2009 Yamaha WR250R
Bike: 2009 Yamaha WR250R
Purchased: December 2009 at South Valley Motorsports
Miles When Purchased: 1
Current Miles (March 2010): 478
Status: Active
I’ve been doing a lot of motorcycle riding over the past few years, tacking on about 18,000 miles over the past two summers and winters, but just about every inch of it has been on blacktop. I therefore have a serious dirt riding deficiency. Every time I’m on a 4-wheeler I think, “Seems like this would be pretty fun on a motorcycle.” I’ve also been learning a lot about dual sport motorcycles and adventure riding, and my friend Derek keeps telling me how much fun he had with his old dirt bike, so I started thinking it was time to get out there on the dirt.
I didn’t want a dirt-only motorcycle. That would mean that I couldn’t ever just jump on the thing and run to the store, and also that I would have to strap it to the truck whenever I wanted to go someplace. No, no. That would just not do. I also wanted a lighter dirt oriented bike, something that could handle nastier trails as well as do some highway work. The Yamaha WR250R is what I ended up deciding on, although I seriously considered the Kawasaki KLX250S.
That’s right folks, I downgraded in size with this machine. A lot. I’m used to bikes that make 3-4 times the horsepower of the little WR-R but I don’t really care. The WR-R is plenty fast and it can even handle a little freeway time, although it’s probably best not to push it over 50 miles or so on the highway. This is a bike that I can take camping wherever I want, run trails all day, and ride home without needed anything else, including a truck.
That’s not to say that I won’t load this little sucker up on the truck from time to time, because I definitely will. But I don’t have to. The only big limitation is the little two gallon fuel tank, but with 60+ MPG I should get 120 miles or so before needing a fillup. I’ll definitely need to take extra gas on the longer trips though.
So this little Yamaha is my newest addition to the MikeRides stable and I’m excited to have it along. It should be a great summer of dirt riding!