24 replies to this topic

[Fred W]

So, for the past 6 years I've owned a pretty nice copy of a Honda VFR800Fi. It was always a great little ST bike. Never gave me a lick of trouble. Was a lot of fun to ride solo, but not so great two up. And it's been sitting in the garage mostly collecting dust since I bought the FJR1300, which does everything the Viffer could do and more, albeit with a bit more weight.



So it's out with the old red







And in with the new blue





Yup, I traded my cherished VFR for a dirt bike with a plate. I did a lot of research on available dual sport bikes and I think this one is going to fill in quite nicely. It's a 2008 Yamaha WR250X that a prior owner turned into an "R" model by replacing the supermotard street wheels and tires with a nice set of knobby shod bigger wheels (21"/18"). It has a few other mods done to it already to make it more off-road worthy, such as the skid plate, Bark Busters, Fat bars, disk guards. It also has already been uncorked and lightened up with an FMF Power bomb pipe and muffler, the FMF FI tuning module (yeah, that's right, it's fuel injected! ) and the standard (anywhere that you can get away with it) emissions junk deletions.

The last owners were using it off road exclusively, so have it geared down for stump pulling duties. I'll be wanting to ride it on road to the trail heads, so I'll be bring the ratios back up closer to stock. But other than that I won't have much to do to the bike other than just ride it. One really nice thing about these bikes is the maintenance requirements are very un-dual-sport-like. Like an, FJR, it only requires valve checks ever 26k miles!! and with no carb to constantly be taking out and cleaning, it's basically just routine oil changes and chain maintenance and ride.

I'm guessing we are going to have a bunch of dirty, dirty fun together this summer.

[GeorgiaRoller]

Man that VFR looks nice! ....LOL

I see a V-Strom hiding in the back of the garage as well. Damn Dude!!!

You got a blue & black FJR as well???

Anyway I can get added into your Will?

[Geezer]

So you finally sold that VFR. Well, traded is pretty much the same as sold.

Very nice 250.

[BigOgre]

Why doesn't blue surprise me?

Best of luck and many hours of enjoyment Fred.

[Asphalt Junkie]

Well, maybe now you can get your fill of dirt riding in on the 250, and we can stick to paved roads for the NERDS rides!

Congrats!

[TheZsdad]

You got a blue & black FJR as well???

I think it's a tank cover.

[UberKul]

Super nice!! Love the blacked out look and the tires look fresh. The rear rack even looks functional without being too ginormous. Kills me when guys put a big-ass BBQ rack on a sexy little number like yours. Aftermarket tank?
It goes without saying but, enjoy!

[08FJR4ME]

Fred,

Your gonna need another GPS mount! Nice bike for sure. I fixed the quad last weekend so now I have to take a look at the rear brakes that are sticking on the XR next. Most likely a rebuild is in order. So what are you going to do with the we-strom? Is the 18" on the front and 21 on the rear? Kinda looks that way in the picture. If I remember correctly I have the 21" tire on the front and the 17" on the rear of my XR. I know the super-moto's run smaller in the front. Not sure how that translates for the dirt. Any way we will have to do some riding together.

Dave

[ionbeam]

Man that VFR looks nice! ....LOL

I see a V-Strom hiding in the back of the garage as well. Damn Dude!!!

You got a blue & black FJR as well???

Anyway I can get added into your Will?

That is a Bagster on the Bass Boat Blue. I'll let Fred cover the Wills

I think less of Fred for selling the VFR and not giving it to me.

I hope Fred enjoys getting in touch with his inner dirt. Nice bikie for sure. NH has a lot of dirt so Fred should be all set to get his dirt fix. I hope that he remembers that older folks don't recover from bumps and bruises like them younger 'uns. We all expect less dirt in the NE rides now, unless he is packing the ol' 250.

[Old Michael]

If your ancient ass falls off that thing, you're gonna crumble like a stale cookie.

You don't wanna look like Yamafitter before you're 60, ...do ya?
Affectionately,
Alan

A bit blunt, ionbeam, .....but you make a valid point.

[Fred W]

Bwa-haha. Thanks you'se guys.

Addressing the concerns and comments in reverse order:

@ (Too) Old (for dirt) Michael: If I looked like my buddy boy Bill (Yammafitter) before I was 60, well hell... I'd be OK with that. I mean what?, afterall, Bill is like, what... 75 or sumthin, right?

@ ionbeam - Hey, I made several offers for you to ride that old bitch viffer when you were down and out with the CCT catastrophe. You missed your chance buddy. Too bad, 'cause it was a nice ride fo shure.

PS - ain't nobody getting added to my will(s) without a big investment (like marriage).

