My First WR250R Dirt Bike - What Should I Upgrade?

[Tim Armbruster]

Hello, My son is 14 and we decided to get into dirt bikes.  Mostly trail riding.  We just got our first bikes, and now I need to get some parts and upgrades. What should I upgrade and fix?  It's a 2015 WR250R and I  upgrades and parts.  I will do videos of all of the upgrades.  All tips and comments are very much appreciated!  Of course I will do tons of research on my own.  Long list is below video.

- Washing Dirt Bike - Products to help, brushes, cleaners, exhaust plug, etc.
- Any products to help with rust spots
- New tires - I'm thinking 50/50 tires
- New Chain, Front and Rear Sprocket with potential gearing change
- Front Sprocket Cover
- Billet Kit
- Rims - Front one may be bent, if upgrading would do both
- All products to do oil change, oil, filter, pans
- All products to do filter change, tubs, 
- Do I need new brake hoses? It has 16K miles.  I think maintenance says yes.
- Swingarm chain protector
- Upgraded Muffler
- Performance Kits
- Replace mud flap in front of rear tire
- Upgrade Rear light assembly
- Breather hose
- New Bars, Grips
- Hand Guards with integrated blinkers and mirrors
- Brake and Clutch levers
- Band to hold tools (missing)
- Side frame guards
- Bike Stand
- Chain Oil or recommended Lubricant
- Greases for maintenance (per maintenance manual)
- Lowering link
- Coolant
- Bleeder Valve
- Foot pegs
- Upgraded Seat
- Breakaway Brake Lever
- Disk protectors, front and rear

[BillDirt1]

Sweet bike, I'd do some Race-Tech suspension, springs & Gold Valves. 

Edited May 4, 2020 by Diverdown

[Tim Armbruster]

3 hours ago, Diverdown said:

Sweet bike, I'd do some Race-Tech suspension, springs & Gold Valves. 

Thanks Diverdown, I will research that.

[Jens Eskildsen]

Sounds like you wish to use a few grand.

I suggest to ride it some and see what you feel you need.

 

Head over to wr250rforum.forumotion.com/

There's not much activity on the forum, but every possible upgrade, tweak and modification should be well documented.

[Tim Armbruster]

2 hours ago, Jens Eskildsen said:

Sounds like you wish to use a few grand.

I suggest to ride it some and see what you feel you need.

 

Head over to wr250rforum.forumotion.com/

There's not much activity on the forum, but every possible upgrade, tweak and modification should be well documented.

Thank you, Jens

[Wallowa]

14 years old...good on you to start him riding...first dirt bike?  Two suggestions [I have a WR250R]:  Unless he is tall with a good inseam, reaching the ground may be an issue, but again, many started riding and never touched the ground when they stopped unless they hopped off; this really teaches you balance.......secondly, unless it is your hobby, pouring all those mods into his first bike is goofy...let the kid ride the bike stock, become skilled...then decide what mods HE wants to make for more fun...the stock WR is a load of fun as is....let the boy have fun and not chase modifications...

 

Only my opinions...and I could be wrong! ?

[Tim Armbruster]

2 minutes ago, Wallowa said:

14 years old...good on you to start him riding...first dirt bike?  Two suggestions [I have a WR250R]:  Unless he is tall with a good inseam, reaching the ground may be an issue, but again, many started riding and never touched the ground when they stopped unless they hopped off; this really teaches you balance.......secondly, unless it is your hobby, pouring all those mods into his first bike is goofy...let the kid ride the bike stock, become skilled...then decide what mods HE wants to make for more fun...the stock WR is a load of fun as is....let the boy have fun and not chase modifications...

 

Only my opinions...and I could be wrong! ?

Thank you for the feedback.  He is 5'11".  The TTR230 is his, though.  It's not getting any mods.  He'll outgrow it fast.  Mine is the WR250R.  I agree with you on chasing mods, and I'm mostly concerned with tires, chain, sprockets, and bark busters at the moment.  Plus any general things the I need to care for the bike.  The rest have dwindling priority. 

