ok,
i got a pretty good deal on a bike, 2000 wr250
its a good bike but for some reason i cant get over the fact that it does not have an alum frame?
is that dumb should i not worry about it?
what are advantages or disadvantages of both frames?
thanks
jimjam

I don't have a ton of knowledge on it but:

steel has more flex
aluminum is lighter

No worries man, its fine.

Get it. I highly doubt you'll notice the difference anyhow once you start riding...at the moment, it's all in your head.

Good Luck!
Steve

think about it this way, do you want to spend 1500-2500 for steal or double that for aluminum? theres really not much difference when your riding... its all in your head

And this way you can put your extra refrigerator magnets on it. :thumbsup:

Steel is generally stronger but weighs more. There really isn't much difference in the finished product. My 93 cr has a steel frame,my cousins 03 has aluminum. Ridden back to back i don't notice much weight difference. I am pretty sure they both come in around 200lbs.

The steel,should it fail can be repaired easily by myself or just about anyone. Aluminum requires a little better equipment and actual welding skills.

My cr has a lower frame rail that is smashed flat. The red bud and spring creek stickers on it lead me to believe it may have been jumped once or twice. An aluminum frame with the same damage as mine would have cracked. If not from the original incident the continued stress on damaged aluminum would eventually cause it to fail.

The way it was described to me when I asked a similar question was: When you end up loosing the race by less then a few seconds worry about frame and components. If your worried about weight take a look at your waist. It's a lot easier to shed 5 to 10 pounds from your midsection then your bike. I have a 01RM250 with a steel frame and I eat aluminum 450's for lunch. When I'm good enough that it makes a difference I'll look into it. It's not like it's a mountain bike where the delta between the overall weight percentage change in moving from chromoly to aluminum is that big.

Steel bends, aluminum doesnt. Considering its an offroad application where you expect lots of flexing i'd really rather go with steel if it isnt a huge weight penalty. Also, steel shows stress and sometimes cracks before its about to fail. Aluminum doesnt do this, it just breaks straight through.

Aluminum farames arent about saving weight, there used to get better handling out of a bike. I'v had a 01, 04, and 07 yz250fs and the biggest handling change for me came going from the 04 to the 07 the handling was amazingly better this was also due to the suspension upgrades and a few other things over the years also but it was amazing when I switched bikes.

Ya especially since its an off road bike, i don't think your gonna notice it as much as compared to a track bike. yz250fs had steel frames up untill 2005 and i know they don't mean everything but most of the magazine shootouts put the yammi ahaid of the alluminum framed honda.

Bryan Bosch said:

Why would you use a CRF450R for trail riding, why not a CRF450X.
I would never consider useing my CRF250R for trail riding, its horrible for anything but mx & sx.
My CRF250X is a dream boat in the trails and harescrambles:
Wide ratio gear box
e-start
o-ring chain
side stand
18" rear tire
head light
off road suspention
bigger radiators
odometer
big gas tank
spark arester w/quiet muffler
ect.,ect.,ect.

moose offroad said:

In faster terrain (like much of the southern nevada and southern california deserts) or for faster, more aggressive riders, the trailbikes are pretty mushy. I think the e-start 4-strokes are complete pigs, and I would much rather make slight mods to an mx model.

Back to the original question.... I think aluminum is mostly a marketing deal. It certainly makes it harder to get to the carburetor.

The newer wr's definitely handle better than the older ones, but it's not because of the aluminum frame, it's because of changes in frame geometry and changes to the ergos and stuff to centralize and lower the mass, and make the bikes less top-heavy.

you will see way more of a difference having a properly set up suspension over having an aluminum frame.

thanks to everyone i think this helped out a lot and definately saved my a lot of money, i appreciate evrything.

jimjam