All 2st New CR125 or WR250 for a novice woods rider?

I will respond to that with a quote from a friend of mine, he is a multi time Six Days competitor...

"Great lap Jake! I'm watching it thinking "I'm not sure I'd take that line" but then thought that I'm not on a 125 2 stroke either! Love that sound and I loved watching you pass bigger bikes. That's got to piss them off! You've been schooled!"

Later,

no my hats off to you. i was just wondering if on some of those lines you could take some more bikes..
that thing changes revvs quickly tho

One thing not mentioned is noise. Not to others but you. Both are quiet 500 feet away but all the revving on the 125 is loud to me anyway. The lugging capability of the 250 is excellent and produces less noise to the rider. I wasn't too aware of this until I finally got my wr.
The dated frame design will still out handle most other bikes on the trail. I had a Ktm 200 which I liked but experienced disbelief from others that it was suitable for a big guy. Provided humor that while satisfying - isn't as fun as the 250 - JMO.

I have both. Started back Trail riding at 47after 30 years without an Offroad bike. bought a 2002 husky cr250. Rode it and learned for 3 years. Bought a 2009 wr144 last summer and found I was faster and didnt get as tired on the 144. It kind of changed the game for me and my race results showed it. I love the 250, it is easy to lug and be lazy on. The 144 keeps me jacked up and busy all the time riding it. I find it way more fun. That being said I wish I could ride the 250 like the 144. I think that the 250 was the right way to learn.

I appreciate all the insight and I was going back an forth for the last couple days, and just when I thought I had my mind made up I'd read another post and it would change again. I can tell this is a great community and I was surprised at all the responses. It's also great to have support like this when buying a "niche" brand. It's like with my RC8R, if I had to rely on my local KTM dealer I'd be in trouble. Since there are only 3 RC8's in town and they see them so rarely it took them 30 minutes to figure out what oil filter I needed.

In the end I decided to go with the 125. With the 144 kit and a few little mods to make it more woods friendly I think it'll be just the fun type bike I'm looking for. I've got some really tight woods behind my house and I think the light weight and nimbleness of the smaller bike will work well back there. If I end up wanting a bigger bike down the road I think my wife could handle the 125/144 so there is always that option.

I've got an appointment to fill out the paperwork this afternoon.

They're great bikes! This is a great place to learn all things Husky and I relied heavily on my dealer (Halls) who knows there stuff, fortunately, and they also treat me really well! Like I said earlier you can't go wrong with either bike. Feel good about your choice because its a fun bike and will probably surprise you with the chug the little guy can put out!
Do a good once over on it and break it in nice and you'll have a solid bike! Enjoy!

Dang I was too late to get my vote in but it looks like you read my mind . Great choice and I know you are gonna love it; enjoy.

Got it home!

Didn't realize it has a screw type petcock with no reserve.

Congrats. MX bikes usually don't have reserve.

WR petcock w/reserve should bolt on right?

Yes the other style fits just fine.

I found out if you pull your kicker off and clock it forward as far as you can with out rubbing on everything it helps with getting a more solid kick to start it....even though you could start it with your hand, lol.

Awesome!

IMO, no stock bike is sexier than a Husky....not the KTM husky, the real husky.

im with you chums did that on my bike too! makes kickstart look a bit straighter too(looks like it leans too far back to me) & you get that little bit extra throw when kicking. AUS & Canada model WRs come with the proper petcock with on/off/res. wouldn't be hard to track one down & be fairly cheap id imagine. nice rig Josh love them black rims & graphics on the 14s

I'll certainly be making this change. With no reserve and the opaque black tank it'll only be a matter of time before I'd be walking out of the woods.

Thanks for the tip.


Here's a couple of newbie 2st questions: I've only had a chance to ride the bike around my house for 15-20 minutes so far (work and travel) but one thing I found was that it will not idle at all.

I figured this was due to either the "fat" break in ratio but after doing a little googling I'm not sure. Also the bike doesn't run crisply in the middle 1/3 of the throttle, it seems fine right off the bottom and good at 3/4+. The 2st "guru" at the dealer I talked to when I picked the bike up told me to expect that because of the fat mix they put in the bikes for break in. He told me to go to 40:1 after the first tank.

Does it seem likely that the fat mix is causing the bike to not want to idle and bog or is it more likely a jetting issue?

And secondly (and I hope I'm not opening up a can of worms here) is 40:1 good?

40:1 is fine if you use good oil. You can't get a true assessment on jetting until you find the mix ratio you want to use. Run ALL of the break-in premix through the bike, then put in 40:1 and evaluate the jetting from there, and take note of the temperature. I will say that I run 32:1 and have never had any issues one way or another (knock on wood).

I should add that I've never ridden a 2 stroke that ran smoothly from bottom the whole way to top. There's always a sputter right before the 'power band'. That's because the power valves are opening. It's common, don't confuse it with jetting issues.

I probably wouldn't mess with jetting until you have the tank full of gas that you will normally use mixed with the oil that you will normally use at the ratio you will normally use. That being said I went to a lectron because im jetting handicapped and don't want to deal with it! When you get to the point where you've got the mix you will be running there is a carb database on here with all kinds of settings that have worked for people that might help your jetting if it indeed needs it after the first tank is ran through.

As far as ratio the factory recommends 40:1. I personally run 44:1 because my bike runs better and I don't have any spooge but I use a good full synthetic oil as well. I have a friend who has 11,000 miles on his kdx original piston and only ever used the very cheapest Walmart oil, you will never see me use it but most synthetic oil these days is fairly good. I'd recommend finding a good mototcycle specific oil that you can always get someplace local if you need some in a pinch. I use Klotz R3 some people love it some hate it and you will find that with most peoples opinion on oil so I'd find something that makes you feel confident and go with it.