Yamaha YZ250WR

SOLD!!!!

I was surfing around on the net one night when the thought occurred to me to check the Albuquerque classifieds online. I did, and there it was: 1992 Yamaha WR250. I called, it sounded good, and we drove the 4 hrs. to Albuq and bought the bike for $1800! I spent the first month going through it and checking things out. Everything looked good, so I slapped it back together and went riding.  A few months later, I tore it down again, fully expecting to replace half the engine like I'd had to do with the RM125.  Surprise!!   Everything was still within new specifications and I began to realize just how much bikes had changed with the appearance of  Nikasil-plated cylinders!  Put it back together again and continued to ride!

At ease on the YZ250WR

It wasn't long before I decided that I didn't need two bikes and that the WR was a little better suited to the track and desert type riding I usually do. The XR had a slight edge in the woods, but the WR is no slouch there. So, I put the XR up for sale and off it went!  I spent most of the winter slowly rebuilding the WR, finally putting a new piston/rings in.  I also connected the powervalve actuator correctly.  It had been disconnected all summer and was only pushing the valve open, not closing it!   I put an FMF Turbine Core spark arrestor on and had the dents in my pipe removed by Finish Line Products.  The top end was in great shape, thanks to Yamalube R at 32:1.  The previous owner had used something else and I removed quite a bit of carbon with my first cleaning.  During successive cleanings, I'd almost swear the engine was cleaner each time!  I'm also very impressed with the reliablity of this bike- I really expected to do a complete teardown after every serious ride, but that just hasn't been the case at all.   

Catching some air on the WR at a local play track.

I also worried about the WR's ability to climb hills and work thru the woods, but I shouldn't have.  It's got tons of grunt and a quick fan of the clutch gets the revs right back up immediately.  I rode the XR and WR over the same terrain with the same group of riders, usually including an XR600, XR400, and others.  I'm much faster and much more in control on the WR and there's not a hill in our riding area it can't climb.  With the powervalve working correctly, it's got a lot of low end grunt.   I did mess with the jetting for quite awhile before settling on a 35 pilot jet, needle all the way lean, and a 380 main jet (elevation is 6,000').  I have gone as low as a 340 main jet, but one day I decided to see just how fat I could go.  When I hit the 380, the bike suddenly smoothed out and ran like butter with almost no vibration, so I left it in.  One thing to note is that the airscrew adjustment is critical.  A 1/2 turn will make a significant difference to low-mid range performance.  I'm surprised at how much the air screw matters!

Gearing up to go riding- it was almost 100 deg F this day! Check out those HI POINT BOOTS! <g>

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