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Yamaha WR450 as an Adventure Bike

Greg

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
I love this video, I would like to setup my WR450 in a similar fashion... smaller tank and deeper gearing for singletrack rides, bigger tank and taller gearing for light-duty adventure riding. I suppose the light-duty adventure riding means around 90% dirt, hauling just enough gear to camp and carry enough fuel to travel 200+ miles. I'm not talking about a bike that you'd ride to Alaska... but perhaps around Baja... exploring the backroads around Moab, the Swell, etc.

I've slowly been gathering stuff to go this direction, would love to add an oil cooler, Rekluse and a cush drive hub... but for now I have a Acerbis 6.6 gallon tank, the more comfortable seat and a 15 tooth counter-sprocket. Hey, it's a start!


Great tech about setting up a WR450 for longer rides... some great beach drifting and wheelies too!

[video=youtube;2FoSN5cemvc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FoSN5cemvc[/video]

The same guys that made the video, also built this site - https://sites.google.com/site/yamahawr450fwr250f/
 
D

Deleted member 12904

Guest
I want a wr so bad. Things where looking good this year until I blew the motor in our utv. That $3600 repair put an ax in my plan.

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2
 
Greg

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Location
Grand Junction, CO
deviant said:
I want a wr so bad. Things where looking good this year until I blew the motor in our utv. That $3600 repair put an ax in my plan.
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You've got a DRZ, right? It's not a bad bike for this kind of stuff either, a few years ago I rode with a guy from SLC on a DRZ. He has a big tank and some other mods for traveling longer dirt rides and it worked flawlessly. We rode the White Rim Trial from our campground in Moab & back, which was probably close to 180 miles. I was on my DR650 and he was faster in the bumpy stuff.
 
D

Deleted member 12904

Guest
Yes the drz is a nice bike. With my full fmf exhaust and intake and jetting it has decent power. They hold a lot of oil. Down side is they're suspension blows. I'm going to try and do drz 450 forks this year and a rm250 rear shock. Just keep my eyes open for a good deal. Even when I can upgrade to a wr or a crf450x I hope I can swing keeping the drz. It's such an easy bike to ride it would be a great spare bike to have around.
 
R

rholbrook

Well-Known Member
Location
Kaysville, Ut
I watched this a few weeks ago. I love my WR but I wouldn't want to go very far on it without getting a new seat. I did add some padding similar to what you did to your WR but my ass still hurts after 60 miles and if I put on much over 100 I can't sit very comfortably for a week. I wheelied over on my old XT500 going down the highway at 60 MPH when I was really young and dumb. I broke my tail bone and it has never been the same. If only Yamaha would add a 6th gear and fix the ignition so that it wouldn't sputter at sustained high RPM, then it would be a better Adventure Bike.

For the riding I do, I can't think of a better all-around bikes than a Yamaha WR, Honda CRFX or KTM XCW.
 
Caleb

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
rholbrook said:
For the riding I do, I can't think of a better all-around bikes than a Yamaha WR, Honda CRFX or KTM XCW.
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Of those, I think the WR takes the cake for all-around. The WR has awesome maintenance intervals, the KTM and Honda both have "race" intervals. The intervals on my Honda were ridiculously short (something like 15-20 hours on a piston). I did some long rides on it, but I was always low on oil after the rides (which was considered normal among the CRF guys). I've rarely heard of WRs burning oil unless there's something wrong or worn.
 
TRD270

TRD270

Emptying Pockets Again
Supporting Member
Location
SaSaSandy
Caleb said:
Of those, I think the WR takes the cake for all-around. The WR has awesome maintenance intervals, the KTM and Honda both have "race" intervals. The intervals on my Honda were ridiculously short (something like 15-20 hours on a piston). I did some long rides on it, but I was always low on oil after the rides (which was considered normal among the CRF guys). I've rarely heard of WRs burning oil unless there's something wrong or worn.
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I've never had my oil been low on my WR after a ride, great bikes. I would have to agree on the seat padding though, it stinks on ice
 
SpeedyVic

SpeedyVic

Registered User
Location
Logan, Ut
Caleb said:
Of those, I think the WR takes the cake for all-around. The WR has awesome maintenance intervals, the KTM and Honda both have "race" intervals. The intervals on my Honda were ridiculously short (something like 15-20 hours on a piston). I did some long rides on it, but I was always low on oil after the rides (which was considered normal among the CRF guys). I've rarely heard of WRs burning oil unless there's something wrong or worn.
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I've owned 3 KTM 300 EXC's. Never had a problem with them. Put a new piston in them about every two years of hard single track (A couple of hare scrambles a year and then just fun desert rides) and I was good to go. I did have a habbit of replacing the oil after every weekend of riding. I used Type F Tranny fluid in mine.
 
Caleb

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
B2-Bomber said:
a 300 is a 2 stroke, i think caleb was referring to the 4-stroke valve-train, which 450s (regardless of brand) are notoriously short-lived when used for long-term street use.
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Exactly. I too have a KTM 300XC, so I don't need any kind of introduction to them, however I still would rather have a WR450 for longer rides. I think you'll get WAY more life out of a WR450 than you will most other bikes in that class.
 
