Adventure Motorcycle Blog

The bikes are in Fort Worth and Matt is wrapping up some final adjustments on his. His (on the right) is a 2011 and mine is a 2020.

Upgrades

Over the last year, both bikes have had a ton of mods done to them. Some of the bigger projects include:

Suspension: Travis and his team from https://www.go-race.com/yamahasuspension out of VA rebuilt both sets of forks and modified the rear shocks with an upgrade called “The Full Monty.” Basically, every single internal component on the factory forks were replaced with heavy duty race grade components and the rear spring was swapped out with a heavier load spring plus valving. The reason for this is because Japanese dual sport bikes are designed for riders weighing around 140-150 lbs. and guess who doesn’t weigh anywhere near that? This guy – that’s who! Between luggage, extra fuel and full riding protective gear I’m pushing 270 lbs. You still want the bike to perform as it should regardless of how much weight is on it so the suspension upgrade was a must. Travis uses the best parts on the market and he’s a well known expert in the WR250R suspension world. A plastic rifle case from Walmart worked perfect for shipping the suspension off to VA.

Gear sets

The stock gear set isn’t that great so it’s common to upgrade for more low end torque and 6th gear speed. Both sets on both bikes were swapped out along with new chains.

Electronics

We both hardwired GPS nav units, USB ports, battery tenders, and heated grips. I also mounted a GoPro wireless remote right next to my left thumb so I can control the GoPro on my helmet without taking my hand off the grip.

Chassis Lube

We were surprised with how dry the suspension, swingarm and other normally greased components were during disassembly. We broke down our bikes and greased everything we could to make sure we were good to go.

Bars, Risers, Grips, Hand Warmers, Seat, Wind Screens, 3.1 gal Tank, and Pegs

The WR250R is a great out of the box bike, but it’s also a great platform to mod it however you want. Due to being 6 foot 2 in, I needed the bars to be a hair higher and a slightly different stance so I upgraded to ProTaper components. We both went with different comfort grips due to the the 8-10 hours a day we’ll be on the trails. They are designed to absorb vibrations and softer than the stock grips. Even though we’re riding in Aug we’re still going to hit temps from the mid 20s to 100 plus pending where we’re at. We didn’t go for the seat warmers, but grip warmers are cheap and go on quick so they are a nice luxury to have. The wind screens play a huge part in reducing drag and head/helmet wobble when at highway speeds – another quick install.

The stock bike comes with a 2 gal fuel tank and frankly that’s not much gas. The 3.1 gal tank gives more range plus we both have the same tank meaning stops can be planned at the same time to top off. The bikes don’t have fuel gauges, but there’s a setting within the NAV unit reminding us to look for gas at a preset mileage. The pegs were upgraded as well. The IMS pegs are a hair longer and wider – makes standing up more stable. The factory seat is like sitting on a log so we went with the Seat Concepts Comfort upgrade. It takes a bit to break in, but overall it’s a huge difference over the stock seat.

Tires

The stock tires on the WR are garbage and it’s an immediate requirement to upgrade to a quality set. Numerous brands out there, but I went with the Dunlop 606 in the back and Pirelli MT21s in the front. -Kev-