Test Ride: DR650 vs WR250R vs Super Sherpa

[mazz1972]

Funny you had a go at gearing UP the Sherpa, Rosie went up a few teeth on the back at the last chain & sprocket change as 6th was such an overdrive. The new, slightly lower gearing works really well on & off road.

Sprocket I think we went up one tooth (?) and it was more annoying than anything as at 100-110kms-ish I seemed to be changing between 5th & 6th alot.

I consider anything much over 150kg as too heavy for ME to take the places we like to go, so even the DR650 is right at the limit of what would be sensible for a smaller & less experienced rider, let alone something over 50kg heavier than the Sherp. The other issue with a few of the bigger cc bikes like the XT is the width, they may have a low seat height but being wider through the guts means that a slim WR250R lowered say 60mm will be easier to get a foot down on than an XT660 that is actually a bit lower in the seat.

Yes, same issues for me. Weight and width are such an issue for us blessed with short wheelbases, and it means there are very few options. Possibly lack of experience on riding different (bigger) bikes doesn't help confidence wise either, especially after the featherweight of the Sherp. When upgrading from my Sherp the thought of going to a much bigger bike, in "bulk" as well as weight and cc, was quite intimidating.

...& while Rosie can buy whatever she wants, an alleged 'adventure' bike with the exhaust pipes slung under the motor would not be allowed in my shed... ;-)

Touratec bashplate

Hope the WR works out for Rosie

[Bass]

My memory is crap these days but I seem to recall that Lula test rode a WR 250 on one of our west coast gravel bashes down to Raglan. I certainly recall her riding the verges at speed while the rest of us stuck to the road.
She is a similar height to Rosie ( I think that she could only get one foot at a time on the ground) and so I wonder if it might not be worthwhile seeking her impressions of the machine

[Box'a'bits]

Found a 'Must have' farkle for the WR250X on Thumper Talk. http://www.mpfab.com/wr250/