WR250R: from stock to fast

Well, here we are.

Howdy to all of you riders/forum readers out there. This blog post is to document the metamorphosis that my new WR250R will be undergoing before seeing the first patch of spring dirt under my command. I'm doing to this to give back to the community a little, to help out people like me who where scouring the internet looking for help and, well, for the fun of it really. There will be write ups, there will be mistakes, there will be photos and maybe videos if you are lucky enough! For those of you that get all antsy after reading only a few lines of text there will be plenty of photos with simple phrases under them to roughly explain was is being depicted. For the rest of you looking for a good read, I will do my best to align words and sentences to the best of my abilities. I hope this will be a good read for all and maybe, someday, a guideline/reference for modifying your WR250R towards a more dirt/enduro machine that can still hit the pavement when the dirt trail ends.

DISCLAIMER

Please respect opinions and choices. This is my bike, my mods and my project. I really appreciate feedback and constructive debates but if you don't like something and can't phrase it in polite and constructive manner, well, don't bother. Also, I'm not suggesting anything in this post, just doing my thing. I will be wrong on certain things and I hope those who catch my mistakes will provide the correct answers to complement this post. OK, well disclaimers are boring and I'm already tired of typing it...let's move on.

A bit of history before we start

This is the who/what/where/when/why of my project. I never had the chance to ride motorized vehicles growing up, so no experience there unfortunately. I did get into downhill mountain bike racing on Canada Cups and Quebec cups (Quebec is right on top of Vermont... if anyone was wondering) and eventually got into the bicycle business. I got my moto license a year ago and got myself a sport-touring yamaha FZ1 (really a sports bike in disguise).

Liked it and rode it fast...but kept looking at those trails on the side of the highway and wondering...that's as far as it went. End of the summer rolled around and I figured I'd sell it to get something different/better for next season. So I sold it. I was chatting with a friend when he said something like: "Yhea I'm going to the rally race in Ontario this weekend to race against Ken Block, Pastrana and friends, do you want to borrow my 2010 KTM 530 for the weekend". I kinda stumble and said, "what?" followed by "aa, ya sure why not!". I didn't really understand what just happened until he said to call him and swing by pick up the bike that night or the next. Please note, THIS is the starting point. So I picked it up and drove off in November weather at about -8 degrees celcius (17F) and parked it outside by my place.


In the next few day, when it warmed up a little (and the snow melted away), I took it out for a ride with a guy who had the exact same bike and new what he was doing/going, It must of been about +10 celcius that day (50F). I geared up with my DH equipment (same as MX), squished the goggles on my face, threw my leg over the bike, fired her up, twisted my wrist and grinned... I was reborn. The transition went well since most of what DH racing represents is the same on a off-road motorcycle: where you look, where your weight is, how you approach obstacles, etc. But you get the picture, I could ride a DH race machine so I could figure out the motorbike quit easily. This allowed me to have a lot of fun on a first ride. Only flipped upside down once (oups my bad) making sure the KTM 530 didn't land on me (because it's heavier than my 47lbs bicycle...) Got all muddy so I had something to show for. Great stuff. I kept the bike for 3 weeks (hehehe) and commuted to work and back via trails, turning a 10 minutes drive to work into a 45-60minutes insane ride in the mud, to and from work. Loved it. I wanted more but had to give the bike back (ya I know). After being away from the bike/trails for a couple of days I started jonesing... pretty bad acutally. Jumped online and started teh quest to fill the void I was feeling.

The beginning

The hunt was on and I found what I was looking for: a WR250R. I must say I did really want a KTM 530 since the bike is a beat...but after hearing all the horror stories of breakdown and maintenance I started looking elsewhere. It seems the Yamaha WR250R is really the only one that stands out form the pack. Not as hot as the KTM but way less trouble and there is plenty top work with. Interesting... let's read up on it shall we! And that's where, in my world wide search I came across this forum (praise the lord) and across HighFive's wrrdualsport.com. It is important to mention that this is most likely why I bought a yam wr250r, because of this forum and the gusy (and few gals) giving back to the community by taking the time to talk about the bikes they love to ride. So thank you to all who have been posting mods, tests, info, feedback, does and don'ts, etc. You know how you are.

