  YAMAHA WR250R SUPERMOTO CONVERSION GUIDE: The beauty of dual sport bikes like the Yamaha WR250R is that it can be two bikes in one... with the stock knobbies, you have a very capable off-road bike, and by adding a set of 17" supermoto wheels and tires, you can also have a very capable corner carver and/or commuter for the street. For street riding, with 17" wheels and sticky tires, you will quickly discover that the WR250R will handle much better and is more fun to ride. The lower center of gravity, smaller 17" front tire, and stickier rubber just makes for a better street bike... it totally transforms the way it rides. Conversion: Converting a Yamaha WR250R to a supermoto is pretty straightforward. All you really need is a set of 17" supermoto wheels like the ones we use from Warp 9 Racing, and then some sticky supermoto tires like the Bridgestones or Dunlops we use (see details below). There are a few things you need to do to fit the smaller 17" wheels/tires. Up front, in order to clear the smaller 17" supermoto tire, you have to re-route the front brake line to the outside of the fork leg and also trim the plastic lower fork protectors so they clear the front tire. Gearing: The gearing you choose is a personal preference thing, and can really vary depending on the type of riding you will be doing, and the speeds you want to be running. If you will be riding freeway speeds alot, you might like a 13/42 front and rear setup, which also happens to be what the WR250X Supermoto's came stock with from Yamaha. If you are running slower speeds, mostly on back roads, and want the bike to accelerate better and don't care about running at higher speeds, then you might like a 13/45 or 14/49 setup. On our personal WR250R supermoto and WR250X supermoto, we are going to switch to this 13/45 setup since we are riding mostly back roads and rarely go above about 60-65 mph on the bike. WR250R SUPERMOTO WHEELS: We use Warp 9 Supermoto wheels on all of our supermoto conversions. Their wheels are available in a lot of different color combinations, and they will include a rear sprocket as well as front/rear brake rotors. Warp 9 also offers a new tubeless option if you want the look of spoked wheels, but don't want the hassle of running inner tubes. More info here: YAMAHA WR250R / WR250X SUPERMOTO TIRES: For the WR250R/X, some customers who've converted their bike to an SM will run a 120/70-17 front tire, but we've heard of rubbing issues on the front forks with that 120 tire, so we stick with 110's on our bike. For the rear tire size, you can go with a 140/70-17 or a 150/60-17 (we use the latter). We've put together a separate WR250R/X Supermoto Tire Guide which you can access at the link below... OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER: Changing to 17" tires will throw off your speedometer/odometer, so we recommend recalibrating it with this nifty product from 12oClockLabs... Skid Plates are popular on off-road bikes, but we also use them on all of our supermoto's. They help keep the front of your engine and frame clean, and also protect it from road debris. It's much easier to wipe off the skid plate than trying to keep the underside of the engine and frame clean. We like the Moose plastic skid plates... The stock footpegs on these bikes are way too small. We always switch to a nicer footpeg that's more durable, larger in size and also provides better traction. We like the ones from DRC and Zeta Racing... The stock mirrors are OK from a functional standpoint, but they don't look very good, especially on a supermoto. We've got the answer with our under-handlebar mounted supermoto mirrors... Kickstand: With the 17" supermoto wheels/tires, you will probably need to source a shorter kick stand, otherwise the bike will stand straight up when you put the stock R model kickstand down. We recommend purchasing an OEM Yamaha kickstand from a 2008-2011 Yamaha WR250X, which is 1" shorter than the R model kickstand and will bolt right on. |
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