WR250R Adventurisation project

[Rosie]

My mission: To transform the WR into an Adventure Touring Weapon

with the very able assistance of Clint, of course

First up were all the bolt-on accessories:
Symtech grip heaters
Renthal dual compound grips
Zeta hand guards
14 litre safari tank
And Clint removed the pillion pegs, and the pillion grab strap

I tried to install the tank all by myself, but the instructions were hard to follow

The seat-ectomy is ongoing, to make it a bit easier for me to reach the ground, and to give some long distance touring comfort. Making it shorter is the easy part. I'm going to continue shopping around for different densities of foam to make it better for touring.
I used an electric breadknife for the bulk of the seat work, then tidied the surfaces up with a rasp and a belt sander.
The seat currently has an old seat cover taped onto it, so I can test out the seat design without having to attach and remove the proper seat cover each time.

I made a prototype windscreen out of for-sale sign, tested it out and hacked at it with tin snips until I came up with a design I liked. I'll get the plastics fabricator at work to bend me up a polycarbonate screen in the near future.

I drew up some retro yamaha racing stripes on the computer, and sellotaped them to the safari tank, so I can finalise the design and get them made up (final decals will be black and pink ).

Clint has started to make mounting brackets for the luggage racks and carrier, and I am attempting to help by making cardboard prototypes of the bits he needs to make up. Making motorbike parts out of cardboard is harder than it sounds

I'm not very good at remembering to take photos while we are working on it, but here are some photos of the windscreen, custom seat, and retro racing decals

Stay tuned for more...

[Taz]

Looking good Rosie. How far do you reckon the safari tank will get you? Did you get it direct from RVAqualine in Aus?

[pete376403]

Keep the removed bits - not too long ago the local bike shop failed my bike WOF for no pillion footrests. Christ knows how many things the local vehicle testing would manage to find. (not necessarily faulty but failing to comply with regulations)

[Rosie]

Looking good Rosie. How far do you reckon the safari tank will get you? Did you get it direct from RVAqualine in Aus?

Yes I did get it from RVAqualine. Looks like you can also get them from Yamaha NZ, which may be a touch cheaper, but I didn't realise until after I'd got mine.

No idea how far it will go with the new tank, maybe 350k's. I haven't been riding it a lot, so I don't have a good idea of fuel efficiency yet. The fuel light came on at 140k's, so I guess I'll have to get used to having the fuel light on most of the time

[Rosie]

Keep the removed bits - not too long ago the local bike shop failed my bike WOF for no pillion footrests. Christ knows how many things the local vehicle testing would manage to find. (not necessarily faulty but failing to comply with regulations)

As I understand it, the WOF-thingee states that if pillion footrests are fitted, then they have to be secure. It doesn't actually say that you need them. The sherpa never had any trouble at the local vehicle testing station for not having the pillion pegs. But it wasn't unusual for them to not have anyone who could ride a motorbike, so I'd end up doing most of the WOF myself

[junkmanjoe]

Hi Rosie,

your new bikes coming together nicely, can agree with you on the cardboard designing, but easy to fix if a mistake is made,,

look forward to the finished project.

JMJ

[tri boy]

Please let us know about what foam density/supplier/brand that you use.
Kanny's KLE500 seat is about to undergo similar surgery, and since I'm a lazy buggar, and you and Clint are switched on, I'll sit back and let the info come to me

(Just gotta pinch my sisters lecy bread knife now.

[Motu]

Love the retro Yamaha graphics.Are you just working on the seat for height,or are you going to lower the suspn too? I'm not familiar with the WR suspn,but if you have dog bone links,it easy to get a set made up.I had some lower links for my DT,I could change them in 5 mins on the side stand.I liked it lower around town,stock height was ok off road.

Pillion pegs are required if there is a pillion seat - get that breadknife out again and make it a solo.

[cooneyr]

Looking awesome Rosie and Clint. Keep up the good work.

I know what Motu said about the pillion footpegs is true but it is a bloody silly rule cause there would not be space for a pillion if I was riding the bike.

Cheers R

[dino3310]

looking fükengrüverin Rosie

[pete376403]

Looking awesome Rosie and Clint. I know what Motu said about the pillion footpegs is true but it is a bloody silly rule ...Cheers R

In the main, what other sort of rules are there? Common sense should take care of most things for people of average or better intelligence.

[.chris]

needs more Dakar style!

How do you find the extra power over the Sherpa?

[clint640]

Love the retro Yamaha graphics.Are you just working on the seat for height,or are you going to lower the suspn too? I'm not familiar with the WR suspn,but if you have dog bone links,it easy to get a set made up.I had some lower links for my DT,I could change them in 5 mins on the side stand.I liked it lower around town,stock height was ok off road.

Pillion pegs are required if there is a pillion seat - get that breadknife out again and make it a solo.

The WR has an externally adjustable rear shock that we have wound down, & we dropped the forks down through the clamps a bit too. We're going to have a play on some gnarly tracks this weekend & see if any further lowering is required but it doesn't seem too bad at present.

So how do you get on for a WOF with a road legal enduro bike, of which there are quite a few varieties, that have the same seat dimensions as the WR-R but no provision for pillion pegs? I've never had pillion pegs on the 640 & I've never been failed.

needs more Dakar style!

Jaysus! that thing must have about a 1000km range!

Cheers
Clint

[Taz]

Never had a problem getting a wof on the 525 at VTNZ pukekohe but then they have guys there that know their bikes and use common sense.

[Bass]

I look forward to catching up with you two once you have the new toy sorted out. I am betting that it is going to be quite a weapon in the twistie stuff and that you will take some catching once you are used to it.