The 2008 WR-250X, designated as WR-250XX if you want to get technical.
You might remember that I owned, up until September, a 2008 Yamaha WR-250RX dual-purpose bike, which was the bike I rode back and forth to jerk and for street kicks in general.
Well, today, I'm bringing home it's street-only sister bike, the Yamaha WR-250XX, a 2008 model.
Some guy traded it in to our shop with 3,911 miles on the odometer, and it looks to be in perfect shape (thank God in Heaven). :)
What makes the WR-250XX the sister to the WR-250RX?
It's basically the same bike with radial street tires as found on a sport bike, a bigger front brake rotor for more stopping power, and some cosmetic differences (black fork tubes and black frame and swingarm).
The idea is to be like a dirt bike with street tires and brakes, and the result is, basically, a light-weight sport bike for the street.
Bikes like this are often called "motards", which is short for "super motard".
Super motard is a form of motorcycle racing that got popular in Europe (which is why the word motard sounds European), and caught-on over in this country.
To be honest, though, the USA is where racing dirt bikes with street tires and brakes got started, way back in 1979 with a once-a-year race on TV's ABC Wide World of Sports, called the ABC Superbikers.
Top motorcycle racers from motocross, road racing, and flat track would be involved, and usually, the guys winning the main events were motocross racers (the one exception was when former 500 GP World Champion Eddie Lawson won on a motarded-out Yamaha YZ-490), and the bikes winning were always the motocross bikes with the street tires and brakes.
So, this was the start of this whole motard thing, waaaaaay back 30-something years ago, and I enjoyed watching this event on TV.
Since I rode the WR-250R for 14 months, I know exactly what needs to be done to the WR-250X in order to rid the bike of the stupid, performance-robbing EPA bullshit it comes with.
Stock, the performance is doggy and weak.
Uncorked with a different exhaust pipe and muffler (but one that's still reasonably quiet), an electronic gizmo to reset the fuel injection mapping for performance (not so it's set to satisfy Al Gore the wealthy asshole hypocrite), the air intake modified in order to actually let air into the engine, and a larger rear sprocket to gear the bike as it would have come if not for these ridiculous regulations, the performance of these bikes is good.
The bike has a good balance of light weight (light compared to other street-going bikes) combined with adequate power.
Factor in the sportbike tires and front brake, and you have a bike that wants to be "held on" through the corners, which simply means not slowing down much, if at all, while going down curvy roads at a spirited pace.
You make time by basically getting the bike up to speed and keeping it there, no matter how sharp the corner may be.
This is where a light-weight bike shines.
Where it doesn't shine, in comparison to most street bikes, is expecting to be able to slow down to nearly a stop, and then expecting to get back up to speed in a split second.
No, there's about 30 horsepower at the rear wheel (and that's at about 10,000 rpm), so doing that is where a 1,000cc sport bike rules, which would have over 30 horsepower at idle speed. :)
So, you get it going and keep it going.
I'll post a pic of my actual bike when I get it home.
Since we're now in December, I'm not in a hurry to start riding it just yet, so, this is my winter project.
As always, whenever I bring a new bike home, whether it's actually brand-new or used like this WR-250X is, I basically take it apart, lubricate all of the chassis bearings, change the fluids, adjust things to my personal preferences, modify things to my liking, and then start riding it.
I imagine I'll get it out regularly starting around the first week of March.
Off to jerk,
-John
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