So after search the classified for a while and looking everywhere I got the number of a guy who "might" still have his wrr and "might" want to sell it. A "number on a napkin" situation... a muddy from the enduro ride napkin I might add. So I call the guy and he has it and isn't using it. Yes it's for sale but not in any adds anywhere, just a "if someone wants is it's here". I show up to cehck it out. Get this:

-it's a 2008
-perfect condition
-stock tires with the color stripe still on it
-no boot rub
-no rock dings or scraps  in the rear wheel well or on muffler
-... 000 065km on it!!!

So I deal the guy and get the price down low, exchange cash+keys+papers and load it up and get the heck outta there before he realizes he basically gave a brand new bike away for pennies. My gain his loss. Here's the beauty:



So that's my stock bike, sitting in the garage waiting to be modified. Do remember that this post is entitled "From stock to fast"...

The plan

In no order (well there will be one I just have to figure it out) here are the mods that I have planned...for now ;)

-ultimate airbox mod (http://www.wrrdualsport.com/tech-guide/air-intake/77-airboxmod)
-removal of passenger pegs
-taillight assembly (yuk) swap (many choices out there, ordered one off ebay LED for 40$ shipped...we'll see how it turns out)
-Tires (going with Mitas C-16 & C-17 from www.mx1canada.com - thanks Shewolf for the info and review)
-fold-able mirror for the left side, none on the right I'll try and get away with it) (www.mx1canada.com)
-sprockets/chain (going 12T/47T)
-FMF powercore4 exhaust with either powerbomb or megabomb header (haven't made up my mind yet)
-FMF Fuel Injection programmer
-AIS removal
-EXUP motor removal
-MX bars (think of going with pro taper bars, I like them but that's a personal choice)
-Handguard rails (most likely aluminum bars...heavy but necessary)
-XC handguards with integrated blinkers

So a bit of esthetics, a whole lot of "in" air and "out" air (to let the bike breath), some riding position preferences and some performance upgrades (tires, sprockets, etc). I will be posting up, as I go, individual posts on the specific mod I will be performing at that time. I will supply as much info as I can (links, tricks, photos) to help out those looking for DIY posts and to provide an interesting step-by-step project for the community.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned

cheers

Good read. Thanks for the write up.

Welcome and congratulations. Nice bike

will be watching for updates .. enjoy your new bike!

>"-sprockets/chain (going 12T/47T)"

A bigger diameter front sprocked reduces chain wear... and possibly avoids swing arm damage.
I think mine is geared pretty well at 13/47... but if you primarily going trails... I'd go 13/48 or maybe 14-50.

TwilightZone wrote:

>"-sprockets/chain (going 12T/47T)"

A bigger diameter front sprocked reduces chain wear... and possibly avoids swing arm damage.
I think mine is geared pretty well at 13/47... but if you primarily going trails... I'd go 13/48 or maybe 14-50.

Yea 12/47 should really limit your top speed because of over revving. I like 13/47 because it does the trails very well and it can still do the highway very well. My plan is to go to 14/51 with a 114 link chain which is pretty close to the 13/47 ratio.

13/48 is working good for me

TwilightZone wrote:

>"-sprockets/chain (going 12T/47T)"

A bigger diameter front sprocked reduces chain wear... and possibly avoids swing arm damage.
I think mine is geared pretty well at 13/47... but if you primarily going trails... I'd go 13/48 or maybe 14-50.

TZ,

Interesting, thanks for the comment. Can you be a little more specific on chain wear? For example, how much quicker (roughly I guess) does it wear the assembly? IF it isn't too bad I don't mind changing chain/sprockets every year if it means better trail performance. I'm looking for "front wheel up on command" type zip so that's why I'm dropping 1T on the front and bumping up 4T on the back.

I'm still ambivalent towards this decision, so by all means please help me make the right choice. If someone who does ride the 12/47 setup could way in here it would really help. I read in the sprockets & chain forum someone mentioning his ride was just perfect with 12/47:

YZetc wrote:
For almost the entire 7,000 miles I rode a WR-250R, I used 12/47 sprockets without any kind of trouble.
Much better for trail riding, and I also felt it was just fine and dandy on the street, too.
Top speed was still around 80mph.
Cruising at 65-70mph felt just fine to me.

I should specify that I'm looking for a full on MX ride (as much as I can with a dual sport). So I won't be loading the WR up with satchels, tank bag, huge gas tanks, etc. Nothing against those, but that's not my cup of tea for now. I'm looking to make this WR as Full MX as possible to ride fast and hard. Just trying to get a clear picture of the end result.

All constructive comments on this subject accepted. I will be buying the chain and sprockets next week.

