[Woofhound]

On saturday the 1st of september I took my last ride on my TW. I went riding with my buddy and his son, both on klx250's up to Peoh Point up above Cle Elum. The ride was good, but i kept thinking my suspension sucks and my bike feels like it wants to throw me down and hurt me in the corners. The same feeling I got in July when i did the Lolo trail in Idaho. Anyhow, on the way back down to Cle Elum I asked my buddy if i could ride his KLX. That bike has a plush ride on the dirt road and had power. When we got back to camp, my buddy said my suspension sucks and bike has no power, so saturday evening i made a decision that a bigger bike was in order, I posted an ad on Craigslist for $3500 and got a phone call sunday morning and sold it. Shit, now what do i do? well, i went out looking at bikes on tuesday and had it narrowed down to a DRZ400 or a WR250R.



pics of the last ride:

a pic of the #5 coal pile that used to be a blast to ride on before it closed back in the early 90's

Guess which 1 i bought?

The scenery is The Kittitas Valley and Cle Elum. you can see the smoke from a flare up of the Taylor Bridge fire that happened a couple weeks ago.

Hopefully you guys will still let in hang out in here and if anyone is up for riding in the Cle Elum area give me a shout.



And to Admiral, I still want to come back to Idaho and ride more of the trails around Weippe

 

[evan]

nice scenery! awww, we'll it does sound like you needed more bike then the little tw was designed for. It really is just a poke around camping/exploring bike that would suck trying to keep up with your buddies on a faster ride. Enjoy your new ride and I guess we'll let ya stick around if you promise to keep showing cool pics of your rides.

 

[retmotor]

Well congrats on the new bike. That area is very scenic.



Yeah, if you were trying to keep up with kids and they were on KLXs, I bet it did feel like the suspension sucked. I don't know that you had a stock tire on the front, but even though my stock front is just about new, I was thinking about getting a Shinko or something similar. It doesn't feel like it has a lot of traction in the loose stuff, even aired down.



Here's hoping you stick around. I've enjoyed your posts. Your thread on the Lolo Pass area made me want to ride up there but that ride will have to go on next year's list I'm afraid.

 

[Woofhound]

Importmech, as long as you guys like em i'll keep posting them. I love the country over there and can't get enough of it...



retmotor, my bike only had 1100 miles on it and the stock tires were like new still. If i can get the time off next summer i would like to go back to Idaho and ride the lewis and clark trail into montana. I think i could talk the brother in law who lives in Weippe idaho to join me. He adventurious also and rides a honda rancher that he's put over 30k miles on it's clock

 

[retmotor]

Makes me think I should swap out that tire even more, I'm at about 900 miles.



That sound like a good trip. I really should go, it's not that far away. There are some neat areas to ride up here. I want to hit the Selway area too.

 

[admiral]

On saturday the 1st of september I took my last ride on my TW.



And to Admiral, I still want to come back to Idaho and ride more of the trails around Weippe

First line darn near brought a tear to my eye. An obituary of sorts. I will take great solace if you remain a member of the forum despite your change in bike style. I've often eyed the WR250R as one that I would like to have, but I feel satisfied in what I've got.



You let me know if and when you plan on riding up yonder again. In-turn I'll give you a shout when I do. Most likely next summer. Take care, hope to see your contributions and even rides continue here on this forum.

 

[Woofhound]

I'm pretty sure my TW went to a good home, the new owner seems like a nice guy and maybe we'll get a new member here. Although i haven't met any of you guys in person, i feel like you all are my friends and plan on staying around here. Next summer sounds like a plan Admiral.

 

[cmikimoto]

Hey Woofhound Im only about 35 min. from cle elum in North bend. Ill ride with ya even though your not on a dub..PM me sometime. by the way congrats on the new bike, I want the supermotard version of your bike. Did you buy it from I90 motorsports?

