Beast Mode - WR500 Yamaha

BASS Brake Activated Suspension System

So I worked on it some tonight and got it where I think I am going to take it for a ride tomorrow. Bike actually feels good riding it around. Comfortable, does not feel heavy, gobs of instant wheelies if wanted. Like most big bore 2 strokes you ride them a gear or two high and then they feel like 4 strokes with a bunch of smoother grunt. Rev it much past the lower mid and things get weird fast and the bike buzzes you to let you know that pain is in your near future. It starts crazy easy, thats refreshing as I thought the opposite was going to be true. The clutch pull is smooth and relatively light as well, another bonus I was not expecting. Other than the rowdy obnoxious motor the bike feels pretty modern. Its a weird blend of old and new like a Buell Going to be fun to ride.

I survived it. And the bike started first kick and ran great all day and did not lose any parts or brake anything including me. Success. I have been riding the AJP PR5 almost exclusively for the last 1500 miles of trail. It is s docile 30hp surgical scalpel. This bike is pretty much the complete opposite of that. Vibrates like crazy, makes stupid power everywhere and is much bigger and much less scalpel feeling. That said it surprised me how well it worked after adapting to it. The motor, while having about 30 more HP than I need can be made to be quite useful in the tight woods if you ride it 2-3 gears high and ride it at about 400 rpm. It is nearly impossible to stall and will pull hard from walking speed in 4th. So the smart thing to do is ride tight trail in 4th and just grunt it around. Doing so yields some very good results. It feels like it has an autoclutch and you hardly ever need to use the clutch at all. Took a while to reset all my thinking on how to ride and adapt to this new scenario. After I sorted how to ride the motor the rest of the bike is actually pretty good. It handles a little Yamaha slow but also was surprisingly flickable in the tight stuff. Brakes are very good. The suspension while acceptable needs some love. The forks will get new oil at the correct level ASAP. They worked OK but feel new oil at the right level might make them much better. No idea whats in there now. The rear suspension feels OK but the biggest hinderance to this whole experience was the rear tire. It has a half gone Kenda southwick (which I have hated in the past) with a old moose bib in it. Its probably the worst rear tire setup I have ever used. Feels flat on smooth stuff and feels like a solid fork lift tire when it hits stuff and deflects like CRAZY. Swapping this out for a real tire and tube is going to be huge on this bike. I got the rear suspension to work OK but with that tire and moose it is never going to be close to right. That rear tire and the saggy footpegs were the biggest issues. Just addressing those is going to make the bike far better. The motor makes crazy good power everywhere and I tried to keep it in the low end almost all day. The mid and top are nearly uncontrollable on the trails we rode. Even in the more open areas is was a lot. The vibs are a lot but as I rode it way down low they really did not both me to much. The ergonomics and feel of the bike are semi modern and work fine. So in the end I had fun on it, kept my pecking order in the group (Yz250 / GG250) and felt good on it given the few things that need addressed. My arms felt much more worked, it drank a lot of fuel, and I hated the rear tire but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked. I'll fix the rear tire and footpeg issues ASAP and might ride it again sunday. I'd really like to try a Lectron on this bike. Fun stuff.



Buddy Travis had a big gash in his front tire so changed that before we left...



Blakes sexy GG. He just installed a Lectron he got from me and LOVED it. bike gained bottom and mid, runs smoother, and got way better milage.



Was a beautiful day...

Not the best bike ever but far from the worst I have ridden.

Just got in form working on it this evening. New footpegs, new rear tire, tube and rimlock. Correct MX front plate. New fork oil. There was zero static sag and only 3 inches of ride sag. Dropped it to 4 inches and static is right were it needs to be. Lectron ordered. Going to be so much better next ride. Looking forward to it.

There is just something about a simple air cooled 2 stroke in a modern frame...

I was misguided then as I asked around and everyone feels the black zipties are faster. Will have to try both. I am running the red powerband though.

Taking my son out today. He loves the old IT.