2009 WR Suspension

[JAYBIRDNLV]

I am looking to up grade my stock suspension. I ride / race desert in Nevada and california. Does any one have any recomendations on who to use?? Thanks

[123BigcoopDawg576]

I am looking to up grade my stock suspension. I ride / race desert in Nevada and california. Does any one have any recomendations on who to use?? Thanks

Precision Concepts re sprung/re valved my forks and they are amazing ?

[JAYBIRDNLV]

Thanks.. Any one else have any input

[ASternad]

Smart Performance Inc. has gotten very good reviews.

located in northern CA. I'm sending my suspenders to em soon.

I've used Trail tricks on my KTM, very good results.

Lot's of guys in a local club swear by Dicks Racing.

There's my input.

[JAYBIRDNLV]

Thanks I have been looking at Smart Performance also.

[tribalbc]

Thanks I have been looking at Smart Performance also.

I'm pulling the trigger on Smart Performance's Phase 4 fork kit and a shock upgrade. Not much $'s if you do it yourself.

Lot's of snow here so I won't be able to give a ride report untill spring

[BOBR]

It sounds like I basically do the same kind of riding you do and ACME use to be the guy to go to...but he is no longer with us. I've had Shock Therapy do my current 08' and they did one of my other bikes a few years ago and they seem to understand the difference btw a desert bike and a track bike.

[davidl9999]

I used Factory Connection for my '09 WR450F and RaceTech for my '07 WR250F. Both shops are in Corona, both worked out equally well for trail/desert riding.

[dustdogg]

I used Precision Concepts for my 02' and it was a big improvement.They are the only shop that I have experience with but overall the turnaround was quick, the price was in line with others and the bike handles great. I will probably use them again for my next bike.

[Navaho6]

I bought a used '06 450 in January. I love the power, handling, and the suspension is really good. My previous bike was an '04 KTM 300. The WR is amazingly plush compared to the KTM which had Race Tech valving. However, the WR doesn't handle the big landings quite as well unless I crank the compression up. Then it gets a little too stiff for the slower stuff and will deflect on small hits and push in corners. Seems like it needs more progressive damping. Soft on the initial travel, then progressively stiffer to handle those occasional hard landings.

What did you guys not like about the stock WR's suspension?

[davidl9999]

What did you guys not like about the stock WR's suspension?

I don't weigh 150 lbs and ride at 20 mph. 'nuf said...

But seriously,

After installing the correct springs for my weight, the '09 WR250F was just ridiculously poor for anything other than riding a hardpack trail with my kid. it would bottom on normal-sized jumps and feel dodgy going fast on rough trails even after adjusting the clickers as best as I could.

Part of this is that the WR "open chamber" forks are not as good as the YZ's twin-chamber forks for controlling the landing forces from MX and SX jumps. However, the open chamber design is generally better for repeatable shorter/faster excursions like those for desert racing and trails - unless like you said, you crank the compression up to handle the jumps and then the high frequency performance goes to hell. The other part is that Yamaha really didn't build enough "valving" into the forks in '09 regardless - they're waaay to soft overall from the factory (in many people's opinion, not just mine) and it's difficult at best to get them to feel "plush" for both high frequency and long excursion events. The rear shock should still be reworked, but wasn't as much of a factor for me; I don't have huge problems with the rear kicking on my bike. FC seemed to like the idea of having a larger N2 volume to solve this if the factory shock didn't work out okay, but it did, so I didn't go there.

To be fair, FC talked me out of replacing the '09 WR forks with YZ forks and then valving the YZ forks with FC valves, so I kept the WR forks and just had the guts changed and setup for me. Also, I don't really blame Yamaha for building their bikes so that they "feel good" to most people who will buy them; the more they sell, the less expensive they will be in the long run. I just look at it as the "real" cost of the bike being the bike + necessary upgrades. No biggie.

Edited November 17, 2009 by davidl9999

[Navaho6]

David,

I've had the same experience on my '06. The WR handles 80% of the stuff we do on the weekend, smooth single track. But it gets harder to control when the pace picks up.

After reading this http://www.dirtrider.com/drtested/141_0910_dr_tested_factory_connection_yamaha_wr450f_suspension_revalve/index.html ................I'm ready to send it off to Factory Connection.

Edited November 18, 2009 by Navaho6

[davidl9999]

Nice read on that DirtRider article. That pretty much sums up the difference with my '09.

[desdave]

My 08 was scary in the desert stock. I race D37 desert races, and it was unracable stock. I had ESP revalve and respring both ends for weight/skill/riding type and it came back magic. My son and his friend had George do their YZ 450s to make them more off road friendly, and they were also very happy with the results.

[LVThumper]

I hear there's a new Pro Action guy in Page, AZ named Bob that works magic!

Good Luck Mr. J!

Bridges!!!

Edited November 20, 2009 by LVThumper
Always end your sentances!! Bridges!

[RSAthump]

They stock forks are a handful when the pace picks up. I raced a 600 Mile desert race in Botswana (kalahari) this year, sandy windy tracks, i kept getting spat out and hitting trees.. and that was with a Scotts. I havent invested in my forks yet, but I will be before the next offroad series here in South Africa.

Most of the guys who race here in SA, buy YZ's and then put WR gearing in. they do this on the YZ250 2t as well.

The reason for buying the YZ's.. they are cheaper to get to race spec, as suspension is more expensive than changing the gearing. The guys also add the water bottle. If you are good, estart is not an issue..

Im dont regret my WR, as i wasnt planning on racing it.. now that I am racing now and again. the wr will be converted into a Dakar bike for 2012. Ill buy myself a YZ250f next year and have the WR gearing done.

A Yamaha dealer here in South Africa does the conversion. www.shimwellsyamaha.co.za

[67baja]

Jay, I have been considering the Smart set up as well and just contacted a guy who had his 08 YZ250 done by Dave. This was his response:

"Its good but dave lives in north cal so he doesnt know the desert that well. I used to have a 07 wr450 and i ran a 06 twin chamber yz fork and that helped. I would personaly go with TBT suspension i have riden it on a new kx450 and thats progressive i havnt riden anything better. The guys in so cal. know the desert like ESP,ESR,TBT, and suspension by jake so i would stick with them."

I know a bunch of D37 guys use Suspension by Jake. I am thinking I need my suspension improved if I am going to race this WR all season. Even with the YZ forks on it, it doesn't turn and is a little harsh on the small and slow speed bumps.