Hey I am Chris, looking to ditch Honda for the blue juice... Selling my XR650L and XR250 for a WR450 that I plan to dual sport. with that said... looking to spend 3500-4500 with $500-1000 to mod out.

here is one bike that looks appealing
http://seattle.craig...2842534870.html

man I hope this bike is around by the time mine sell!!
http://seattle.craig...2834448969.html

for the street I would have to regear... thinking 16/40 or so with stock wheels..? then carry a 13t or 12t for dirt? Is there a way to increase the oil capacity? I think 1000mi oil changes for long street rides, is that enough? Should I worry about valves having parties in the top end with long street rides? I used gearing commander to get 4100rpm at 60mph with 16/40, more than relaxed.

Is a Rekluse worth getting? I really liked my friends ktm 200 with one, but that was a bit of a different animal.

mods

Rekluse z start pro $600
Clarke 3.6g tank $240
radiator guards.. $100
HID headlight retrofit $50
bash gaurd $75
Tusk Dual sport kit $150
shorai lithium battery $100
Trailtech 100w stator kit $150
pro moto billet fender rack $150
heated grips $30
Sprockets 16/48 $55
PMB exhaust insert
Baja Designs Passenger Pegs $150

Pirelli MT43 rear
Dunlop MX51 front
Tubliss

look for an oil cooler...


grey wire, ais, airbox, throttlestop, grease linkage

that plate is arbitrary unless it has been inspected and plated since jan 1 2012. if it has not it will get yanked when you register it.

cush drive maybe?

Why the stator upgrade?

you need a new ktm 500exc or an 2003-2007 street legal 525exc.

i have a 2007 wr450f and think its great. but its not a great bike on the road at all. if you need gearing that tall then you need a diffrent bike!

get a 6 speed wide ratio bike or a bigger dualsport bike that is acctualy comfortable on the road

yeah, I looked at those, but the wr450 seems like such a better trail bike, and more reliable, lighter, cheaper parts. Im a pretty dyed in the wool honda/yamaha guy anyway . I ride my friends yamahas and they really ride nice. I dont have a problem switching cs sprockets... I do that on my xr250... 15t street, 13t trail. works great

I agree on getting a different bike for your purposes. Although i love mine and would love to be able to ride around on the street here in Cali, id go for a xr650R and do it up as im honda/yamaha guy myself.. But im also a poor fool lookin for fun on the cheap so my tacoma gets my wr to the trail just fine.

why is the wr bad in the road? I ride my xr250 on the highway every time I ride it to get to the trails..

Well, the stock seat isn't very comfortable on the street, that's for sure! So your XR seat has that WR seat beat by a mile! And for gearing, stock is 14/50, so for my trip to Baja, I just followed everyone elses recommendation and installed a 15 tooth front. On the highway at 70mph, rpms were around (oh, I'm trying to remember here!) 6700 I think. Which I didn't think was too bad, seeing as how the redline is at 11,500 rpm. And with a Rekluse, first was still very usable! Win, win!!! Maniac

Seat doesn't bother me, I just stand up when I get sore. More worried about pulling RPMs. I ordered a 48T rear sprocket.. Does a 16T front countershaft sprocket fit? I was thinking 16/48 then slap a 12t or 13t on the front when I hit trails and run a Rekluse. Will that work? or maybe 45T or 42T? I see that KUSH sprockets doesn't have their WR450 sprocket available.. hopefully soon, or else I am going to need a cush hub. Thinking TE610E wheel.

Not sure how these things lug though... My XR could chug street gears up most anything. I kept killing my friends YZFs a lot. I think the Rekluse will help? Z Start Pro?




Ordered the Tusk Dual Sport kit, Trailtech 100W stator regulator/rectal fryer kit. Devol radiator guards. Power up mods are done already, jetted to go..
Need to put my bark busters/mirrors on, and assorted gear.

Was looking at tanks... torn between IMS and Acerbis. I like the flush look of the IMS, but wish it could use the original shrouds. Anyone have some good pictures of both on bikes? I can't seem to find anyone with the Acerbis mounted.

You have a pretty good list of mods. Another tank to consider is the Clarke 3.6. This is what I'm running and so far I'm happy. A little wider than stock but holds the most fuel and was cheaper than IMS & Acerbis. Also uses the stock shrouds. Here are a few pics to show you what it looks like on the bike.



Stock gearing on the '07 is 13/50. I don't think your gearing will need to be changed to 16/40 as you mentioned. Not even sure if a 16t will fit? For minimal road riding the WR will be OK, but for any extended time there are better choices such as your 650L. Might take Maniac's advice and try a 15t first and if you still need more drop a few teeth in the rear. Once you get to the dirt you will like WR, but long stretches of pavement are not its strong points.

