Who rides motorcycles?

[scootr]

I lived in Medellin, Colombia for 2 years. I met a guy down there that rode his WR250R all the way from MN to the tip of South America and then back to Colombia the long way through Brazil, Suriname, Venezuela, etc. Needless to say I was impressed, and for a long time wanted one.

Yamaha WR250R is a legendary bike. I never owned one. And the price for a good one is high now.

 

[caver]

After the XT350 I had a DR650. Solid bike but seemed to be getting heavier and heavier when I would lay it over. The main reason I sold it though was fuel injection on newer bikes. That DR got to be real temperamental if it sat a few weeks with gas in the carb.

 

[JasperFrank]

It wasn't so much before, to have a kickstart only motorcycle. Yet yesterday, I am thinking, do I do the car or am I going to do the kick start motorcycle? At 67 maybe I've lost something. It was for a short trip. Meaning some gear, tie downs and the helmet and stuff. And seriously, if the bike was an electric start, with fuel injection and electronic controls, this would have made a difference in that decision. My 80 SR 500 has none of those things.
I didn't got to the local store on the motorcycle.

 

[Bocephous]

My last bike was a DR650. Loved it, had lots of low end grunt! But pretty old school the bike hasn't been changed since it was released in 1996. These CFMotos are $6000 brand new, seems like a great deal. Lots of good reivew and torture tests on them on YouTube.

A DR was on my short list before I decided on my current XR, which is unchanged since 1993. Old school new stuff appeals to me greatly; less to go wrong. As an example of this, I recently bought a 2000 Honda Rancher 350ES. Old design air/oil cooled motor, easy to adjust valves. Its Achilles heel is the electronic shifting. Guess what failed 3 days ago?

 

[Bocephous]

After the XT350 I had a DR650. Solid bike but seemed to be getting heavier and heavier when I would lay it over. The main reason I sold it though was fuel injection on newer bikes. That DR got to be real temperamental if it sat a few weeks with gas in the carb.

Anything carbureted I own gets non-eth, and the fuel is shut off prior to shutdown. If it is going to sit for a bit the carb also gets run dry.

 

[HawkinsHollow]

Anything carbureted I own gets non-eth, and the fuel is shut off prior to shutdown. If it is going to sit for a bit the carb also gets run dry.

All very good practices IMO.

 

[scootr]

Fuel injection has been a big improvement, eliminating problems with sitting and elevation changes. But it comes with it's own drawbacks. Here we can only run 50 state compliant bikes, quads, etc. Which means they are super leaned out and choked up. Lots of people spend big bucks uncorking these motors allowing more fuel in and gasses out. Left stock they run hot and the low idle circuit feels very on/off which is difficult to manage in the slow technical riding. There is a big market in aftermarket ECU and exhausts. But they do sit indefinitely without fuel problems

 

[deserteagle71]

Fuel injection has been a big improvement, eliminating problems with sitting and elevation changes. But it comes with it's own drawbacks. Here we can only run 50 state compliant bikes, quads, etc. Which means they are super leaned out and choked up. Lots of people spend big bucks uncorking these motors allowing more fuel in and gasses out. Left stock they run hot and the low idle circuit feels very on/off which is difficult to manage in the slow technical riding. There is a big market in aftermarket ECU and exhausts. But they do sit indefinitely without fuel problems

When I heard that Yamaha was discontinuing the XT225 in 2007 and going to the XT250 (with some pretty significant changes) I decided to replace my high-mileage 1992 XT225 with a 2007, figuring it would be essentially the same bike but new.

I should have done more research. My 1992 XT came with both electric start and kick starter. The 2007 came only with electric start but the kick starter was available as an add-on kit - which I also bought and had installed because the remote areas I ride the reliability of a kick starter was paramount - start the bike even if the battery were dead. The most egregious part of the 2007 was the carburetion. The 1992 had a very simple carburetor that was very smooth in how it operated - rolling on the throttle brought a very smooth, easy response. The 2007 had a diaphragm carburetor that was hard to control - rolling on the throttle would result in some hesitation, then a strong surge of power. Not something you want on rough single track. Worst of all was the jetting - very lean, just like the fuel injection you are talking about. Luckily, there were lots of posts on XT225 forums about how to change the jetting, both idle and main, so the bike would run better and not so lean, so that's what I did.

By the time I had the 2007 running to my satisfaction I was of the opinion I should have just rebuilt the 1992!

 

[Milo]

I think you would have been happier with a 2008+ with FI. The carbureted XT225 and XT250's were notoriously hard starting especially if they sat for a few days. Also ran poorly up at altitude or if jetted for high altitude ran way lean at low elevations.

 

[deserteagle71]

I think you would have been happier with a 2008+ with FI. The carbureted XT225 and XT250's were notoriously hard starting especially if they sat for a few days. Also ran poorly up at altitude or if jetted for high altitude ran way lean at low elevations.

???

Not been my experience. True, I've only owned two - the 1992 and the 2007. I don't ride during the winter months but either XT would fire up after 4 or 5 good kicks after having been parked for 4 months. The trick was to always run the engine until it died from lack of fuel (empty the carburetor) before shutting it down for the season. And I never had problems at altitude either and most of my riding is done at elevations between 4000 and 11,000 feet.