@Dave - Yup scheming a GPS mount right away. Not sure how yet but will get it done.
@uberkool - Looking at the IMS 4.7 gallon tank already. Running 60-70 mpg puts that at over a 300 mile range!! That's the shizzy with ultralight dual sport adventure bikes.

@ Asphalt Junkie - Me? Fill of dirt? What?
Don't count on that.
You just have to get down with the idea that the FJR1300 is a superior dirt ridin' mo'chine.



But seriously,

Thanks to all for the well wishes. It is a pretty big departure for me. Being a bigger guy, having a svelte and nimble off-road ride like this will be a completely new experience. I mean. the smallest bike I've had in the past 40 years was a '96 Honda XR400R. But this thing is a whole new thing. This WR is actually much lighter, with a much better suspension, and actually makes more horsepower (albeit at higher rpm) than my old XR due to the fuel injection and modern tune state, and will handle way mo' better on the New Hampsha' off-roads.

Looking forward to seeing some other FODS out 'dere this year.
C'mon... You know you want to. We only have so much time...

[FJRBluesman]

SAH-WEET!

[dcarver]

Nice Fred!
err, I mean DAD!

(will, will, put me in the will, ok Pops?)

[bluejag]

Your killin me Fred, I guess I have three choices..Full knobby's on the FJR or dig the Penton Jackpiner out of mothballs buried in the back of the garage or up to MOM's with a new pen an sign my name to sumpthin Best of DIRT luck with the new blue... rip it up

[beachy]

you can have some pretty serious fun on the new steed Fred enjoy

[dcarver]

Your killin me Fred, I guess I have three choices..Full knobby's on the FJR or dig the Penton Jackpiner out of mothballs buried in the back of the garage or up to MOM's with a new pen an sign my name to sumpthin Best of DIRT luck with the new blue... rip it up

Seriously, you have Jackpiner?

[Fred W]

+1 - John, I didn't know you have a Penton Jackpiner. What kind of shape is it in?
Those things are awesome. Let's get that baby out and back on the trail, man!

[bbdig]

OK Fred Grt on ADV and get the route Big duellys 2,300 miles Vt,NH, ME, NB.
You know we can hit a lot of dirt from Rangeley,I have the Honda XR650, my old Yamaha DT250 and the DRZ400 that I am trying to get plated for my son in law.

[bluejag]

Sorry guy's late late reply on the orig post.. The Penton was originally my brother's (bought new for a mere 1420.00 in '74 KTM motor) that thing was a rocket! waaayy underrated as it blew away most of the 250's we rode with. He bought a Bultaco Alpina (trail version)I got the blue rocket until I just HAD to have a new CR250 Elsinore (stupid me shoulda kept the JACK!) Us old guy's know that suspension/chassis/motors back then were nothing like today but that bike was quite a combination. Out of all the old hardware we had in the day (RM's CR's CAN-AM Steen's,Hodaka one Husky, Bultaco's and a bunch of throw away junk I(and my brother)wished we kept that one! hindsight anyone?? What would you have kept???
Again best of luck with the new ride Fred... maybe I'll dig up somthing and dig some dirt with you! (Hmmmm my cousin still has HIS Bultaco)

[Fred W]

A DRZ was more like what I was looking for as a trade for the VFR. But then this WR was offered and I started reading up on them, I thought I'd give this a try. By all rights, it may end up being a bit low in the torque department (no replacement for displacement ) but if you spin it up the HP is quite respectable and having fuel injection is a huge benefit IMO. And the suspension on these is pretty darned respectable for a dual sport.

I'm working on making the bike mine now. Yesterday I pulled off the aftermarket FMF header and exhaust can and went back to stock (with the EXUP valve disabled). Much quieter, and for New Hampshire trails riding I definitely want to be in full stealth mode. I should be able to get a couple of Benjamins for the FMF stuff. I weighed both pipes and the stock setup is 4 1/2 pounds heavier. I could (should!) lose 5 lbs anyway.

Next I need to regear the bike for actual dual sporting. Stock gearing on a WRX Sumo is 13/43 (3.307), and WRR's are 13/42 (3.231). Prior owners had it setup with 13/51 (3.923!!) primarily for offroading. With that the bike spins out at about 65mph and first gear is practically unusable. I've got a 14T front and a 48T rear that came with the bike, which should make it more useable both on and off road (3.429), and if I get somewhere that I need to gear down I can just switch the front back to the 13 and have tractor gearing again (3.692) on the same chain.

Around NH, it's all about the dual sporting. There are so few (legal) areas to ride off-road, you really have to connect them up with stretches of pavement, so being street registered is key. When we did have off-road only bikes (Honda XR's) we wore the crap out of the trails up at Hopkinton-Everett (about the only really good offroad riding area in the state). Don't want to be limited to seeing the same scenery every weekend.

I'd love to do a nice long trail ride up in the Maine woods.