125-200cc WR125: You Guys Weren't Kidding!

Ok, so I've heard all the rantings and ravings about the WR125...lots of bottom end, pulls long and hard, chugs up hills without the clutch, makes beginner women ride better than ever, handles better than anything out there, weighs less than a mountainbike, will make me 5'9" and world champion, yada, yada, yada. Well, as a 125 rider of 20+ years I, of course, had to call "bullcrap" on all of it. But in the back of my mind, there was always a shadow of doubt. What if there's something to it? What if they're telling the truth? I mean, they can't all be lying...can they?

The final straw was seeing a used `09 WR125 for sale for a decent price. Not knowing what the bike was really like, I couldn't jump on it in time. I need a new lightweight 2-stroke with good suspension to ride in the gnarly stuff. I decided to drop Jsleeper (Joshua) a PM and humbly ask him if I could ride his wife's WR. He is the only person I know of in NorCal with a WR. I felt kinda like an idiot asking a total stranger if I could ride bike, but he was very gracious and invited me to meet him at Hollister on Saturday. So I did

Eric and I took off for a ride by ourselves (after turning around and seeing Joshua gone) and I was on my CR125 so I could get a more direct comparison of the motors/weight/etc. I haven't ridden real trails in a while, not since the whole ankle thing anyway, and I haven't ridden my CR in over a year! I immediately had a huge smile on my face and realized that I really need to get back to my "roots" and start riding more single track. I felt alive and energized and was having a total blast on my CR. I guess I'd forgotten how much fun a tiny little bike can be

Anyway, we came back and we all switched bikes and the test ride began.

Wow...all I can say is you guys weren't kidding! I rode that WR125 about 25 miles (according to Eric's GPS) and I still have a hard time believing it even though I now know all that stuff is true It was everything you guys said...and more! Well, except the 5'9" and world champion part...but I think that happens when I get the registration in the mail. I had such a good time riding that bike! It was way too tall for me and I fell over in the greasy mud once (well, twice, but I was having a hard time standing up in the super-slick mud so Eric picked it up from the grassy side of the quagmire) but picking it up was a breeze. It feels as light as my CR125, for sure. It handles like a dream, even though the front end felt a little stiff. I was able to put it where I wanted it and it never did anything untoward or unexpected. Joshua had it running really clean, too, no flat spots anywhere

I followed Joshua while he rode Eric's DE300, and Eric was behind me on my CR125. I told him I wanted to go up a hill so he took me to this fairly short but ugly climb. It would have been no problem in the dry but it was a greasy chunked-up mess. I thought "uh-oh...here we go...here's where the bottom falls out of the fairytale" but much to my surprise, I made it all the way up the hill sans clutch and drama I heard Eric revving and spinning and going all over the place behind me while I putted up the hill in amazement. I wasn't exactly going Mach I when I got to the top, but I made it with almost no effort at all. Incredible. No wheelspin whatsoever when I didn't want any, yet I could spin it up in the corners with a little bit of clutch work whenever I wanted. It takes more effort than my CR, of course, and it doesn't exactly leap off of stuff like my CR, but that's to be expected since it isn't a MX bike, and those are the very things that make it easy to ride in the gnarly stuff. It has a really neutral feel about it, not a lot of front end bias or anything weird.

I really would have liked to ride it on Troll Trail (the best trail at Hollister, tight and rocky) but the bike was really tall for me. When I'd slide off the side and get one foot down the other foot was too far in the air to reach the rear brake or the shifter. We did ride Peat's Path, though, which is a good trail to ride if you want to see how a bike handles rough terrain. This trail is long and whooped out and twisty with lots of elevation changes and braking bumps. It's been raining here for weeks, and was raining in the morning, and it was pretty sloppy. I tried to ride the WR like I would ride a trials bike, nice and slow and on the pegs just to see how easy it would be to pick my way through the nasty (I'm thinking Downieville, 5MOH, Dusy Ershim, etc) and the bike performed flawlessly. The only thing that would have made it better would have been to have the suspension dialed in for me...but that's a given on any bike I ride

Eric rode the bike and thought it could use more motor...of course When he thinks of torque he thinks of his monster GasGas 300 motor. I'd have one of those, too, if they weighed what the WR125 weighed He really liked it, though, and agreed that it would probably work really well for my needs.

All in all, I was super-impressed with the bike. I was super-impressed with Joshua and his really sweet wife, too Very nice, mellow people, and I very much enjoyed riding with Joshua and hanging around and talking to his wife and daughter. I'd like to ride with them again sometime soon!

