2013 WR450 dual sport build up

The WR450F is an enduro bike and it's home is off road in the woods or desert. Any paved road sections should only be used as transfer sections between the off road areas. Any time spend slogging down the open highway will grow old fast. When it's in it's element it will make you happy. Baja Designs kit doesn't weigh much that your really going to notice. You could save money and install it yourself. It's all plug and play. Dealer is making a handsome profit.

The 500 EXC or 690R, IMHO, would be a better choice is your going to spend more time on tarmac. The 6th gear will be much appreciated.

I had a plated 2006 WR450. It was a good bike for 20 street and 80 dirt. It had some vibs at hwy speed. Not saying the new WR will have vibs.

I have also owned two 500 ktms and they are 25 street and 75 dirt. I really like the 6 spd so you can have a low first and a tall sixth.

I have also owned 5 Berg 570 and they are only 30 street and 70 dirt. Lots of tq so you can gear it a little taller.

I now own a Berg 350 and its plated. It is 20 street and 80 dirt. Its a little revy at hwy speed.

Tomorrow I pick up a 09 KTM 690. Im hoping for 40 street and 60 dirt.

This is just my opinion on how the bikes felt to me. So If you like the WR better than the KTM get it. You pobably wont notice enough gains with the KTM to sway your choice in the long run. Plus Yamahas are bullet proof for me.

Plus the TX street title will keep the resale of your bike high for the future.

1. Do you do the grey wire mod on the '12, & '13 or is it handled thru the mapping in the competition ECU?

2. Has anybody tried the yamaha performance muffler insert as opposed to removing the stock insert? If so, would you do it again, or just remove the stock insert?

3. I see no metal skidplates on the two bikes pictured in this thread, any particular reason why? Are the plastic things okay?

4. What real world range do you get out of the stock 1.9 gallon tank with a 90/10 mix of casual riding (not racing)?

Thanks for your response

DJ

I live in MS and titling a offroad bike is beyond easy, so step on over and title it here! I titled my 08 KTM XCR-W within a few weeks and only cost $140 if I remember right. It took me awhile only due to tracking down the original title and owner to confirm that the bike was now mine. Good luck with getting it titled!

Sorry for the slow reply. Yesterday is the first day in over a month that I have been on ADV due to me being a slacker! :eek1
1. The gray wire mod is not neccessary (as far as I know) as the competition ECU handles most of the uncorking.

2. I have not tried the insert. Removing the stock insert helps but I would consider a performance exhaust as the outlet is still pretty small. Obviously you would need to adjust the fuel mixture with the GYTR tuner if you did this.

3. The plastic is ok for what I do. I may still go to aluminum once I get some more time on the bike.

4. I can go about 75 miles before the light comes on (it is pretty pessimistic). I really don't have the bike broken in yet so I am not sure what the final fuel mileage is going to look like. If you are thinking about doing 90% road I would consider a different bike. If its 90% dirt you're looking at this would be right up your alley!

One of the big problems with titling a WR is the MSO states "For Offroad Use Only" in big letters. I don't believe that KTM does that.

Well I was able to finally talk a sympathetic tag office (not the dmv office) into submitting my MSO to see what happens. LA sent me my title in under a week! I don't think their system is set up yet to catch offroad bikes and it sailed through.
I thought I was going to have to go through another state, but luckily that wasn't the case. If you already have an offroad title it may be a lot tougher to get it through.

I have left my gearing stock for the time being but have kept it under 65mph on the highway as the motor is still new. My YZ450 motard had one tooth up on the front and three down on the back. This was good for a little over 105mph with 17' rear wheel. This would be way too tall for off-road. It's hard to draw a comparison between the two as the internal YZ ratios are much shorter.

Six speeds are nice but I'm not sure that it's necessary in this application. Opinions vary...

The Baja kit itself is very light (2 lbs?). The mirrors and turn signals probably add a couple more pounds. It wasn't enough to really notice.