[Wallowa]

42 minutes ago, Tim Armbruster said:

Thank you for the feedback.  He is 5'11".  The TTR230 is his, though.  It's not getting any mods.  He'll outgrow it fast.  Mine is the WR250R.  I agree with you on chasing mods, and I'm mostly concerned with tires, chain, sprockets, and bark busters at the moment.  Plus any general things the I need to care for the bike.  The rest have dwindling priority. 

I misunderstood...thought the WR250R was his bike...5'11" @ 14, wow he is going be a big man!  MT21 front and D606 rear, sprocket size depends on where you want to ride, I have a 51/14 [steel] with X-ring chain [your choice of brands] combo for slow technical off-road...Barkbuster brand and working fine, when you get tired of busting mirrors, go to Double-Take mirrors, $$ but good...if you want lower seat go to Concept seats..

You have fun riding with your son, I am envious!  

Phil

[Tim Armbruster]

1 minute ago, Wallowa said:

I misunderstood...thought the WR250R was his bike...5'11" @ 14, wow he is going be a big man!  MT21 front and D606 rear, sprocket size depends on where you want to ride, I have a 51/14 [steel] with X-ring chain [your choice of brands] combo for slow technical off-road...Barkbuster brand and working fine, when you get tired of busting mirrors, go to Double-Take mirrors, $$ but good...if you want lower seat go to Concept seats..

You have fun riding with your son, I am envious!  

Phil

Thank you so much, Phil, I will look at those!

[BluePill]

Before spending money on suspension upgrades, play with the stock adjustments a bit. Start off with the factory recommended settings, EXCEPT for rear rebound which is notoriously weak on this bike. Set that to 3 turns out from fully in, otherwise the bike will pogo (rear end kicks up).  Choose a good repeatable area to evaluate small changes (a click or two) for the other 3 settings.

I have a favorite uphill washboard dirt road that I use. I run full throttle at 30 to 50 mph, and it lets me know quickly how much better or worse an adjustment has affected traction and tracking.  I have ridden my 2 WRR's about 50K miles total, and the stock suspension works well for me 99% of the time.  My off-road consists of mostly smooth trail riding.

 

 

No doubt that if you ride hard off-road, the upgraded suspension will be worth the money.

Edited May 4, 2020 by BluePill

[Tim Armbruster]

2 minutes ago, BluePill said:

Before spending money on suspension upgrades, play with the stock adjustments a bit.

Thank you BluePill .. much appreciated, I will do that first.  

[Monica]

First rec is suspension.  I've got mine tuned by Travis at GoRace.  Best money I ever spent on an upgrade.  Mess with your stock setup, see if you can find a sweet spot.  If you can't, consider a custom job.  Well worth it.

I've got 13/46 gears, DRD speedo healer, Rekluse clutch, Protaper CR Mid bars, Zeta handguards, Double Take mirrors, HDB switches, Safari tank, Seat Concepts seat, Yamalink, Happy Trails rack, Ortlieb sidebags and some other little doo-dads going for tail and electrical, I can't remember right now.  But overall, the suspension is the thing that's made the bike most rideable and a real treat to ride over weird stuff.  It's predictable and makes the bike more capable that I.

[Tim Armbruster]

28 minutes ago, Monica said:

First rec is suspension.  I've got mine tuned by Travis at GoRace.  Best money I ever spent on an upgrade.  Mess with your stock setup, see if you can find a sweet spot.  If you can't, consider a custom job.  Well worth it.

I've got 13/46 gears, DRD speedo healer, Rekluse clutch, Protaper CR Mid bars, Zeta handguards, Double Take mirrors, HDB switches, Safari tank, Seat Concepts seat, Yamalink, Happy Trails rack, Ortlieb sidebags and some other little doo-dads going for tail and electrical, I can't remember right now.  But overall, the suspension is the thing that's made the bike most rideable and a real treat to ride over weird stuff.  It's predictable and makes the bike more capable that I.

Thank you so much, Monica.  This is very helpful.