 

[Woofhound]

I go to Cle Elum every weekend, there's great riding in that area and i'm always up for a ride as long as weather permits. I don't play in the rain and i'm not really a 7:00 type of guy either but i will be for the Easton ride. I'm thinking it will be a blast and the scenery will be spectacular... pics will follow



I also have a motorhome for a guest house if anyone would like to overnight or stay for the weekend, just bring a sleeping bag and some grub. We're in south cle elum on the Yakima river.

I bought the WR off craigslist.... 09 with 4k miles, i think last weekend was it's first time in the dirt

 

[Woofhound]

Update on the WR..... saturday morning i put new tires on it and went up on the cle elum ridge and then up towards salmon la sac, ride was 68 miles and it took .78 gallons to fill it to the rim. sunday's ride went up in the taneum, over to icicle campground, then up quartz mountain, about 18 miles of gravel road to Thorp and then hiway 10 back to cle elum. ride was about 90 miles and fillup was 1.2 gallons... no pictures due to smoke from all the fires in the area. I love the WR. woof

 

[admiral]

If only my budget would allow for a WR. After riding my son's KX250F a couple times, I can appreciate the improvement in suspension over the TW. But I still have a ton of fun on the TW. Glad your having fun!

 

[retmotor]

There are definitely times I wish I had more suspension. Well, not around here so much, but there are places. Sounds like a fun bike.

 

[stan]

I'll give up my tw when they pry my cold dead fingers from the grips.

 

[retmotor]

^ Get some grip heaters, then your fingers will just be dead, not cold

 

[Retrofit]

^ Get some grip heaters, then your fingers will just be dead, not cold

might end up with cold live fingers and dead battery.

 

[RIF]

What did you sell it for out of curiosity? That WR is my dream bike.

 

[Adam-n-nevada]

The title of the post made me sad too. I'm glad that the forum is thrilled to have you continue your participation and that you're willing to do so.



I'm in a similar situation right now, in which the little dub just isn't cutting it for me either. Though, I think I plan on keeping it for now and selling my 05' R6 - with the objective to replace it with a quicker d/s. First I was thinking the WR, then I read up on the Kawi KLX250s and the new honda crf250l - both of which are neat little economical bikes.



I've made my decision to purchase a 2013 KLX250s, considering the difference in prices and height of the seat. Being only 5'11 I feel the kawi is just a bit more comfy with the lower seat. I know the WR is light-years ahead of both others mentioned, I just don't trust myself being that high up on a machine that is twice as potent as TW.



Boy that WR though - a bike in a different class completey! I hate to hear your TW has gone, but it's nice to see you'll still be around and now riding Japans best dual sport

-Adam

 

[Woofhound]

Rif, 3500



Adam, i'm only 5'9" and the height was a concern, I could barely tiptoe both feet. after doing a little checking i found the WR has a factory lowering ability of 1" and i just bought what is called a YAMALINK (145.00) which lowers it another 1" in the rear. I can now do 1 foot flat and the other almost flat. The bike sits a whole lot like the old 88 XR250 i used to have. The bike just feels smaller with a lower center of gravity now. and the geometry change in the rear really softened it up. I REALLY LIKE IT.





PS, my buddy bought the klx250s and really wishes he would have spent another 1,000 and got the WR

 

[Adam-n-nevada]

Gosh Woofhound, those are good points! I did know about that lowering ability, but not about the yamilink. Do you think the WR has a low enough torque curve, providing adequate low end power?? From the reviews and videos they seem to lack on the low but have explosive high end power.



I've been comparing these bikes for some time and now recently with the addition of the crf250l, I've revisited my research. I know the WR is quite a bit more potent on the high end, more compression and more horsepower at a higher rpm - along with a higher redline.



I've been searching for torque/horsepower line graphs for these machines so I could compare actual output. I'm curious which bike provides more power at a lower rpm, this is what is most important to me - not the high end. I love the high quality components and attention to over all quality that Yamaha has with the WR, just don't like the price compared with the other two.



Guess you get what you pay for! I also very much love the tachometer on the kawi and wish the other two would follow.



Lemme know what your opinions are on the bottom, lower rpms with comparing these two please

-Adam