I am still running the stock knobbies so I don't currently have any recommendations at this time.

My belief is that the service interval on the 450 would be much more frequent. The WR250R (factory dual sport) is a wet sump machine and carries more oil in the crankcases then the dry sump WR450. Also, the piston skirt on the 250 is longer for more durability. Most importantly, the valve adjustment interval on the 250 is every 26,000 miles. The 450 is way more frequent. Having owned a WR250x (the street motard version) I would be very tempted to go that way again. They have good power and the gearing is pretty good. What most people don't realize is the WR250R will run (or outrun) a DRZ400. I really just like putting these bikes together so I went with the 450.

Thanks for the nice comment. I plan on posting more pics (hopefully today )

That is a "borrowed" license plate in this picture. I now have a fully legal plate.

Rear brake pressure switch
The brake light switch install is pretty straightforward as long as you feel comfortable bleeding brakes. First, use a 6mm allen bit to break the bolt free. Do this before you loosen the rear master cylinder bolts as it is on there pretty tight! I then loosened the master cylinder so I could have more room to work and installed the switch. I am still not really happy with my wire routing as it is close to the exhaust and makes a sharp bend (worried about chaffing) to go to the middle harness.




Second, I bled the brakes. I highly suggest doing the bleeding with a small loop of line as shown in the picture. This is way easier and less messy than trying to push the brake down, crack the bleeder, close the bleeder, let the brake pedal return, and then repeat. With this method you simply push the pedal down, crack the bleeder, and start pumping the brake until no more bubbles come out. Just don’t let the tiny brake reservoir run dry!

Interesting perspective. I had a fully modded 250R/X as well as a DRZ. There are a few of these new 450s around here and they have been marked down to almost the same price as a new 250 or 400. I'm not a power junkie but it would be nice to start with a bike that has all the power anyone needs with quality suspension. Spending a couple hundred on a street legal kit seems cheaper than 500 on suspension, 700 on a exhaust + programmer, gearing changes, dirt tires and so on....

What kind of valve check intervals are in the manual for the 450?

Also curious how much you weigh, and gear you carry on the bike? I'm about 210 sitting on the bike and my 250R had i guess enough power, but definitely coud have had more torque/snap for aggressive offroad riding, especially in the sandy stuff around here.


BTW, that is a great tip for brake bleeding!

I guess it depends on the type of riding you are doing and where you are doing it. If you are doing primarily dirt (more than 70%) I would go with the 450. the points you make are very valid. If you are primarily riding the bike around town and occasionally doing dirt I would go with the 250R simply for maintenance and streetability. I agree the extra power of the 450 would be very handy in sand and also at elevation. I live at sea level but plan on doing the TAT eventually and that was another reason I went with the 450. I have over $500 in the Baja Designs kit, mirrors, LED signals, and competition ECU and I have not yet bought the GYTR Power Tuner programmer ($280). So you will still have more than a few bucks in getting the bike on the street. But, that being said, WR450's can be bought at a very good price (as you mentioned).

The valve inspection interval for the 450 is every third race or 500 kilometers. Huge difference compared to the 250! And the cams have to come out to do the valves. But, I also know from experience on my 2006 YZ that you could go much longer between adjustments if you aren't beating it all the time.

I weigh around 230lbs with gear on. I plan on putting some Kriega bags (http://www.kriega.us/overlander-30-motorcycle-pannier-system/) on the bike for carrying gear on longer trips but I have not done that yet. I have just been using an old tail bag for the time being.

On a side note, I am getting the Power Tuner (http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/a...tail/5/349/1222/5389/all/1/9245/0/detail.aspx) for the bike because I want to program more "snap" off the bottom because of my weight. The Power Tuner lets you change the entire powerband to cater to your specific needs. It adjusts much more than just fuel delivery.