[Tim Armbruster]

29 minutes ago, Monica said:

I've got 13/46 gears

Hi Monica, on the 13/46 gearing .. how does this compare to stock in terms of performance, both on low end and high end.  Also, I had heard that this bike had problems with the chain rubbing into the swingarm .. does this gearing help to address it?

[Monica]

28 minutes ago, Tim Armbruster said:

Hi Monica, on the 13/46 gearing .. how does this compare to stock in terms of performance, both on low end and high end.  Also, I had heard that this bike had problems with the chain rubbing into the swingarm .. does this gearing help to address it?

I wish I could offer a comparison for ya on the stock gearing vs this, it had the 13/46 when I got it.  But So far for my riding, it's been a manageable mix of low enough (dirt/gravel/hill country/big bend)/paved (~70-75mph). 

As for the swingarm issue, I keep an eye on it and haven't see a problem with contact.  There seems to be enough clearance with this combo.  I have seen online what you did though, swing arms getting eaten alive.  

[Tim Armbruster]

5 minutes ago, Monica said:

I wish I could offer a comparison for ya on the stock gearing vs this, it had the 13/46 when I got it.  But So far for my riding, it's been a manageable mix of low enough (dirt/gravel/hill country/big bend)/paved (~70-75mph). 

As for the swingarm issue, I keep an eye on it and haven't see a problem with contact.  There seems to be enough clearance with this combo.  I have seen online what you did though, swing arms getting eaten alive.  

Awesome .. thank you!

[Tim Armbruster]

Got lots of feedback that before doing upgrades I should get my WR250R out for a few rides.  Had to build a trailer to do so, so thought I would share the build process. https://youtu.be/LHrWe3qxFjE

[Tim Armbruster]

Just got 3 boxes full of dirt bike parts for my Yamaha WR250R!!!  I am a new rider and Lance from Performance Cycle of Colorado ( https://performancecycle.com/ ) is helping me get all the parts and gear to modify and properly maintain them.  We have more boxes coming, and I will do videos of installing all of these. In these boxes we received:

Sprocket Bolt Kit - TR SPROCKET BOLT KIT DIRT TRICKS
ProTaper Bars - TR SE BAR CR HIGH JET BLACK
DoubleTake Mirrors - DTM-DA DO DOUBLETAKE MIRROR PK ADVENT RECT 
DoubleTake Mirrors Adapter DTM-ADAPT DO DOUBLETAKE YAM MIR ADAPTOR 
Pillow Top Grips - TR PT PILLOW TOP GRIP BLK/GRY/BLU 
GripLock -  WP THREEBOND GRIPLOCK 
Rear Tire - TR CONTI TKC80 120/90S18 TT REAR
Front Tire - TR CONTI TKC80 90/90S21 FRONT 
Oil Pan - TR OIL DISPENSER 5/LITER BM 
Oil - WP MAXUM4 EXTRA 10W40 GALLON 
Oil Filter - WP HIFLO FILTER HF140 
Oil Filter - WP HIFLO FLTR HF-143 
Chain Brush - WP THE GRUNGE BRUSH 
Air Filter Cleaning Kit -  WP NO-TOIL 3/PK EVOL OIL,CLNR,GRS 
Chain Cleaner - WP MAXIMA CLEAN UP 20 OZ 
Chain Lube - WP MAXIMA CHAIN GUARD 14 OZ 
Dirt Bike Detail - WP MAXIMA SC1 SILICON DTL 12 OZ 
Dirt Bike Wash - WP LP CYCLE WASH (1/GAL) 
Moose Motorcycle Stand - PU STAND LIFT MOOSE RACING 

https://youtu.be/X2-vNRJ8wPk

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Tim Armbruster

[BillDirt1]

Cool Tim, l plan on getting a WR250R in the next couple years. Perfect little bike...

[Tim Armbruster]

15 hours ago, Diverdown said:

Cool Tim, l plan on getting a WR250R in the next couple years. Perfect little bike...

I'm loving mine.  I will say I have dropped it twice only, and both when at a standstill when I didn't have solid footing.  It is very tall.  Riding it's no problem.  There are things you can do to lower it.