Big thanks to you, Joshua! You represent the Husky community very well, and you'll represent the CafeHusky community even better now, what with your authentic 1st-generation CafeHusky T-shirt If there's anything we can do in return for you, please do not hesitate to ask And if you want to ride the GasGas again, or the 250 GasGas, I'm sure we could work something out

As for the rest of you WR125 riders that have been telling us all how great they are, you jerks are probably going to end up costing me a lot of money I don't have right now...thanks alot!




WoodsChick

Whaaaaa.....now I wanna ride one more than ever. (sniffle)

Told ya Get one and lower it and put a 144 kit on it. Should be the perfect shorty bike. Still very much loving mine. It's neck and neck with the 2010 TXC250 on the "Love it" scale.

I imagine sales for WR 125 just went up.

Hey Woodsie, I'm glad you got to test one out finally. They are a great little bike. You could always have the suspension lowered just a bit.
Riding a WR125 around all day won't make you feel whipped come night fall either.

How many will that make stuff into your garage...

I guess that I'm luckythat nobody has one down here in Southern California to ride, or I'd probably have to take up robbing banks to afford to buy one.

No you don't. Not unless you've got a pile of money sitting in the bank and have nothing better to do with it. "Whaaaaa" is right...

You're right. You did tell me so But I think my race-winning days are behind me But, you know......that 125 would be really easy to ride in an enduro...and I wouldn't get so tired since it's so tiny...and I'd get a huge kick out of beating up on some bigger motors...hmm...

Stay away from me Ajaxauto! You're a bad influence

Yep Lower it, revalve it, throw a 144 kit in there and I would be Queen of the Realm, for sure! I could scream "Let `em eat cake!" as I cross the finish line Ok, that's it...I ain't listening to you anymore, either, Kelly. You're a bad influence, too

Well, if one more goes in, one is going to have to come out. My nephew has been eyeing my CR125, so I'm sure I could manage it somehow

I was wondering if I was going to get away with keeping that one under my hat It was totally my fault. I came over on you and when I hauled on the binders (very nice brakes, by the way) to keep from hitting you, I didn't have time to slide off the seat and get my foot down. As a consequence I fell over kinda hard. It must have been funny for you to look back and see the bike on the trail but not see me anywhere! I was busy climbing back up the side of the hill. Good thing there was a ton of sage to keep me from tumbling to the bottom By the way, folks, that was the easiest section of trail we'd ridden all day

I can't say "thank-you" enough, Joshua. I really appreciate your graciousness...although if it hadn't been for you (and all the other WR125 riders here) I wouldn't be looking for change in the couch cushions right now I think each and every one of you "drug pushers" should donate to my "WoodsChick Needs A Fix" fund



JunkieChick

That's it...rub it in, Mister

What did you order? Would have been nice to get it on your birthday

<...sigh...> Well, there goes Plan B



Hey, Kelly! You don't really need a 125 and a 250, do you?? :devil:

Oddly enough...it is exactly 12 steps from my back door to my garage We've got way too many bikes in the garage. The only one I don't ride much anymore is the GSXR750, but I've had it 17 years.

Hey! You've got a 125, too! LaLaLa...I'm not listening to you anymore either!!

It's never enough, I'm afraid.




WoodsChick

Yeah, now you tell me Why didn't you stop me when you had the chance??

Luckily my guy is supporting my decision. We don't bat an eye when one of us needs bikes or pipes or boots or fancy Husqvarna jackets from England We'll sit around and discuss a new refrigerator or whirlpool tub upgrade, but the bike-related decisions were pretty much agreed upon when we said "I do" almost 18 years ago

Well, I'll probably have a WR125 one of these days, and I'll for sure want to take it to Kennedy Meadows, and I'll invite you to come, too, of course, and then I'll encourage you to take it for a ride because, well, that's what friends do, and then you'll love it and then we'll all read about you in the paper

I still have my 125, and I still really enjoy riding it. I just need something a little less motocrossy for the trailriding I like to do. I got a 4-stroke in 2001 but it never really did it for me. I enjoy my 450 EXC, but it's more for dualsporty type stuff. I ride it on the trails a lot, but a 450 4-stroke isn't my first choice in a dirt bike for sure. I know a ton of folks that went 4-stroke but have since returned to the fold. You just can't beat the power-to-weight ration and they're much cheaper/easier to maintain.




WoodsChick