125-200cc '09 WR125 updated pipe/silencer report

The updated pipe/silencer combo arrived at Bottone's Thursday 8/27. I was working only about an hour away and had the bike in the van, so I stopped to get it installed. Pipe seems to be made a little more substantial that old one and has a slighly different shape and the silencer is a work of art... all stainless and polished. New pipe drops below shock reservoir and has better clearence at lower rad hose. Bad note is, that oil fill cap removal is tight now. I unfortunately tossed the bike on hardpacked dirt doing a wheelie drill at Shane Watts school, so need to realign the pipe!

Performance wise the pipe makes the bike smoother in the midrange, but I think it has lost some on the bottom and top. I wasn't like... Wow, this is it! I rode the bike for 2 days in the Dirtwise School in all sorts of conditions and it seemed good, but Shane had me ride a much more aggressive 125 style, with lots of clutching. I want to ride it on the same loop with both pipe/silencer combos back to back, to really decide. My bike may be a little different, as the autoclutch seems to take out the "hole" in the mid. When Drew Smith and I swapped bikes at NE Husky Gathering, he confirmed this. I made need to change my jetting to get the most out of the new pipe/silencer combo.

Norman,

Nice info. Keep us informed as you do comparisons and jetting. I also can't wait to send the clutch to EFM.

Thanks,
Walt

I've been riding the bike on familiar loops and need to richen the jetting to get the bottom back. I turned the the air screw in and got immediate improvement. The slight top end loss, is most likely the pipe design to gain mid range. I think raising the needle back to the middle position will make things right.

Hey Norm...with regards to the silencer...how restrictive is it in terms of sound....is it an USFS approved spark arrestor...

looks like another round of jetting changes .....I'm sure you will get it just right...sounds like its close

Scotty says my pipe will be here in a week or so......and just when I had it set up perfect....

But I cant get enough of riding that thing.......

No Sparky and pretty similar to old one. It's a short CR one, not the longer Euro WR one.

Norman did you put your P4 carbon pipe guard back on the new pipe? Just curious if it fit the new pipe. Did my first ride Saturday with my new pipe and couldn't tell a lot of difference either way. Krieg is going to help me with re-jetting. It runs great in the tight woods where I ride. Just want it to be a little more responsive once I hit the open areas or mx tracks.

WRBOB

It still fits, but not as well on head pipe section. It's a slightly modified P3 KTM guard. P3 was waiting for the final pipe design to make an '09 WR125 mold.

I moved the needle clip back to the middle position (3rd from top) and bike runs well. I could put the air screw back to 1.5 and no bog when I open the throttle and better mid and top. I'll hopefully ride it some more this week.

Present settings.... 4.0 slide, Power Up needle, clip 3rd from top, 450 main, 45 pilot, air screw 1.5. Temp 70F, 1200' Elevation.

Thanks for the update Norman,

Sounds like it helps and your setup is very similar to WRBobs. I get my pipe by UPS tomorrow. Can't wait to try it.

Walt

I haven't tried it yet. In the past it would have been the first thing I would have changed. Fran's mechanic Harvey, who is a 125/144 guy through and through, absolutely insists that I shouldn't drop the pilot size. I rode a lot of slow miles, in hot humid weather arrowing trail for my club's enduro and never fouled a plug with the 45 pilot.

I agree, just based on numbers, on the whole these new TMXx's are running significantly larger jets than the old one's. Then again I have not had the pleasure of riding one of the new tiddlers, yet.

I am guessing due to all the variations of powervalve performance, the jetting on these bikes isn't very synonymous. At least they are running better than they did.