WR450 for Dual Sport?

So after reading a ton I think I want to get a WR450 for around town and trails. Any advice on that? I think everybody respects the WR450. Any down side to that option?

Nothing wrong with it for a 90/10 or 95/5 bike except it doesn't come street legal from the factory.

Dave

What about like 60/40 or even 70/30?

Well, then you'll start to run into things like increased maintenance, decreased oil capacity, no cush drive, aluminum sprockets, no way to carry stuff, no gauges and all the other little things that make a dual sport an exercise in compromise. Can you do it? sure. Best tool for the job? probably not.


Dave

My plated WR450 gets me trail to trail just fine, but I wouldn't want to go on more than about 10 miles of straight road! They are a hoot in the dirt though. Around town your license would be at great risk :)

90/10 or 80/20 max.. IMO

I'm just trying to find a nice small bike to drive to work (7 miles) and maybe once in a while take it on some trails. I was also thinking about a plated KDX200... Something nice and cheap.

Don't be afraid to buy mine :)

Just research right now. We are gonna be debt free in January and I don't plan on going down that road again... Saving for all my toys suck, but it does make you research everything you can.

Right now I'm down to these bikes:

DRZ400 SM/S
WR250 R/X (not so sure about my weight)
KDX200 (plated)
WR450 (plated)
XR400 (Plated)

My vote goes to the wr250r. I have a 2013 klr650 now. It will be payed for by this time next year and plan on getting the wr250r.

I love my 07 WR450. I've done A LOT of dual sporting on it. It replaced my 2001 WR 426. I would have kept my 01 but all my buddies had the Aluminum frame WR so I had to drink the Kool Aid too. I rode a WR250 but it's too gutless on fast fireroads or street.

p.s. The sprockets are steel on all WR's.

You cannot register the WR450 in many states. Check with your DMV before you buy.

I'm in Michigan and the bikes that I'm looking at are already plated. Thanks for the heads up though..

Hey neighbor-

The WR450f will do what you need.

To make it street legal in Michigan only requires a few mods and an officer to sign off.

I had over 10,000 miles of street, dualsport, singletrack and SuperMoto on my 2003.

And had another 10,000 miles of the same type of riding on my 2007.

Reliable, cheap, 270 pounds, 45hp, 100mph top speed and good suspension makes for a great dualsport.

I added a Clarke 3.6 gal tank which increased my fuel range to about 150 miles. The rear rack was purchased from PMB.

Both bikes served me well, tire choice will make the difference in every situation.

Enjoy the pics, let me know if you have any questions:

That's what I'm talking about. Is there anything I should look for when I check them out? With a normal road bike, they have an odometer and such. How many hours are too many? Any warning signs? Thanks!

I would check for bent rims & brake rotors and the transmission jumping out of gear under WOT in 2nd & 5th gear.

Listen for clutch chatter and coolant seeping from the water pump shaft seals.

If you find a local bike for sale - let me know and I would be happy to help inspect.

Both of my bikes lost fifth gear at about 10,000miles. I rode them bikes hard, and I think the street riding on SM 17" sticky tires was the cause of failures.

I took mine on a little 100 mile loop Sunday, the seat sucks!
other than that it does fine, although it needs geared up a bit from stock for road riding.
Back roads and such are fun, it really works great on stuff like this.

I wouldn't be so sure; my friend Mark lost a gear in his WR too and he only used it off road.

Dave

There is a bill in the works that may soon make plating dirt bikes in Michigan a thing of the past.

My worry has always been that I spend the money to buy a bike, farkle it all up, get it plated and then the rules change and I'm unable to re-register the bike for the street. For this reason, I only buy dual sports that are street legal from the factory and I also keep all the stock exhaust parts and anything else I think I might be required to put back on in the future.

2 cents,
Dave

I would think once you have a title for a motorcycle that says it is street legal, they cannot change the title... Do you have a link or source of that bill you are talking about?