I currently own a DRZ400S. While I like the bike quite a bit, I find it intimidating. Its either too tall, too heavy, or perhaps both. I also wish it had a 6-speed for the highway. I briefly owned a DR200, and while not the most modern bike it was FUN! It felt completely uncrashable and unintimidating. Take into account Im a crap rider, but Ill be covering the full gambit, single-track, double-track, forest roads and pavement. I dont have a truck with a trailer so I have to ride to the dirt. I dont think the bike I want exists but heres what Id like: Seat Height < 35 in (I dont want to lower the bike) Weight < 270 lbs (wet) Factory dual-sport Fuel injection Low maintenance Capable of cruising at ~70mph with the engine @ about 75% rpms (3/4 till redline) If the Yamaha WR250R was a couple of inches shorter or about 40lbs lighter I think it would be perfect. A Husqvarna TE310 looks pretty nice too if it wasnt for the gearing and maintenance. So am I forgetting and/or clueless about some option? Anything someone might recommend?
i haven't ridden that one. but the huskys i've ridden that are great dirt bikes kinda suck on the road. you are looking for the same holy grail many people have been looking for for a long time. if you happen to find it, let us all know, OK? (while you're at it, can you find us a knobby tire that actually hooks up in mud but also lasts at least several thousand miles on the road? )
it's still way too heavy for single track. (i ride a DRZ. i love it. great bike. but it's not capable of being a really good single track bike because of the weight. imho, at least. BTDT...still there, still doing it.)
Yamaha is the bike you want, but you're a bit fixated with height and weight. Go sit on one and take a note of how much lower you would wish it to be. If it is no more than a couple of inches or so, then go buy one and have it lowered. The weight will be magically reduced by just having the CG dropped by that amount. Height affects a lot the subjective feeling of weight. Lowering can be a very cheap job if done right. A typical trick is to lace a 17 rim behind in place of the stock 18, another is to place a spacer in the rear shock to reduce the amount it can extent. Both can be done of course at the same time. The front is even easier, you just slide the forks in the yokes. If you are light enough, then there is no chance of having clearance problems, if not, stiffer springs and possibly a revalve will do the trick. Nothing to worry about! PS wr250r is a lot better balanced than the drz, so even if it is not much lighter, it feels like it is.
Have you ridden a WR-R? On paper the weight is similar to the DRZ & the seat is only slightly lower but to me the WR felt a lot lower & lighter to ride, it must carry it's weight a lot lower. You can lower the WR a little with the std adjustment on the shock & carve a bunch out of the seat too. Cheers Clint
Why not lower a wr250 a bit, and put it on a diet? Or a lower seat of some sort. People seem to claim that the wr250 carries its weight much better than fx. the drz, so it might already feel 10-20 pounds lighter than you would imagine, then a 10 pound diet, and you've got just about you're dreambike. I totally love the wr's, im just to cheap, and in to deep on my current bike.
Shave weight on the DR-Z, as the DR-Z400E is notably lighter than the S. Then follow the recommendation of gearing and a Rekluse clutch, with some suspension lowering and/or seat shaving. If you aren't already, do some rigorous strength training too. The DR-Z will seem much lighter when you're strong like bull.
+1. The WRR can be lowered by 1" just by turning a nut on the shock, then drop the forks in the clamps and you're good to go. Pull all the "extra" crap off the bike (charcoal canister, stock pipe, exhaust flapper, AIS garbage, etc), swap out the "whale tail" for a tail tidy, and viola, 30lbs lighter. I loved my old DRZ, but the WRR feels like a bicycle by comparison. Less rotating mass and lower COG make it feel much lighter than the spec sheet would indicate. -SM
Have you considered waiting for a KTM Freeride 350? They are allegedly supposed to be available in NA street legal. Not sure on service intervals but it is a seriously detuned version of their 350 motor. comes with a 35" seat height, 220lbs, EFI, 6 spd should be good for highway speeds. I think the others are correct though, the wr250r is the closest thing right now...