TwilightZone wrote:

A bigger diameter front sprocked reduces chain wear... and possibly avoids swing arm damage.

This is highly debatable. Plenty of people use a 12t front without any issues what-so-ever.
I'd bet lots of money dropping from 13 to 12 would not make any difference at all in chain wear unless you're talking 100,000 or more miles.

Plus - a 13t does not mean you won't have issues with swing arm damage.

What changing the gearing does do is wildly throw off your speedometer.

It's already off 7% in stock form.

You'll need a speedo corrector like the one 12 o'clock labs sells.

motokid wrote:

What changing the gearing does do is wildly throw off your speedometer.

It's already off 7% in stock form.

You'll need a speedo corrector like the one 12 o'clock labs sells.

Thanks for the input, highly appreciated. I forgot to put down the "12 o'clock" speedo corrector which is a must I think. Does it do both (speedo and odo)? Is it the best way to go? Oh and is that 7% over or under in stock form?

Is this what we are talking about? how do I calculate the % I'm off in order to program the corrector? GPS or is there an equation?

http://shop.12oclocklabs.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=59

Thanks

Just got a new box of goodies today: fun times can begin! I thought I'd share the excitement with you:


I didn't want to order this stuff first but there was (and still is) a special on over on www.mx1canada.com and I couldn't pass it up. Feels like Xmas all over again

If you're going to be riding your WR-250R like a dirt bike that can also go very well down the street, 12/47 sprockets are a good choice, in my opinion.
That is what I used, and it made for a much better-geared off-road bike.
Since it's a 6-speed with a relatively tall 6th gear, my bike would still hit about 80mph, and cruising at 65mph felt easy without feeling like I was reving the shit out of the bike.
In fact, I felt the bike was perfectly happy buzzing along at 65 or 70mph for miles on end.
For a 250cc bike, that a pretty impressive speed range.

I would not sweat the 12-tooth-sprockets-are-too-small paranoia.
I used a 12-tooth sprocket for nearly all of my 7,000 miles I rode my WR-250R, and it required nothing that any other dirt bike required as far as chain and sprocket maintenance, including no sawing of the chain slider and swingarm.
I'm still convinced that is caused by riders adjusting their chains too taught without realizing it.
That's common.

YZEtc wrote:

I would not sweat the 12-tooth-sprockets-are-too-small paranoia.
I used a 12-tooth sprocket for nearly all of my 7,000 miles I rode my WR-250R, and it required nothing that any other dirt bike required as far as chain and sprocket maintenance, including no sawing of the chain slider and swingarm.
I'm still convinced that is caused by riders adjusting their chains too taught without realizing it.
That's common.

He speaks the truth. Listen.

Stock speedo reads 7.7% high. Roughly.

The 12 o'clock labs web site has a calculator that lets you input gearing and tire size plus the Yamaha error.

It works great.

I run a 13x45 on the street and would do 13x49 offroad. Once you figure out the correction percentage it's easy enough to do the math on the fly. I was tight on money and could'nt see spending all that money for a 12 o'clock just to get my speed down a mile or two more acutatley. I eventually bought a Garmin 60csx used for not much more then the 12 o'clock cost , and now I have it all. If I remembert right my speed was off about 12 % from that shown on the speedometer, but the milage was only off about 5 %.

OK, so I'm back

Sorry for the delay in response but we got really busy here at work wince we just received our first containers of bikes for 2012 and had to ship'em out to bike shops waiting for there 2012 goodies! Enough about that, moto time!

And so we started working on our bikes. I started with 2 things:

1. taking off parts and weighing them. So basically I will be weighing my parts on my high tech fish scale and Home Depot bucket. If you guys see some discrepancies please advise me asap since it could mean my scale is off... and I can't have that. I don't really care about an once or 2 but if I'm off by half a pound we have a problem. I will be weighing everything that comes off and weighing everything that goes on. We will then be able to work out savings. I really hope I can reduce the weight by 10-15 pounds and add close to 10HP to the bikes. Realistic or not? Ambitious I know but let me know what you think. Think about it: around 30HP weighing in at around 280lbs wet weigh can be pretty sweet no?