The HID is a nice addition if you plan to do a lot of night riding. You can save a few bucks by "floating" the ground on your stock stator by following these instructions http://www.bajadesig...-stator-mod.pdf, or for $30.00 you can send it to Baja Designs and let them do it for you. Turn around time was fast and they are very knowledgable. You will need to purchase a regulator/rectifier also, then you bike will be putting out about 100 watts. I am running the Airtime HID http://airtime-hid.com/ on my '07 with just the ground float and have been able to run low & high beams together and have not run into any problems.

The WR is a great bike. Its reliable, comfortable and easy to maintain. Parts are easy to find and not too expensive either. As long as you are dual sporting it with intentions of "connecting" trails and not long distance road rides you will be happy. Just find a clean bike that has been well cared for and you will have yourself a great bike.

Dustdog, does that tank turn into a nutracker on trails? it looks painful, I like how the IMS was almost flush. thanks for the advice, canceled the 42t and ordered a 48t.

I have a HID setup ready to drop in as well as an ADVMonster 3500lumen LED trail light. Ordered the trailtech 100w stator kit.

btw nice bike, looks good

Here's my thoughts on the tank as I've had them both. The IMS is a bit thicker plastic and does have a lower top. It is also somewhat easier to fiddle with the front mount, but it also involves two bolts there and an additional bracket that comes with the tank. I had a clear one and thought it looked pretty good. The Clarke tank is a little thinner plastic and does come up further, but also drops down further so after the first half gallon the Clarke is carrying the weight lower. In my opinion, the Clarke looks like a better design, except the top front mount is a little tricky to get the bole lined up. I switched to black when I bought this and think it look far better than the IMS. For some reason, I don't care for the look of the Clarke in clear and actually think the IMS looks better, but in black the Clarke looks dynamite. Here's the other thing....cost. One of the reasons I went to Clarke was because I wanted the extra half gallon, but also my YZ shrouds were trashed and I needed to by another set. I sold the IMS and bought the Clarke and used my stock WR shouds that I kept. Cost was a wash at that point. Starting from scratch the IMS is about $40 more plus you have to go out and get some shrouds and graphics.....call it another $100. Not worth it. As to the Acerbis, I always kind of liked the look of it, but ran into a guy in baja that had one and did not care for it.something to do with the mounting.

I have no problem with the stock seat at all, but I don't dual sport. You can save it for one of your last mods, but unless you only plan to ride on the street a couple of miles, you will be much happier with a tall soft or tall medium Guts seat.

n16ht5, on 14 February 2012 - 09:26 AM, said:

So far I really like the tank, especially for the xtra capacity. I does come up a little higher than the others but it has not caused any problems or "busted nuts" I really like the natural color because you can always see the fuel level but I do agree with Outerlimits in that the IMS natural color looks better than the Clarke natural. But since I am more for function and performance over looks I chose the Clarke. What sold me are these key features: Holds the most fuel (3.6g), uses stock shrouds & it is the cheapest. For me it was an easy choice. The one thing that I don't care for is the difficulty in aligning the front mounting bolt when used in conjunction with a Scotts stabilizer bracket. It takes a lot of patience to get it lined up but other than that I really like it and I would recommend it to others.

MaxPower, on 14 February 2012 - 02:29 AM, said:

MaxPower, on 14 February 2012 - 02:29 AM, said:

I have researched this to death. If you read my posts you would see that. Im not looking to ride the world, just local dual sporting and trails. I saw one guy with 22,000mi on his wr supermoto... one guy with 11,000 mostly MX miles. My friends totally bash theirs offroad and none of them have had to rebuild theirs even after years of abuse

I'm in the same boat, I want to ride it on road but don't want to kill it revving high. Not sure what gearing to do

thanks Dustdogg, Ill go with the Clarke .

I found Baja Designs has passenger pegs for $150. they look nice.

My bike says right on it I can't carry passengers

I have 14/50 gearing on my 2007 WR450f. Top speed is around 95mph and cruising at 55mph is not over-revving the bike at all. 1st gear is still low enough for tight single track.

I also have the Clarke 3.6 tank and fuel range is about 150 miles of dualsport riding before flipping over to reserve.

GPR steering stablizer also helps with highway riding.

Just for reference, a few of my riding buddies have KTM EXC's and they have the six speed transmissions. Rarely can they use the six gear, because it is too tall for cruising @ 60mph, and will not pull high rpms.

Here are a few pictures: