125-200cc More praise for the WB 165

This bike rules the woods! Starter riding in 98 and have had more bikes than I needed and all dialed in to my riding style. I purchased the WB 165 from Bills and actually had it for sale before I even started it because I pulled a muscle that prevented me from kick starting it without a lot of discomfort. I am sure glad it did not sell and discomfort or not. I won't be selling this hot rod any time soon! . It has the FMF pipe and perfectly tuned Mikuni. Can't imagine a bike running any crisper. The purpose of the bike was to be a dedicated single track bike for the winter riding season at an area where there is very little elevation change. Have a TXC 449 for the summer mountain and dual sport riding. Had just under 100 miles on the 165 before taking it to the mountains yesterday. All I have done so far is adjust the clickers and added the Rekluse LHRB. Yesterday I was almost the oldest and definately the heaviest on the smallest bike. I was worried that the 165 would be down on power at the higher elevations and the Mikuni would not work as well and that I would be holding the group up. All the other bikes were 250 and 300 two stokes a KTM 450 and a dialed in TXC 511.
The 165 was amazing! After I got warmed up and use to the semi slick conditions I had no problem keeping up with the fastest riders up or down. I did not feel any power loss and the Mikuni was crisp all day. The handleing and suspension were also amazing! At the end of the day I was not nearly as tired as on the bigger bike. The guy on the 511 thought I was nuts for buying it and after he rode it, he now wants one. He was googling the classifieds on the way home looking for one! 10 p that night a riding buddy who is a KTM fanatic that rode it at an enduro last week called me and asked if he could be the first to buy it if I sold it. Funny !
I hope the new management at Husky is following this site. If I could be king for a day at Husky. I would hire WB to come in and set up the line to produce this bike. They would sell a lot of them and it would be an imediate and long term cash cow.

I think I remember seeing your bike for sale and I thought - why are you selling it ?
Glad you didnt ? I bet

Glad to hear you're digging it Russ. We'll have to swap bikes next time we ride together so you can try the Lectron.

Did you get the Electron dialed ? What are the results ?

What kind of performance increase will I see with the Electron ? I have the FMF

Going to Taneum again this Sat

Russ my experience is that you gain a little everywhere but the increased throttle response and smmmoooothness is really an improvement. I also get far better gas mileage with the Lectron(29-33 mpg) used to get 20.

Wally, I'm getting a better understanding about the 165 and carbs I think. My thinking is the benefits are very subjective to actual riding styles. For riders who are actually using the bottom half of the RPMs, the 165 is unbeatable, and that seems to be where the Lectron shines too. If you are a clutch slipping WFO pinging off everything at the edge of the trail or track rider, the 165 isn't the hot ticket, a ported 144 is, and the carb seems to make no difference, right? I wouldn't expect a MPG increase from it if the slide is always open fully.

I only have experience riding one, and it just goes dead flat on top after the bottom signs off. It has incredible pull at idle, my stock WR125 can barely move at lower RPMs, the 165 lunges with roll on power down there. I guess it would need more setting up to get what I'd want, pull spread across the entire useable range with decent overrev? It is the perfect bike for the guy who owns it BTW.

I can second that. I have a high-comp cr165, KTM 200 FMF fatty, PWK36 a/s and it absolutely rips up top. I rode some moto the other weekend and I was gobbling up my buddies CRF250R on the straights. And I'm giving up 25lbs to this skinny fool.

The head was cut for race gas, but I've been running pump premium, which is fine in the woods, but I heard some detonation on the track at WOT. I recently found some non-ethanol premium locally and am hoping this makes a difference. If not, I'll mix half premium (non eth) and half 110 leaded. This bike was ridiculously crisp on the race gas, but $11/gal is hard to swallow.

I haven't ridden my 300 since last August because of this bike.

Are there different porting jobs done on these jugs? My friend has the 200 KTM pipe too. He had a turbine core muffler & just swapped to the power core FMF, maybe that will make the difference?

It would be worth it just for the improved mileage. This thing seems to very thirsty. I get about 45 miles to a tank. Not sure of the tank size. Some sites say 1.7 and others 2.25 gal ?
Did you have the Mikuni ? My bike seems to run just like yours did at the NW Gathering

I think even the 165's that are ripping up top aren't pulling the same actual rev's as the 125/144 rippers. It can seem like it has the same type of revs just simply because it starts pulling so hard so much earlier. With the rev'ier pipes I was seeing it pull hard to 11K but not much "pull" above that versus the smaller bores that are pulling to 12-12.5K. With the 38mm Lectron, I am seeing those same rev's with the 200 Fatty pipe. Haven't tried it with the HGS yet.

I can also say that it is much easier for me to keep the 144 singing than the 165 because of the speed penalty of the 165. I just don't have the talent to keep the geared up 165 singing in the proper gear. Doing the same thing on the 144 is typically a gear lower and with lower gearing because it wouldn't pull the long teeth in my neck of the woods(high).

All 165's are not alike. Mine starts pulling early and seems to go forever! Sounds like the Electron will improve the power band. This bike is fast ! I have a 12 TXC 250 with JD Tuner and Jardine exhaust and thought it was a cool bike until I rode the 165. The WB 165 runs circles around the TXC 250 and would not give anything up to the dialed 12 and 13 TXC 310's I have sampled

Russ, you rode mine with the Mikuni. Your tank is 2.5gal! Yes the Lectron will be a huge improvement for you mileage wise. I went from 50 miles to empty to 75 miles or more. I don't pack gas anymore. If it is more than 75 miles then I am dead anyway unless we are just fire roading it around here. OBTW, I just sold my RB Designs Mikuni that worked flawlessly for $150 because I would never use it again.

You say with the 38 Electron. The bike will be crisper,smoother,more power,pull longer and get at least 9 miles a gallon more ?

That is what I am seeing. I think the only difference between the 36 and 38 will show up at higher elevations when the motor wants more but doesn't have quite enough vacuum pressure to get it(top end). Jon isn't getting quite the mileage that I am but is still averaging about 29 mpg last time I think he checked. Obviously Different riders will get different results but you get the idea.

Saturday is the Goldenspike HS down in Packwood.

Like others have said, the Lectorn removes any hesitation or blubber. I've only done 1 ride with it so far but it already feels crisper throughtout the RPM range. And mileage is increased.

Does it pull longer and is there more power ?