The 2012 TE250 with the OEM dirt gearing meets the letter of all your requirements except that it's a Husky. I don't know of any other bikes that do. But frankly, if you're going to ride it on the freeway I doubt you'd be happy with it. Diamond Mill to I-5 is a big spread in ability. Try ordering your requirements by importance and see what shows up when you get rid of the bottom ones. Offhand, I'd start by ditching the requirement for low seat height and EFI. For $600 you can have any bike properly lowered and jetted for you.
You can lower the Yam 1 inch just adjusting the shock. You can lower it another inch with a Yamalink. I have both and prolly too low. I may go back up a little with the shock adjustment. You can probably lose a few lbs going to an aftermarket muffler. Prolly a little more weight with race bars and other odds and ends like alu sprocket and a non O-ring GP chain. Maybe another 3 lbs with one of those new fandangled batterys. Probably can't find 50 lbs, but maybe 20-25. Prolly not that cheap to do, though. The rear subframe is steel, so pretty heavy, but you can carry a load without worry. Personally, at 300lbs wet, its not so heavy. If you want really light and easy to ride, a 200 KTM is as good as it gets. But you need to trailer. I think the little Yam the best thing going for what you need. If that 2012 KTM 350 is really a dual sport like they say, maye that is a better choice, but I doubt it would bee too handy at 70 on an interstate. Not to mention the cost of the thing.
At the moment there is no better do it all bike under 300 lbs than the WRR Yamaha. That will someday change I am sure.
My mid nineties husaberg 600 weighs a whopping 250lbs dry or thereabouts. Not fuel injected of course, nor does it have e-start, but it's got a 6 speed gearbox, and titled for the road :)
WOW, thanks for all the replys! A lot of really great comments. I didnt think they made what I was looking for but Im not all that well versed in the Euro stuff. No, not yet, although Im definitely leaning in that direction, there are a couple available used locally, hopefully Ill be able to test ride one this weekend. Thats intriguing. A lot of people have told me never to lower a bike because it doesnt handle the same and you lose too much ground clearance. True? Or not so big a deal (I only weight about 150-160lbs. Oh yeah, but according to the slide below, its not coming till 2013. I have no patience and Im cheap (I buy used) so I probably wont be getting one till 2014. It does sound perfect. Good idea. Unfortunately, one of the primary ones is it must be able to operate at freeway speed, which really limits the options, otherwise the TE310 sounds so sweet.
Having just ridden my WR halfway around the world I can vouch for a number of opinions here. It really does feel like a bicycle compared to a DRZ and the FI is an absolute joy to live with - no flooding, cold start hiccups, altitude, low octane, all handled perfectly. The problem I found is that the bike has such a nice chassis that you find the pace increases dramatically until you reach the practical limit of the stock suspension. The weight is only an issue because it feels natural to compare it to a more dedicated offroader but compare it to a DRZ and everyone use the term mass-centralised to try and describe how it just feels so different. Yes, the bike lacks enough torque to really tackle soft sand or mud at any pace but if I had even better suspension I would rather have that than whatthe DRZ brings to the party (I just can not be doing with the old fashioned feel *of them. I sold mine. They just feel like dinosaurs compared to the WR which feels like *cliche* the future).
Apparently lowering links can screw up suspension performance quite a lot, The guru's say for best results you should shorten the shock. One of the cool things about the WR-R though is that you can just adjust up the clevis on the shock, raise the forks through the triples to match & you have a lower bike but still with much the same suspension performance & handling. You do lose some ground clearance but thats it. If you need to go lower I reckon shaving down the seat should be the next step. Definitely get a ride on one, you may not like the drop in power from the DRZ but OTOH the wide ratio gearbox & nimble feel might be a real turn on for ya. Cheers Clint
+1. Clint nailed it. Best of all, those mods cost nothing, and for casual riding (not offroad racing), the stock suspension is pretty damn good. I haven't found a need to replace it in 3+ years of ownership. -SM
Well Im definitely going to try to get some seat time on one. And trust me, Im definitely in the casual rider camp, Im more beginner/noob than racer. I dont think the drop in power will bother me, as long as it handles the highway Im good. Im getting excited about the wr250r, besides Ive never had a Yamaha.