250-500cc ...."porky" report...

his break-in ride, my first in 2 years (53yo ,5'6", 155#). hit the mountains, good mix of long steep stuff, rock gardens, forest whoops, fast n slow sections. been warming some. expected some snow still. didnt expect so much ice. miles of it. i crashed. 2 big face plants on some ice filled ruts coming down looong steep canyons. nothing you can do. yer along for the ride at that point. bam-scriiiiisssssh! weeee! wham! ok, at the bottom now. stayed within my limits. only one out up there. had a great time. burned 2 gallons. not an easy ride due to ice. it was treacherous. goose egg on rt elbow. ow.

bike stuff-
motor: not sure where to start. its awesome. chugs, grunts and shreds. just wow. best off road engine ive ridden. starts first or second kick, in and out of gear- well, in gear if yer lever aint a pretzel from icy slapdowns. ran great. sit down a twist. unreal, it just motors over everything. 2-300' pitches with steps, rocks, whatever. literally sit down in second, twist and grab third, laugh at how easy it is. i had to stop and get my self stuck on purpose to try the midhill restart stuff. then swapped on a steep pitch on ice, very steep section and tried it for real. slid down to some dryer stuff, got it lit and crossed over tip-toeing then slipped into a dry rut and disapeared. dial a wheelie too. try and stop this thing. if this motor dont make ya smile, yer dead.

suspension: excellent compromise of enduro and fast stuff. its really good in rocks and on roots and stuff, even with the FIM rubber it got grip most of the time if it wasnt dry. i spent 30 seconds just doing a basic set up check, it was sorta in the ball park, so i rode. itl only get better. IMS bleeders from Kel worked a treat on the monster elevation changes. psssssht! dont leave home with out them.

overall- my 09 wr125 was really good. really, really good. i was fast on it. this 2012 wr300 is 14,000 lightyears better. its geared nicely for the mountains, and with a 14th c/s swap it'll work in the fast stuff. drop what yer riding and go buy one. right freaking now. im down to one bike now and could not be happier.

pics:

porky says im not fat enough! first climb got a few miles in, felt ok but i thought i heard it rattle once. pulled the plug it was a bit lean. swapped main, still the same ,back down the mountian to fatten it up, dropped the clip all the way and in with the AS a half turn. bingo. pulled the pipe just to be on the safe side and take a peak at the bullet, it was fine. we have a lot of alcohol in our gas. so thats an issue. glad it wasnt an air leak. needs a fatter needle than the GAY. ran fine all day. crispy and barky. sounds awesome.


Chillin in a clearing- this one's for Kelly. see? we got trees here! bout the only spot there wasnt ice.


crappy climbs ,ice 'n rocks. oh what fun. the 300 motor? wouldnt have traded it for anything. if there was grip ,it would find it. the decents sucked. i need studs.


winter wonderland. oh joy of freakin joys. yes there's ice under it.

icy river crossing. go in here, fugettabout it. i think i ran over the titanic cuz my assend really kicked over over something! cool purple dealio:


a leaf frozen in time, not posed, like im gona walk out there and do that in the ice! right! i freakin hate ice! lol. see if you can find it in the prior pic:


sun always shines on my husky donchano. just made it back for sundown, but 500' from the truck? hit reserve right there and it died so i left it and took a pic. so i guess there is a way to stop this bike. lol!:


testing the bashy i got from Kelly/Mikee @ Motosportz. thanks for rushing that out to me boys, my ride woulda ended early in the back country w/o it. you can clearly see the water pump bolt imprint from the inside, almost center of the 'ear'. pretty good BADWANG! OH SH***!! i go too fast in all the wrong places:


thats it for me. im like Rob, dont do a lota picher takin'. so enjoy and see ya on the trail kids. time for a soak in the jacuzzi!

wow, that bash plate took a bashing! glad you had it on!!!

yeh, hehehe, kicked my rear off the trail, then a bush knocked me back on....braaap! our boys at Motosportz hooked me up. got it on last minute. happened in the backcountry. id'a still be walking out instead of typing if i didnt have it on. nerf bar took a hit too. i got some work to do tomorrow lol.

here's a tech tidbit for the day: the t-tool handle is hollow. wrap some jets in saran wrap n stuff em in there, then stuff in the rubber plugs and hit it! and the combo plug wrench handle has 3 sizes for spoke nipples and one is a 6mm that works for jets. super handy stuff! guess who makes the combo spark plug wrench!?

