True or false, will extended road riding destroy the transmission of a wr250r/x? I was in a shop in my neck of the woods that deals with really nice bikes...you know, for the guys in the other tax bracket. The service guy I ended up shooting the breeze with claimed that even short, but regular street outings could damage my transmission. I ride a lot of road--forest service and highway. Is it just a matter of time or was this just a scare tactic to get me into a different bike?

There are many owners with over 5000 road miles now and I haven't heard of one "transmission meltdown".

Sounds like BS to me. It's shouldn't be a big challenge for Yamaha do build a transmission that can stand up to the "massive" horsepower of our 250s.

It's a dual sport that was stock geared to do 90 mph. We should be able to ride a dual sport on the road as much as we want. there's even its sister bike that comes with friggin street tires on it. Maybe he was thinking of the race-type dirt bikes or regular WR dirt bike. I've heard such things about screaming them around on the roads all the time not being good for them.

darthmoto said:

False.

darthmoto said:

In that case there's about a 98% chance that he knows nothing about the WR250R/X and was basing his comments on his impressions of "dirt bikes" in general or the YZ250F/WR250F specifically.
You can still go to Yamaha dealers and find techs or parts counter guys who have never seen a WR250R and fail to understand the design differences incorporated into this bike. So chances are that if this guy hasn't had any reason to learn about the bike then he is basing his comments on other bikes.

Even if you laid on a YZ for eternity the transmission would be one of the last components to fail.

Long distance street rides are easy on any bikes tranny the WRR/X included.

I agree with CopaMundial.

A dual-purpose bike (WR-250R) and a motard (WR-250X) that can't take pavement riding without transmission trouble?
Highly doubt it.
If you want to talk about some kind of animal abuse to the transmission causing trouble, then that's another story.

I believe his comments come from experience with KTMs. KTM doesn't recommend a lot of highway use with their powerful EXC series because the lack of a cush-drive rear wheel passes on more stress to the tranny. Not really a concern on our little two-fiddies. So while there's some fact behind his statement, I don't believe it's applicable to our bikes. Hope not anyway. :ride:

If pavement melted transmissions, motards wouldn't exist - I think this guy over-exaggerated. Change the oil regularly and maintain everything as specified and you'll probably get high mileage out of any machine.

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. I put 5,700 miles on my machine last summer and the thing hasn't hiccuped, coughed, sneezed, sputtered, etc; so this tranny melting spiel sounded like BS to me...but I just had to ask.

Yea its the same motor and transmission as the WRX, which is a street geared bike.

Guess thats why hes just working in a shop in the upper tax bracket, not actually in it.

For transmission protection....it's always a good idea to run a motorcycle specific oil that is rated API SG. This insures that the oil has a descent amount of the high pressure/anti-wear additive ZDDP, which helps maintain protection in high pressure areas like the cam and between meshing gears where the oil tends to get squeezed out.

Beyond that, it is a plus to run an ester synthetic (eg. Redline or Maxima) as well!

http://www.thumperfaq.com/oil.htm

darthmoto said:

SOunds like bull shit to me.

i once read in audell's automotive guide, printed around the turn of the centry (around 1900, not 2000) and the opening paragraph prettymuch said, if you drive your horse into the ditch often, or your horse is regularly sick or lame, then your likely to have problems with a motorized vehicle too, but if your horses live to a ripe old age and are still working than you can probably do the same with an automobile

reconranger said:

ever use lucas heavy duty engine oil stablizer? i've had pretty good luck with it in race engines, v 8's and oval track stuff, was impressed enough that it's in everything i own now, had a 351 winsor, pretty well humped up, changed the oil every week, using a castrol hd streight 50 and it was black black black after one race weekend, after starting using the lucas, came out looking just like it was when it went in, maybe all the black gook stayed in the engine after that and didn't come out with the oil, maybe it's just coincidence that the engine quit making black gook at the same time we started with the lucas, but i was and am impressed enough that i put it everything, even my lawn mower, just my $.02

I say HORSESHIT 7000 miles now no problemo...

Total BS. The service person was trying to upsell you on a new bike and get commission. I'd avoid that dealer for now on.