a speedo-indicated 84mph on flat ground.
I'd effortlessly cruise at a reasonable RPM (and I mean cruise, not flying flat out at maximum RPM) at 60mph, and I'd usually ride the bike on the street from 50-70mph, all day long.
Never felt or sounded like the bike was begging for mercy, what is typically the concern when riders lower the gearing - they want the bike to idle down the road, which is impossible.

My advice to you, since I don't know your riding or terrain, is to start with a 12-tooth front sprocket since it's easy to change and cheap and gives a big change in gearing for small bucks.
Be sure to order a new front sprocket retaining nut, since the nut is supposed to be thrown away after one use due to a stake-it-down locking tab build into it.

Also, since the speedometer pickup is taken off the transmission shaft, your speedometer reading will need to be corrected with another little gizmo from a place called 12o'clocklabs.
Doesn't cost too much, and I've used it, myself.

Welcome, Hi!

YZEtc wrote:

The FMF programmer is good for your muffler.

The stock gearing is overly tall by design so the bike will pass a required sound test done by specialists with white coats during the pre-production phase of the bike.
It basically puts the bike at a low RPM while doing a drive-by, making it quieter.
The trade-off is that, when Yamaha produces the bike with the gearing that passed the test, it's actually too tall for any kind of realistic riding.

The bike comes with 13/43 sprockets.
I used 12/47 sprockets, and the bike was mucho more effective on the trails, and still topped-out at a speedo-indicated 84mph on flat ground.
I'd effortlessly cruise at a reasonable RPM (and I mean cruise, not flying flat out at maximum RPM) at 60mph, and I'd usually ride the bike on the street from 50-70mph, all day long.
Never felt or sounded like the bike was begging for mercy, what is typically the concern when riders lower the gearing - they want the bike to idle down the road, which is impossible.

My advice to you, since I don't know your riding or terrain, is to start with a 12-tooth front sprocket since it's easy to change and cheap and gives a big change in gearing for small bucks.
Be sure to order a new front sprocket retaining nut, since the nut is supposed to be thrown away after one use due to a stake-it-down locking tab build into it.

Also, since the speedometer pickup is taken off the transmission shaft, your speedometer reading will need to be corrected with another little gizmo from a place called 12o'clocklabs.
Doesn't cost too much, and I've used it, myself.

Crazy, ONE tooth huh? very cool, I will try that first. the terrain here is mostly medium packed dirt in pineapple fields and sand along coast lines.. I can see how the factory gearing is laggy now that I look back on a couple of under powered memories.. guess this will tremendously help with low speed climbing!

Kalani, welcome to the pack! Attitude Industries also makes a fuel tuner for this bike, a few of us are running it on our rides. Plug N Play N Go! I run the 12 up front and the stock 43 on the back and it's great for highway speeds too. I just find that with the 12 up front you can tractor over tighter stuff and be able to lug it. Also, it makes all the gears more usable...especially 6th.
My parents are in Maui right now on their 50th anniversary; I've yet to get to the island myself. Been everywhere else on the mainland tho. You're a camera fanatic? Awsome! Someone I can hopefully come to for advice. I'm looking into trying photography as a hobby; I've got a point n shoot but it's got so many little settings and stuff I don't know how to use half of them...let alone what the other half does.

I wanna see the WR Makapu da kine pineapple roost fest...

Where you stay bra ?

Bra...?? Well, we know where your brain just parked.

Uh huh... I have a bi-modal head. Fit's in both cups simultaneously.

What is the focal length of that "point and shoot" is that again ?

I think you may have cabin fever already.

We better get you out of the cold, out riding and afterwards next to a warm sunny So Cal fire with cold tequilla.

It says 5.6-23mm... Now if we're talking firearms...well...*brings out the 7mm Mag* I can point and shoot this thing all day! The crosshairs come in REAL handy.

SheWolf wrote:

Kalani, welcome to the pack! Attitude Industries also makes a fuel tuner for this bike, a few of us are running it on our rides. Plug N Play N Go! I run the 12 up front and the stock 43 on the back and it's great for highway speeds too. I just find that with the 12 up front you can tractor over tighter stuff and be able to lug it. Also, it makes all the gears more usable...especially 6th.
My parents are in Maui right now on their 50th anniversary; I've yet to get to the island myself. Been everywhere else on the mainland tho. You're a camera fanatic? Awsome! Someone I can hopefully come to for advice. I'm looking into trying photography as a hobby; I've got a point n shoot but it's got so many little settings and stuff I don't know how to use half of them...let alone what the other half does.

Haha, great, I love plug-n-play! Also I like the 12 up front idea for starters as I'm preeety happy with her as she is.. I can see how a more usable 6th makes the whole spectrum a happier place.. And yes I am a stills and video fanatic. Everything from iphone stills and video to DSLR's for stills and vid. I'm also an audio junkie and have a hard time leaving on the bike which is an equal passion without bringing at least one more camera on top of the tele:)

Thanks for the tips, I think I'm going to check out the fuel stuffs tomorrow..

X-Racer wrote:

I wanna see the WR Makapu da kine pineapple roost fest...

Where you stay bra ?

haha, Maui stylin' : )

Bruddah... You better not be usin' that 6th gear out there on that islan'.

You're gunna run right off the end of it and into da water !

Please visit my favorite break in the world (Honalua) and catch one for me.