KDXRIDER.NET

found a 1989 Yamaha WR 250 for $475, are those any good in the wood?

I had one as well as a RMX 250 back in the day. I'd describe it as "competent" in the woods. In my opinion, the KDX works waaay better.

At four seven five $ she's not gonna be pristine.

I'd like to have one so I could find out for myself. Looks like it should be a good one.

My buddy has one. We rebuilt it from the bottom up. Powder coated frame, new bearings everywhere, went through the engine, rebuilt forks, PC pipe, etc.

The bike is way faster than I thought it would be. It can be quite a handful in the woods, and whiskey throttle on that thing is just plain dangerous. It handles pretty well though and has gobs and gobs of power. Brakes are fair. I think a flyhweel weight would help immensely for woods work with that bike. If it were my bike, I'd throw the stock pipe back on, add a flywheel weight, and ride the piss out of it.

Here's the before and after....






Those are hacked up quad graphics in the second pic. We removed most of them after deciding it looked like crap. He used plastics of a later model yz125 too. Kinda frankensteined but looks pretty good. It's a blast to ride, but will wear you out quick!

that looks nice.
I decide to forget about it, seems a bit too much of a handful for where I ride.
Thanks for the comments

That's a shame. It's a really fun bike! I can't imagine it would be too difficult to set it up for woods. It already has the wide ratio trans after all.....

Damn, $475? If it were close to me . . . .
I had one back in the early '90s, traded an FZ600 for it and it got me back into dirt bikes. Had Pro Circuit MX porting and pipe. Not woods friendly but super fast and fun. As Juliend said a FWW and stock pipe would make it okay in the tight stuff, mine was scary in the woods, but a blast in the open desert.

That's pretty much my take on it. We only ride woods, and sometimes we take the wr250 just for fun. I'll ride it about half the day before I can't stand anymore and get back on my KDX. It's just way to fast!

Flywheel weight should fix it right up. I checked a while back, and stealthy actually still has one to fit it.

Yeah, the price is right, however, I'm trying to set up my frankenstein KDX for my girlfriend.
I fear she'll need the dynaring to ride it, or even worse, a different bike altogether .
Her 1st ride (on that bike) should happen this week since I finally got all the safety gear for her and should be able to finish lowering the bike this week. We shall see ...

scheckaet wrote:Yeah, the price is right, however, I'm trying to set up my frankenstein KDX for my girlfriend.
I fear she'll need the dynaring to ride it, or even worse, a different bike altogether .
Her 1st ride (on that bike) should happen this week since I finally got all the safety gear for her and should be able to finish lowering the bike this week. We shall see ...

I tried to get mine on the KDX, she has a KLX300 now, but will ride the 200 as a backup. She says the 200 isn't smooth enough.

I want to dual sport the KLX and set her up with a 220 with a dyna ring and FWW for dirt duty when money allows.

Dunno if the CEL DEL needles have the same affect on the H bikes as the CGK DKG do for my E, but with the DGK needle in, it's very much like a peppy 4 stroke. No noticeable hit on top like with the stock needle or the CGK. Cheaper than a FWW for sure, and does a great job of smoothing out the power delivery.

juliend wrote:Dunno if the CEL DEL needles have the same affect on the H bikes as the CGK DKG do for my E, but with the DGK needle in, it's very much like a peppy 4 stroke. No noticeable hit on top like with the stock needle or the CGK. Cheaper than a FWW for sure, and does a great job of smoothing out the power delivery.

Hmm, have to look into that, thanks.

i have a 94 wr250..........and love it. it pulles real good down low, and just plain rips on top{ 5 gear wheelies without the clutch} this is one of my favorite bikes to ride....the wrs had a 18 inch rear wheel and was set more for woods/enduro riding..........i dont think you would go wrong buying the bike for $450!!!

The WRs have a very good rep, but are getting old now. Being similair to the YZ a lot of parts would be available, but is there anything that is hard to find?

I see the odd one come over from Japan, does anyone know if the Jap versions had different specs, as is the case with KDXs and a lot of dirt bikes.

i dont really know about the diff. in ours and japans? i dont think theres a diff thou, but im just guessing..............parts are pretty easy to get for the 92 and up..........but a little harder for the 91 down. {i had a 89} .....
as for the power being to much, i dont have a problem with my wr the way its setup. it dont seem to wear me down thant much, but more than my kdx............now my ktm 380 is a HANDFULL!! its really to much for trail ridding. i still love it, but i get wore slap out riding it!

The 2nd gen had some barely-favorable improvements over the 1st for woods work....LOL. More FWW, slightly tamer porting. You can still get parts for either. They were basically just a YZ w/ 18" wheel, lighting coil (no light), FWW(2nd gen), VM carb, WR trans, big tank. The susp is straight YZ so it pretty brutal in the woods stock. I bought a whole pro-action fork/shock setup for woods for $150. Actually, it's amazing what I paid for the aftermarket goodies for this bike....Mostly NOS. It is a FAST bike, but will lug. Just like the KDX they benefit form softer needle profile, and I'm going to put a 36mm pwk on mine.

My 96 WR rips anywhere. My favorite bike of all time, I think. Light, fast, but lugs just fine. Handles great, berms or square-offs, it does it all. The suspension is as good as any bike I've owned.