Well I had the oportunity to test a 08 WR 450, and I got to tell you guys that this is the kind of bike to enjoy the dirt.....

I love my piggy and I wont sell it for any reason, but after the last ride on that skiny and powerfull bike, I reallice that I need another bike.

First is the weight, about 50 Kilos less than the pig, and the power? let me tell you almost the same (My piggy has many mods)

Don´t know if a CRF, WR, DRZ... but a new bike.

I've ridden an 03 WR with all the mods - it rips. The weight difference is huge, the power is right there in all gears. Great bike, but it has a different purpose than your L. The WR is not meant for the road - the wind will blow you around, top end wise you're going to be turning more rpms. It requires more maintenance. I'd say it really depends on where you live and what you ride. Tight terrain, 90% offroad? I'd point towards the WR. Out here where most everything is wide open spaces, and low speed uphill crawling is the meat of my riding, the XR shines.

Defesio...you are not alone my friend... After a ride on some really technical single track stuff I decided that an XRR and all of her BIG glory was just too big of a girl to wrestle all the time... I opted for a little KTM 200 2-smoke. The Pig will always have a place in my garage..but there are other bikes that have thier place too. I rode 40 miles yesterday on the little bike through a bunch of tight little twisty trails... that thing sounds like an angry bumble bee when you ride it on the pipe. Then this morning I filled up my 4.6gal tank on the Pig and headed out....133.2 miles later I pulled in the driveway... Now all I need is a 450r for the track...and I'm set.

I have great memories of my dearly departed '02 WR426F.

After riding big DP bikes for years, jumping on the WR made a huge improvement in my dirt riding ability for the mere fact it weighed close to 80 lbs. less. So much easier to handle in the tight stuff. I felt like I could actually control the bike instead of it controlling me. Great confidence booster.

The suspension was incredible. I could race over the whoops & it would soak 'em all up & seem like it was floating. The high-revving 4-stroke motor was addicting & cornering was almost effortless. I was just getting comfortable on mine when I injured my knee while riding it. It turned out I wouldn't be riding for a long time after that so I had to let it go.

There is definitely something to be said for riding a true dirt bike. But if I could only have one bike, the XRL would be the keeper, which it is. It's not often that you can get a truly capable, bullet-proof & street legal All-terrain Assault Vehicle right out of the box. And, it's a Honda...

Yes, the big fat 'L' has many short comings but many of these can be dealt with. It's also very easy to modify & turn it into a purpose built bike that can handle hard off-road service...it just won't do it as fast or as effortless as the WR...

Keep Ridin'
D_D
"It cant' be the rider, it's gotta be the bike. Yeah, that's it..."

I recently put the dirt Set up back on my L and took out for some play time in the woods. I also have a Crf450r that is setup for woods. Wow what a difference.

Had the oppurtunity to ride both back to back on marked course in the area I ride a lot. Freind of mine wanted to go rideing so I took them both out. I actually put him on the Crf first cause I thought the XR would be to much for him. I was still faster than him through the woods but that defintely had a lot to do with skill difference. But I found myself being smoother with the L. We switched up and I got back on the 450. Weight difference oh hell yeah. It felt like i just got through lifting 30 pound dumbells and picked up the 5 pounders.

Dual Dog put it right. Each bike has its place and I think the L is more suited for the wider open trails. It does well in the tight stuff but not its environment.

I am one of a small select "few" who have each.
I love my plated piggy but I have to admit my svelt little 06' WR foefiddy is an absolutely a beutiful machine for the dirt!

You svelte folks are welcome to place yourself on those smaller WR's, CRF's.....whatever.......

I'm checking in at a "svelte" 190 cm and 105 kg........so my piggy fits me and my rides just fine..........:p

Dual_Dog said:

I destroyed my knee on my YZ400. While I was recovering I talked to a bunch of other guys about their bike related injuries. It seemed like 9 out of 10 of them were injured on Yamaha's. So don't let the power go to your head.

I've owned a number of XR650L's in the past. There are lots of trails around here and I was taking the XR down all of them, but it took a lot of effort and then lots of things started breaking and the tranny started getting sloppy. I know the XR400R was made to be a real trail bike, but I don't think the XRL was.

I switched to the YZ and then to the WR and I'm glad I did. Things still break (and they're more expensive to replace), but the bike is soooo easy to ride. I don't like to trailer it so I've done a lot of work to make it an acceptable ride on the highway. It's really the perfect bike for the riding I do. I still have an NX650 (very similar to the XRL), but it's not for anything real technical.

I've seen a number of guys switch from XR's to WR's. Funny thing is the WR guys eventually start to think their bikes are too heavy and they switch to a KTM. But in the end it comes down to rider skill much more than your choice of machine, so the real bad-ass trail rider's switch to an XR400 for better reliability.

I had a CR250 before I got the 600, so I know what it's like to have a light, nimble, and powerful bike. I picked the 600 because it does what I ask and I like in spite of its shortcomings.....kind of like a marriage, I guess....the last part, anyway. :crazy:

I was riding with my buddy who owns a wr426 this weekend and we switched for a while. I really liked the feel of the motor. Its tough for me to explain exactly but I liked the feeling of the high revs, in places that I would go from completly closed throtle to accelerating it felt soooo smoth. My xrr feels like it lugs down so much lower and takes much more time/effort to get powered up. I guess what i'm trying to say is I was really impressed with the throtle response :) I'm thinking of trying out a pumper carb on the pig to see if that gets me closer to that feeling.

I will say this though, I have re-valved my suspension accoriding to BWB's website and I really liked it better than that of the WR.

I've tried 450x and loved it but I don't like the idea of fragging the motor. I've seen YZ/WR motors blown up the same way. Anything turning 12 grand isn't going to last long. Can't deal with the ironing board seats on all new age bikes either. Give me a CRF/X or WR with a better seat and 100cc bigger, lower revving motor and I could get real interested.