I learned to bleed brakes in this manner a couple years ago when I had to do the brakes on a car by myself. It is much easier than even using a vacuum pump in my opinion (at least on motorcycles where it is really easy to run the small reservoirs dry). Another little trick I learned when I put a new front master cylinder on my my old 450 motard is to depress the brake all the way and use a zip tie or strap to hold the brake that way (in or down) and leave it over night. (do this after you have done your initial bleeding). It really helps if the brake feels a little "wooden" and doesn't have good feel. If I would have bench bled the new master cylinder (like the instructions said ) I probably wouldn't have had to do this.

Thanks for your comments. You brought up some good points.

To clarify, I am 10 pavement, 90 dirt (including a sprinkle of high speed dirt fire roads)

Mine is set up similar to yours. Do you have any recommended maps?

I have the gytr exhaust insert, but if I had to do over again, I would buy the full gytr FM can. I probably will end up doing so; I rode one with it and you can tell the difference.

This is curious to me. I've seen the 2013 with a fuel tank rating of 2.7 gallons and the 2012 with 2.1 gallons. Yamaha's website now has them matching.
1.) Can you confirm that the tank is actually 2.1 or 2.7 gallons?
2.) What is the difference between your TCI ignition the 2012 CDI ignition? Is one necessarily better than the other?
3.) How much louder is the bike without that plug in the exhaust?

Nice thread! I hope you don't mind me dropping in some tidbits and asking some questions in your here..?

I am racing the Mexican 1000 on a 2012 WR450. Love the bike, I'm pretty impressed with the handling. It had a 45 tooth sprocket and at 5000' it seemed like it could get away with much taller gearing so some 42 teeth sprockets are on their way. The GYTR FMF megabomb system was a bit louder than I would like but I would complain about the power. I thought it was pretty cool that FMF had welded in brackets to reattach the stock guard.

The bike did have issue with flame outs and hard starting. I'm hoping the dealer can work that out for us. I'm guessing it is just a TPS adjustment. The other issue that came up was a "clanking" noise developed in the forks. I first noticed they were feeling a bit harsh and then on some bigger g-outs I could hear the metalic clank. When I stopped to check things out there was fluid leaking out around the caps.

Mounted the Nav Tower and Broke in the engine this weekend, I used a HighwayDirtbikes.com Nav Tower/Fairing and handguards, Garmin Montana 650t GPS and F2R Roadbook holder.




I made a baseplate out of a sheet of HDPE, and rewired a KTM thumb switch to work the Yamaha computer. The stock computer will get moved over and replaced by an ICO before the race. I made notes so if anyone wants a diagram of how to with in switches to control the stock computer PM me.



Does anyone know of a replacement wheel spacer that will allow for removal of the mechanical odo drive, I have looked around and have had zero luck so far.

I'd imagine something from the YZ line would fit but maybe entire hub is different?

In the past I have used a plug and left it.

odo wheel cap and spacer

http://flatlandracing.com/Merchant2...Code=21-08&Category_Code=Odometer+Eliminators

Cross-country...

I own a '12 450 and have been around and around trying to figure out the proper restarting procedure (one that works). They may have fixed this issue on the '13 models... I don't know.

Anyhow, here's what works for me. I really can't explain why. On a flame out, open the throttle to full and press the start button for a few turns. Completely close the throttle and then start. I'm gonna say that will work 90% of the time. I don't know why, can't explain it. Bike has been stupid easy to kick start, will go on 1st or 2nd kick every time, hot or cold. E-start is another story... I also upgraded my battery to more cca. I think it's 220 where the stock was 160. Don't quote me on those numbers.

Other than the starting issue, I absolutely love the bike. Not sure a 6th gear is needed for this machine. I seem to be humming along quite nicely at 65-70 without any issue. It's surprisingly smooth at those speeds. Suspension has been good for me, wouldn't change a thing. I did get the Baja designs kit, like the op. Also, have a seat concepts seat to replace stock... what an upgrade. Highly recommended.

Look forward to seeing these projects. Both look pretty awesome.

Jon