WR Fire hazard!

[Greybeard249]

I've had my 2008 WR450F for 6 days now. I love it! My last big bore was a new 1988 510 Husky desert model. Just as I got to the point where I could ride it in competition, I had the misfortune of hitting a cement culvert at 100 MPH and broke both femurs and crushed my right forearm. 14 hours of surgery and 2 years of rehab, caused me to stay away from dirt... until now.

In stock form, this bike has enough giddy up to make me smile! I'm 6' 4" and 280# and it hauls my butt around just fine. When I get to the point where I can dog it in stock form, I'll unplug it. I'm looking forward to it!

Anyway, I have five acres of land to ride on, and no, its not nearly enough for this baby. While making a new trail today, I was working my way between some small trees when I got a whiff of something burning. I stopped, looked down and to my surprise, I see a large leaf laying on the header pipe smoldering. Then, it burst into flames! The sight of an open flame underneath two gallons of premium in a plastic container attached to a $7,000 motorcycle between my legs kind of freaked me out a bit. So I reached down and knocked it off. Whew, bike fire averted.

The now flaming leaf fell into many years worth of other dried leaves and started a small fire. Now, I'm about to drop the bike in my rush getting off, shutting down and moving it away from the impending forest fire. I finally got it all stomped out. What a day. I may wrap the header in that wrap stuff to prevent this in the future.

I just wanted to give all the other WR riders a heads up to keep an eye out for this when riding in an area with a lot of dead leaves.

Thanks to all of you for providing much needed info on this great bike.

[dirtysouth]

I've had my 2008 WR450F for 6 days now. I love it! My last big bore was a new 1988 510 Husky desert model. Just as I got to the point where I could ride it in competition, I had the misfortune of hitting a cement culvert at 100 MPH and broke both femurs and crushed my right forearm. 14 hours of surgery and 2 years of rehab, caused me to stay away from dirt... until now.

In stock form, this bike has enough giddy up to make me smile! I'm 6' 4" and 280# and it hauls my butt around just fine. When I get to the point where I can dog it in stock form, I'll unplug it. I'm looking forward to it!

Anyway, I have five acres of land to ride on, and no, its not nearly enough for this baby. While making a new trail today, I was working my way between some small trees when I got a whiff of something burning. I stopped, looked down and to my surprise, I see a large leaf laying on the header pipe smoldering. Then, it burst into flames! The sight of an open flame underneath two gallons of premium in a plastic container attached to a $7,000 motorcycle between my legs kind of freaked me out a bit. So I reached down and knocked it off. Whew, bike fire averted.

The now flaming leaf fell into many years worth of other dried leaves and started a small fire. Now, I'm about to drop the bike in my rush getting off, shutting down and moving it away from the impending forest fire. I finally got it all stomped out. What a day. I may wrap the header in that wrap stuff to prevent this in the future.

I just wanted to give all the other WR riders a heads up to keep an eye out for this when riding in an area with a lot of dead leaves.

Thanks to all of you for providing much needed info on this great bike.

No way dude, dont wrap it up that stuff will hold heat and moisture on the thin walls of the head pipe and one day down the road cause you issues. Plus you never know when your lighter is gonna run out of butane and you need to fire up a smoke. I've done it:thumbsup:

[Greybeard249]

Thanks mate! I'll just have to ride it fast enough to keep 'em blown off! LoL

[brad the best]

or get them coated , wrapping keeps the pipe to hot inside .

[WR450RICKO]

Uncork it and jet the bike so your header does not glow

Way too lean bone stock

[brad the best]

they glow even if you have them set up rich if your not moving fast enough , its just thin walled titanium and high egt's .

[matt4x4]

Greybeard, I also have 5 acres of land, I think I touched 5th briefly one day but had to get her slowed down damn quick since I was running out of real estate (and probably talent) in a hurry!

I used the bike to get a good little practice track happening for my son's KX65 - the bike's power is a great way to start building berms and whoops, my neighbour's little guy always comes to the fence and tells me afterwards how high the roosts are - he seems to think 30 feet is the average.

[MaxPower]

I was just talking about the possiblity of this happening the other day with my friend.

I got caught in tall dry weeds once and smelled them cooking and starting to glow.That would have been a miserable death, caught in the brush and burned to death.Cant believe I havent heard about this happening before. And it had nothing to do with a corked pipe. It was on a YZ250F

[Greybeard249]

I was just talking about the possiblity of this happening the other day with my friend.

I got caught in tall dry weeds once and smelled them cooking and starting to glow.That would have been a miserable death, caught in the brush and burned to death.Cant believe I haven't heard about this happening before. And it had nothing to do with a corked pipe. It was on a YZ250F

YES! There is a section of tall "Broom Straw" where my wife and I are riding on our property. I steer well clear of it just for that reason. I guess this is possible with any type of motorcycle. Just wanted to put another thing in the back of the riders mind. You know, since there is nothing else in there to be worried about. LoL

[Greybeard249]

Greybeard, I also have 5 acres of land, I think I touched 5th briefly one day but had to get her slowed down damn quick since I was running out of real estate (and probably talent) in a hurry!

I used the bike to get a good little practice track happening for my son's KX65 - the bike's power is a great way to start building berms and whoops, my neighbour's little guy always comes to the fence and tells me afterwards how high the roosts are - he seems to think 30 feet is the average.