B

B2-Bomber

Guest
Location
SL, UT
Caleb said:
I think you'll get WAY more life out of a WR450 than you will most other bikes in that class.
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i disagree, the WR450 in terms of valvetrain is no different than a YZ450F, they both have the same 5 titanium valves, the same springs, the same valve seats etc. the same piston, the same cylinder. so as far as the engine is concerned.....its the same

of the ones i rebuilt it seems that aside from the normal valvetrain issues, they go through crank bearings faster than other 450s.

have personally rebuilt over 20 yamaha 450 engines. the only differences lie in things like slightly different cam profiles (not enough to alter reliability) and the WR head has different porting. Also depending on year the WR head has a nipple coming off of the exhaust port for some EGR system or something

yes the WR has a different transmission but that is about it as far as noticeable differences go. and the transmission from a WR can be put into a YZF case easily.

for extended street use the only viable options are the underpowered ones like DR/DR-Z, XR etc.

valve parts fiche for WR450 http://www.ronniesmailorder.com/fic...=motorcycles&make=YAMAHA&year=2007&fveh=12882

valve parts fiche for YZ450F: http://www.ronniesmailorder.com/fic...=Motorcycles&make=YAMAHA&year=2007&fveh=51666

the part numbers are all the same. this is true for nearly all engine components.
 
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Caleb

Caleb

Well-Known Member
Location
Riverton
B2-Bomber said:
i disagree, the WR450 in terms of valvetrain is no different than a YZ450F, they both have the same 5 titanium valves, the same springs, the same valve seats etc. the same piston, the same cylinder. so as far as the engine is concerned.....its the same

of the ones i rebuilt it seems that aside from the normal valvetrain issues, they go through crank bearings faster than other 450s.

have personally rebuilt over 20 yamaha 450 engines. the only differences lie in things like slightly different cam profiles (not enough to alter reliability) and the WR head has different porting. Also depending on year the WR head has a nipple coming off of the exhaust port for some EGR system or something

yes the WR has a different transmission but that is about it as far as noticeable differences go. and the transmission from a WR can be put into a YZF case easily.

for extended street use the only viable options are the underpowered ones like DR/DR-Z, XR etc.
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Hello and welcome to the thread :rolleyes: Of the three bikes mentioned by Russ, not one was a YZF, not one was a DR/DRZ, and not one was an XR. Of all those you mentioned, I'd consider them in completely different class of bikes as the CRF/WR/XCW, so back to my point of first hand experience, the WR has far less maintenance requirements than the other bikes in the same class. As a mechanic, you see the broken stuff...it's like going to a support website and saying "gee, this product sucks because all I see on this support site are problems." You don't take your bike to a mechanic and say, this bike is running great, just wanted to let you know.

Yes, the YZF has a great valve train, but that's not the bike we're talking about in this thread, nor would I ever use a YZF for a long distance runner. I would in a second use a WR and have used a CRF. Also, I'm not talking about extended street use. I'm talking about running two track, fire roads, single track, etc. If I'm looking for a bike for extended street use, it won't be a bike in the same class as these.
 
B

B2-Bomber

Guest
Location
SL, UT
*SIGH

yep i included EXTRA info regarding what would be viable option for extended street use as far as bikes go.

besides the little tid-bit about dr/dr-z and XR what i said above that directly replying to what you said (specifically that in the quote) that a WR450 would get "WAAAY more life than a different bike of the same class" was 100 relevant to what you said.

what i think we have here is a misunderstanding, when you said "same class" i was thinking that you meant the class it is in, you know? the 450 class....
but what you meant was that it is better than other brands of the same class

i made the mistake of responding to what you said not what you meant.


i think i get it now, you mean that the WR, and YZF are both better than the honda, ktm etc. am i getting this right?
 
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Rot Box

Rot Box

Diesel and Dust
Location
Smithfield Utah
WR adventure bike

I've logged a few 150+ mile trips on my WR that included everything from technical single track to 30+ mile stretches of pavement. I absolutely love the bike but I don't understand why this bike doesn't have 6 gears--that's the #1 complaint I have to an otherwise outstanding bike :-\ I'm still on the fence but a KTM 525EXC (with the RFS engine) is really calling my name. The e-start (my 426 doesn't have that) and the 6 gears would be a much welcomed upgrade for me. Service intervals on the RFS seem to be in the same ballpark as the WR as well. I dunno maybe I should fork out the cash for a Rekluse as it might help bridge that gap in gearing...

That said I prefer to take the comfort of my ATK for anything involving over 30 or so miles of pavement. Long stretch of pavement + WR = Me turing into a dinosaur or Megasoreass as it were lol :hickey:
 
R

rholbrook

Well-Known Member
Location
Kaysville, Ut
Rot Box said:
I've logged a few 150+ mile trips on my WR that included everything from technical single track to 30+ mile stretches of pavement. I absolutely love the bike but I don't understand why this bike doesn't have 6 gears--that's the #1 complaint I have to an otherwise outstanding bike :-\ I'm still on the fence but a KTM 525EXC (with the RFS engine) is really calling my name. The e-start (my 426 doesn't have that) and the 6 gears would be a much welcomed upgrade for me. Service intervals on the RFS seem to be in the same ballpark as the WR as well. I dunno maybe I should fork out the cash for a Rekluse as it might help bridge that gap in gearing...

That said I prefer to take the comfort of my ATK for anything involving over 30 or so miles of pavement. Long stretch of pavement + WR = Me turing into a dinosaur or Megasoreass as it were lol :hickey:
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I was really hoping that the new WR450 had a 6th gear. I spent a few hours on a 2012 WR that was piped and had the computer reprogrammed. HOLY SHIT is all I have to say. It flat out rips. In fact, one of my friends has a very good running YZF450 and the WR was both quicker and faster. Not by much but it didnt matter who was riding the WR is was faster. I loved the feel and handling. It felt much lighter than it is. I didnt like the fact that it only got 50 miles on a tank.
 
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