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2008 Yamaha WR250R/X - First Ride
Written by: J.C. Hilderbrand
Motorcycle-USA.com   http://www.motorcycle-usa.com
03/26/2008 - 05:36 PM
Eugene, OR
 
Yamaha took a long, hard look at the dual-sport market before diving in and it seems like it found the right spot to take the plunge with the all-new WR250R and 250X. ยป More Photos

The front end is keeping its act together as I enter the biggest set of whoops yet - something I hope continues. The speedo is fluttering around the 45 mph mark. Midway through the section is a sweeping turn, stay on the gas, pinch with the knees and beat that throttle like it owes me money.

And that's only the half of it...

Asphalt streams below as I smash into the rev limiter like Ted Williams bouncing off the Green Monster. A simultaneous flick of my left-side fingers and toes bangs a gear - down. The rear end steps out just a bit, enough to bring a smile out under my tinted visor. Hard on the brakes and tip it in, pegs grind and it's full-throttle and rev-limiter all over again.

The 2008 WR250R and WR250X aren't anything like the existing slew of 250cc 4-stroke machines from Yamaha. The familiar WR model, the 250F enduro, has a totally different engine, chassis, suspension, computer, seat, you name it. The same goes for the YZ250F motocrosser which is even further away in the Yammie quarter-liter lineup. Since it didn't rework its YZ-F or WR-F mills that means the Tuning Fork engineers were tasked with creating a completely new engine and chassis without the luxury of sourcing parts.

Higher-ups at the press launch kept using terms like "purpose-built," "all-new" and "specifically designed," which led to questions: for what, how so and for whom? The
short answers are: performance-based small-bore dual-sport, the perfect set up for old dudes with limited riding and moderate incomes. But that doesn't say much, now does it? Yamaha knows the dual-sport industry has been riding a steady and notable rise over the past decade and wanted to capitalize on that growth. The only question was what kind of bike to build in order to maximize its share of dual-sport (DS) sales?

Before turning loose the engineers and designers, Yamaha made use of its marketing department by collecting data about the current DS market and the riders participating. According to the studies, there are plenty of utilitarian machines ranging from small to large displacement, but on the high-tech/performance end of things, only larger displacement machines were available such as KTM's EXC450/525 and then mega-spiffy and expensive adventure touring machines like BMW's R1200GS or even G650 Xchallenge. The largest delinquency was found to be small-bore marketplace. Entry-level utilitarian DS bikes like the Honda CRF230L, Kawasaki KLX250 and Yamaha's own XT250 are popular mounts, but their indolent demeanor doesn't necessarily entice the old Cheshire grin. Further studies show that dual-sport riders want their bikes to have high-tech features, and so the stage was set for Yamaha to swing for the fence.

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY VISIT www.motorcycleusa.com
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