My wife is riding a motorcycle for the first time. I got her a TTR 125 and she is having a great time. She complains about the roost when we ride together. I've yet to roost her, she just sees the debris flying and warns me. My land is roughly a 300 ft X 700 ft rectangle with a 50 X 700 driveway / right of way. I have strayed across the property lines a few times dragging both wheels. LoL I'm also using the WR450 to also make trails for us both small world.

[matt4x4]

Wow what a coincidinky - my wife started to ride too!!!

She's got a similar ride - Honda CRF150F, her trail is away from the son's and mine - she's allowed to run on our 2 acres cut lawn because she's learning and her bike doesn't/couldn't tear up the lawn if she tried.

My son's 65 is pretty wild, so he got banned from the lawn real quick.

I also have similar tall skinny dry grass, so I got out the riding mower first, took a couple of passes around our layout trying desperately not to spill my beer over the bumpy terrain to cut that down before we started riding it.

I've got a seasonal stream running through, the track passes through 4 times, one transition is a nice little jump for the son, but too short of a face and tus a big mule kick for me, however, one of my neighbour's is a landscaper and he's building a shop so all the leftover dirt is coming our way this spring for some jumps.

The kids who ride in our town like to come over during the summer to rip around - at one point last year we had 7 bikes ripping it up at our house.

We also have trails about 200m up the road, and the club we're joining this year has it's MX tracks and 25km trail system about 10 minutes away - so it's looking to be a good year for riding locally.

[redswr]

i went out and got on my 07 in my carport, fired it up while talking to a buddy of mine that hadn't seen it, and noticed a really bad smell/smoke coming from the bike. i looked down at the header and realized that when i locked it up last i ran my plastic coated saftey cable around the header and now it was melting

[brad the best]

just remember this when you go 4x4'n with your catylitic converter sitting at 1000 degrees . they have started more than one forest fire .

that is one of the reasons you see the keep of the grass signs out in the bush

[dirtysouth]

Just an FYI. I ran the old OEM exhaust for a long time and eventually burnt the canister up and it melted loose at the rivets on the slip on end. Think this happened because I didn't repack:excuseme: . But in any case, the leaking exhaust warped my plastic and cooked the sticky off of the heat shield that comes OEM under the #plate. Even heated my rear fender enough that it kinda drifted to the exhaust side a little. EGT's are way up there so keep an eye on your cans as well as your grass and never change your oil filter right after she's been running. Burns human flesh just as good.

[Greybeard249]

Went on a great ride with my son and Grandson this weekend. Saturday we ran around a course they have set along a river. The odo says it's about 3/4 of a mile around. Had a blast and got to try some jumps and hill climbing.

We went out to my Fathers 600 acre hunting club Sunday so we could play on the deer trails. Five minutes off the trailer I got crossed up in a ditch and fell over. I got up and got the bike back up and pushed it down the ditch a few feet and was about to mount up when I heard a "WHOOSH" behind me. I turned around and the grass where the header had touched was burning.

Nice dry area with a slight breeze pushing it towards the woods. I found myself doing an Irish jig in this patch of two foot by two foot fire! I got it all stomped out and kicked dirt over the embers and then stomped it all over again. Reached my target heart rate for the day! I fear I may need to haul a fire extinguisher around with me now.

We did some maintenance Saturday night in preparation for the Sunday ride. Everyone, including myself, were completely amazed at how the header glows red in the dark on this bike. My Grandson was dumb founded.

I will have to get this thing re-jetted ASAP.

I fear taking a tumble and getting the wind knocked out and staggering to my feet only to see my beloved bike writhing in a fire!

[bicyclebob]

If your only option is to ride through tall dry grass you might consider wrapping your header pipe. It will help to contain the heat and also gives a little performance boost. You can get this stuff at most performance shops, it's called of all things 'Header Wrap'. Make sure and soak it for about an hour before installation and it will go on much easier.

[Greybeard249]

If your only option is to ride through tall dry grass you might consider wrapping your header pipe. It will help to contain the heat and also gives a little performance boost. You can get this stuff at most performance shops, it's called of all things 'Header Wrap'. Make sure and soak it for about an hour before installation and it will go on much easier.

Thanks mate!

[dirtysouth]

Thanks mate!

Ya'll monks need some rain if you are just ridin around setting fires. I know these exhausts get hot but I have never had any fires just blaze up on me. Guess I never sit still long enough to see 'em if I do. Just know that if you wrap that header you need to remember one thing, the walls are thin so corrosion has to be prevented or you can go ahead and start shopping for a new pipe...good luck

[Greybeard249]

This last fire was started in dry grass that was only about 4 inches tall. I avoid tall grass now. The bike was down on its right side for about 30 seconds until I hauled it back up.

I have feared fire on a motorcycle since I was a caveman! LoL

[Greybeard249]

Ya'll monks need some rain if you are just ridin around setting fires. I know these exhausts get hot but I have never had any fires just blaze up on me. Guess I never sit still long enough to see 'em if I do. Just know that if you wrap that header you need to remember one thing, the walls are thin so corrosion has to be prevented or you can go ahead and start shopping for a new pipe...good luck

Amen we do need some rain! The wrapping was mentioned earlier in the post, I looked into it and yes, it will rot out the header double quick.

Must get the carb re-jetted to prevent "glow pipe"

This WR moves through the woods like a Blue-tick on a hot track!