First up: passenger footpegs

Second up: flapper solenoid and junk

Third up: stock mirrors

2.Taking that taillight assembly off ASAP. I think I've had nightmares about it. My nightmares are mostly about not being sure I made the right choice with buying a WR250R for the application I want. I want to ride this baby like a true offroad MX bike, destroy technical sections and clear 70footers on the track... I think I'll make it with all these mods but I do have my moments of doubt. I think I'll start a thread call "Do you really ride?" because I read a lot of comments about having or not having enough power, suspension perfect/not good at all, etc etc but I can't get a good idea because I have nothing to base those claims on. Hence the thread which will call out for videos of riders on this blog doing their stuff. I want to be reassured, I want to see people killing it on their WR250Rs like this guy Fun Ride 2

Fourth up: Stock taillight

Making life easy is all about planning ahead. So I got some connectors to allow for a quick switch back to the stock taillight if I ever get called out to get the bike inspected for legal issues (!). I'll just plug unplug the new good looking taillight and put this old thing back on, pas the test and bingo (hopefully).

That's it for now. I bought all the stuff to build the EXUP "thing-a-ma-jig" and will attempt to solder my way to success. I'll get back to you with more mods soon. The big ones are coming but cash is a little low after Xmas. Actually starting up a thread about full exhaust systems..haven't seen many (if at all) comments on DUBACH systems, Delta 4 systems, Yoshi (systems?). It's all FMF everywhere. I want to get to the root of it. Why FMF, why not the others? Look for it in the Pipes'n Programmers Topîc

The FMF Q4 mufflers are popular because they come out of the box with the capability to increase performance, lose some weight, and not have the bike as loud as if it were a motocross bike on a track.

In fact, when I sold my WR-250R and the guy that eventually bought it took it out for his test ride, I was surprised at how quiet my Q4 muffler sounded as he pulled away and went down the road.

YZEtc wrote:

The FMF Q4 mufflers are popular because they come out of the box with the capability to increase performance, lose some weight, and not have the bike as loud as if it were a motocross bike on a track.

In fact, when I sold my WR-250R and the guy that eventually bought it took it out for his test ride, I was surprised at how quiet my Q4 muffler sounded as he pulled away and went down the road.

I know decibels are an issue at the moment in the motor world but my main concern is performance. So which ever offers most performance for my $$ is the one I will be going with (most likely).
Thanks for the comment

Arrows full titanium system on my toy !

>"Interesting, thanks for the comment. Can you be a little more specific on chain wear? For example, how much quicker (roughly I guess) does it wear the assembly? "

The links turn a tighter radius around a small sprocket, greater wear on parts. Also there are some acceleration issues with the chain.

>"IF it isn't too bad I don't mind changing chain/sprockets every year if it means better trail performance."

All that said, if you're primarily interested in dirt and want wheel lift... go for it. For DS rides, I'd go with 13/48 or 14/50 though, makes for less wear on the chain.

Monkeynuts wrote:

Arrows full titanium system on my toy !

How much did the full system run you up if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks

I think it was £650.

Monkeynuts wrote:

Arrows full titanium system on my toy !

Pictures or you lie!!!!!!!!

Somewhere I have a Motorcycle mag that did dynos with the WR250X and several pipes......The winner in perfomance was the Yoshi pipe and K&N air filter. If theres a demand I dig up the article and post a pic.

Mikechicago wrote:

Somewhere I have a Motorcycle mag that did dynos with the WR250X and several pipes......The winner in perfomance was the Yoshi pipe and K&N air filter. If theres a demand I dig up the article and post a pic.

Yes please that would be p-e-r-f-e-c-t!! I'm wondering if there is a yoshi full system or slip-on only... Also hoping the Dubach scores high as I have my eye set on a header+exhaust combo currently on sale ;)

I'll be checking back frequently looking for your replys.

Thanks!

I am setting my bike up for the same riding as you. Offroad but without the need of a pickup. I run 12/47 and love it. I don't need a 80mph bike. The highest posted speed I frequent is 90kph(55mph).  The bike will cruise along at 110 without working. As for the chain wear, I haven't had the bike long enough to know.  Only at 2200kms.

I just put on a full delta barrel 4 and a FMF EFI programmer. Over the last month I have done all this and the intake mods. Unfortunately, it's another month plus before I can try it all out. I went Delta mostly for the sound and look. It weighs a little over 6lbs. Couldn't find any definitive thoughts as to why any was better then the others. I liked the Graves system but it's pricey.

Basically it's a great nimble bike. One opinion of mine is the front end feels low. I put a tall bar with a 1 1/8" adaptor on the stock bar clamps to get about a 2" rise and I am not a tall guy, 5'6".  My .02

there she is, I think the pipe will be SS !