250-500cc Got my new 09 WR250

Hey, I finally got my new 09 WR250 last week! My nearest dealer is a couple of hours away and a couple of weeks prior, I was in his area and stopped in. Husky had just sent him new prices on the 09's and the deal was too good to pass up, so I ordered one.

Where I live in western Wyoming, the trails won't be snow free for awhile yet so I stopped on the way home from the dealer in Idaho to ride it for a bit. What I thought would be a 15 minute ride after warming it up ended up being about an hour. Then I got on it for awhile last night for my second break-in ride. My initial impression is that I really like the way it handles. I like the feel of the steering and it feels pretty light when riding it. The shock feels good and the fork feels a little stiffer than I'm used to, but I know it needs to break in some and I need to set my sag, so I'll wait to pass judgement on that. I can't wait to get this bike set up and really ride it.

I do have some work to do on the jetting though, since I'm at 6000 ft. I dropped the needle one clip to the second from top and I ordered a bunch of jets today. I suppose it's set up for sea level as delivered (my dealer didn't change anything). It was rich off the bottom, but to about 1/3 throttle it seemed OK, then way too rich from there to wide open. It didn't blubber badly or anything, but it did lack power and left alot of spooge on the silencer for a 20 minute ride. The first ride was at 5,000 ft and I took it up to maybe half throttle. Then last night after a good warm-up ran it pretty good through the gears to wide open several times. I am going to try and jet the TMX carb and see how it goes before switching to a Keihin like so many of you have. I like a challenge...what can I say. I do have a KTM 250XCW with an SX head that runs really strong, so it has a high standard to meet. We'll see...

I ordered a shop manual today and searched around here for some torque specs to get me started. The OM does leave alot to be desired. I have a few questions.

1. What is the float height spec? The manual says g 6,1 or something like that. Does that mean the float height should be 6.1mm?

2. I set the torque on the fork clamps at 22Nm upper and 16Nm lower. Is this in the ballpark? I've read some varied comments on this.

3. Does anyone have experience jetting the TMX for 6000 ft? I'd be interested in hearing what you ended up with. Is it possible that I will need to raise the clip on the needle one more to the top?

Congrats! I am actually kicking around the idea of picking up a 250 myself so please let me know what you think when it's broken in and the jetting is sorted. I am sure someone can help with the jetting. Enjoy.

Utopia,

Does the 09 WR250 have the old TMX or the new smaller TMX?

Walt

I'm not sure I would recognize the difference. I do need to lift the tank to rotate it and the bottom is pretty close to the engine case, so i'm thinking it is the larger one.

All '09 2 strokes went to what you call a TMXX carb.

I have the WR300 and ran the TMX for a while. I live just over 5K' and routinely ride up to about 10K' and anything in between. I've since swapped out the Mikuni for a Keihin PWK38, but here is how my TMX was jetted, it might be a good starting point:
main 410 (default should be 460)
pilot 32.5 (default is 35, IIRC)
needle - Husky "full power" needle in 2nd clip position from top
float height - didn't mess w/ it for fear of screwing it up

I got the jets and the needle from Hall's.

It seemed to run well enough, but I guess I moved into the camp that feels the Mikuni is too temperamental. I barely got 10 hours on it before my bike was out of commission for 3 months with a transmission issue. Missed all that fun, Fall riding. During the winter months, I wedged in the Keihin and I'm quite happy with that now. Seems to be a pretty popular upgrade.

Enjoy!

Thanks BikeSDP. Those are the same elevations that I ride at. Mostly 6k to 10k ft but occasionally down to 4k if I go to Idaho or Moab.

I don't know much about the "full power" needle. How is performance different from the stock needle?

Give the guys @ Hall's a call 217.789.0107 . They can hook you up with the Mikuni jets and the jet needle for about $50 and will have it to you in 3 days. They'll even substite leaner jets for you based on elevation.

I only did one ride with stock jetting and needle, so I really am not sure of the difference in the needles. The part number for the kit is 8000H1012 and is mentioned in this thread.

I'm trying remember if the jetting is the same on the 250 and 300....