Sounds like a great ride! My son in law has a 13 300. Really has a loud bark to it.
I'm surprised to hear you say the suspension is ok at your weight.

Is yours a 2012 or a 2013? What pilot do you have in there?

Glad you like it.

The combo spark plug wrench / spoke wrench looks like an old kawasaki one I had with a kdx.

I have a strong feeling that this metering rod carb craze that we see, is going to change how we feel about all the carbed bikes, two and four strokes. I'm so happy with the 165 that I don't lust to ride the six speed WR 250 anymore.. But with a Lectron? Hmmm-
My 165 Lectron starts first swipe through cold. It never did that with a very well tuned RB moded 38PWK.

.

That's why I was asking about his jetting setup. Some of the specs/parts sheets make it look like the 300s are supposed to have a 35 pilot, even though mine (and many/all others?) came with a 45.

I think starting is a very personal thing too; I know some older guys who are really good at starting big 2-strokes, probably from riding big 2-strokes in the 70s...

Slip and slides are for the grand kids! Gotta use them feet as outriggers!

you callin me fat???
i'd say it's a good compromise for fast (subjective) 'n slow stuff. it pops me in the butt once in a while in the super-deep forrest rockers. two click in on reb damper would solve it. but im too lazy to adjust it. just lean back n twist. for hard enduro i'd soften the springs up and open the rebound dampers. for faster stuff vice versa. dampers are good to go. for general mountain riding id say it's pretty close.
if yer AA fast out west or much bigger than me yer gona want stiffer springs. i stuffed the front into some pretty big ledges and stuff. i bottomed it once and it wasnt violent. rest of the stabbings it used up all but maybe 8mm of travel. pretty cool.

its a 2012 WR300. my jetting is the 45PJ, 440M, GAY Ndl clip all the way on last spot, AS 1 turn out, 4500' and up. need a fatter needle. no clue what start jet's in it. it's starts fine. if yer shorter than me i could see an issue starting it, or any dirtbike. but if ya leg it right it lights right up. not sure what all the boohooing is about starting it. i like my slow speeds on the cusp of rich but not fat. if you flog your motor then chop it and start plonking in the nasty stuff it's now running off the smaller circuits. give that hot piston something to drink.
the OM jetting spec is way off, those are for baseline only anyways ive come to find. itl get ya running but, trust yer instincts and read that plug BEFORE truolbe starts. most OM spec is fine for no-load heat cycles. not for hammering. esp if you have alcohol in your fuel.

best out of the box bike ever. and it has lights and a kick-stand!

winnuh winnuh chicken dinnah!

feet go on the pegs mister mann. paddling is fer boats. dont help none on 40% grade ruts fulla ice. titanic's anchor wouldnt have stopped these slides. oh it was the matterhorn all the way to the bottom. luckilly the up side of these was south facing so- i got a lil purchase. PANG-PANG-PAPANG-PUPPUPPUPPUP...tip-toeing on the two-stroke feathering the clutch sounds.

yup. big time.

anyone know how ta get them black "O" two-stroke muffler stains out sheets n stuff?

***** NOTICE: and before i forget. use a MOTO boot if you are even thinking of starting one of these. you will regret if you dont and it pops back. it aint a CR500, but it'll bust your foot clean in two if you misleg it and crack that gas cold with the starter on etc while wearing a sneaker. it did it once to me first time i tried to start it. aint really done it since. thinking it was just a dry carb/lean out/rider error thingy but im glad i had my Gaerne boot on.

Check your bike for air leaks. Mine was WAY rich on a 45 pilot, I went down to a 40 and then a 35 and it ran real nice. Even with the 35 pilot I had the air screw about 1.5-2 turns out, so I don't think it was too lean.

Makes the starting less tempramental and the lessens the kickback too!

no air leaks so far. runs good, starts ok too. i can climb lonoooong steep in second leaning hard on the middle of the meat band (itts so nice having TORQUE), not a ping during or after the chop at the top, if there was an air leak during that? it'd squeak or run away after a load like that. i'd be willing to wager our Calif gas is pert near the legal limit of ethanol and about as bad as you can get. it came with the 45 PJ from the dealer so...seems to like it. porky wants ta eat so...porky gets. trigger was the same. my jetting was richer than others here. gona try another needle and start over.