2008 Yamaha WR250: handles street and dirt worlds
STEVE BOND FOR THE TORONTO STAR
Yamaha didn’t cheap out on the hardware, as both the WR250X, shown, and the 250R have high-quality aluminum frames and swingarms, and the engine is based on the successful four-stroke WR high-tech offroad motorcycles.
Early this year (so early I got stuck in a snow drift), I had Yamaha's entry-level dual sport motorcycle, the XT250, for a couple of weeks and really liked it. I thought it was a great little bike, lots of fun for novices and intermediates, but more experienced riders would undoubtedly want a bit more oomph than the 18 horsepower XT.
Enter Yamaha's WR250X and WR250R, base-priced from $7,300. Based on Yamaha's successful four-stroke WR high-tech, offroad motorcycles, the X and R are a couple of very interesting bikes with different features and strengths.
Both models have the same single-cylinder 250 cc, DOHC, liquid-cooled, four-valve motor complete with fuel injection and a catalytic converter for reduced emissions.
A six-speed transmission lets you keep the 28-horsepower mill on the boil at all times.
Both motorcycles accelerate away from a traffic light significantly faster than any wheezy 250 cc scooter, the aforementioned XT250 and pretty much all four-wheeled bottom feeders.
Yamaha didn't cheap out on the hardware either: both the X and the R have high-quality aluminum frames and swingarms. Front forks on both models are fully-adjustable 46 mm units with 270 mm of travel while a single, fully-adjustable shock, also with 270 mm of travel, holds up the back end.
The quickest way to tell them apart (other than the 17-inch wheels and huge front disc brake on the X), is that the R's frame and swingarm is a natural silvery aluminum colour, while the X's is painted black.
You've heard the expression, "Use the proper tool for the job?" If your tastes lean strictly toward pavement riding with the occasional supermoto competition on the weekend, then the WR250X is the hammer for you. With super sticky 110/17 front and 140/17 rear Bridgestone BT090 radial supersport rubber, it loves blasting around corners.
The X is two kilos heavier than the R but still checks in at a feathery 136 kg with oil in the crankcase, fluid in the rad and a full tank of dead dinosaurs. The seat is also 35 mm lower at 895 mm (35.2 inches) – still a bit of a reach, but not exactly nosebleed territory. The single front disc is a gargantuan 298 mm.
You can literally stand the X on its nose by grabbing a handful of the huge 298 mm front "wave style" disc gripped by a two-piston caliper. Around town, the generous suspension travel allows the 250X to float over the potholes, heaves and craters that have become the norm on our paved cartpaths. The sit-up riding position allows the rider to see over a lot of the four-wheeled traffic cluttering up the streets.
If you're a street rider with a desire to see "what's over the hill," the WR250R is right up your dirt road. The 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheel along with the semi-knobby tires make the R look much more like a dirt bike than its sibling. Don't be scared off by that, though. It's still a perfectly useable street machine that can generate surprising lean angles with the standard Bridgestone TrailWing dual-purpose buns.
Offroad, the R is a lot of fun. It's got enough power to loft the front wheel over obstacles or bumps in first or second gear (as long as you're sitting well back on the seat and give the bars a hefty tug first), but it's not fast enough to get you into situations where you'll be sticking out of the ground like a tent peg. Not that I'd know, of course.
It's a much more serious dirtbike than the XT250 with a significant increase in power for street stuff.
Both models share the same 7.6-litre fuel tank, which sounds ridiculously small until you realize that both 250s sip gas at the miserly rate of 3.4 to 3.7L/100 km, even if you ride them fairly hard.
The X has slightly taller gearing, seeing as it's more street oriented, but even the dual-sport R can cruise along at 100 km/h with no problem and without shaking itself to pieces.
You wouldn't have to run very fast to give me either one of them, but if I had to choose, I'd probably take the R – it doesn't lose much on the street and the dirt-specific wheels and tires add greatly to its off-road capabilities.
Freelance motorcycle writer Steve Bond can be reached at stevebond8@yahoo.ca
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