Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

•• orsepower if th ere's no land to ride n ? Du e to its torquey outp u t, smooth rott le response a nd mell o w powerand, th e WR is easy to co ntro l on oose grou nd, whether it's m uddy or la rd-pa cked and dry . The rear wheel cks well and usua lly maintains a: traight line, making it very predicta1e on the trail. 1"he WR 's six-speed wide-rati o nsmission works well and shifting is positive. Despite spe nd ing a lot of ime riding th e WR on so me ex treme ly tight and slow-going kind-of-trail s, the clutch held up well to th e a buse. 'he WR can be started in gear rather si ly , too . Because of its height, the WR200 feels a little strange at first. The " li ttle" 00 feels as tall as it look s a nd might ive riders under five a nd a half- feet tall some problem s, especially when negotiating the WR through ro cky sections ,when foot-dabbing ca n 't be elped. Riders around th e six-foot mark won't have too much trouble dapting to the, long-legged WR and might, in fact, like the roominess feel. Even though th e somewhat large 2.6 gallon gas tank looks uncomfortably wide , it didn't bother any of our testers. All of us agreed that a tank that holds xtra gas is well worth th e minor inconvenience of discomfort. The WR's chassis is also based on the DT200 chassis, which shares pretty much the same geometry as the YZ125. Even though the WR is so tall it 's still omfortable, which has a lot to do with its wide and firm sea t that climbs up and around the gas ca p. This is o ne motorcycle that yo u can move a round on wi th ease. Suspension-wise, the WR200 leaves a lot to be desired. In stock condition, neither the single Showa sh ock rear suspen sion nor th e upsid e d own Kayaba fork is , up to the task o f . aggressive riding, a nd we don ' t mean real aggressiveriding , eithe r. Just good I' fashioned hard riding. When you tart pushing the WR a little harder than normal , casua l trail riding, th e suspension sudden ly becomes harsh and busy. There were times' wh en th e front end (ha nd leba rs) violently defl ect ed to either side wh en crossing a rather large rut or wh oop. T he front end just doesn 't feel very sta ble or predictabl e. The back end feels very much like the front. The initial feeling is plush and cushi o n y, but as soo n as you get on th e ga s, look o u t. That 's wh en th e back end starts feeling -harsh and bouncy. Wh oop-de-doo s a ren't o ne o f the WR's favorite obstacles a nd neither are ruts. We feel that a lot of the WR's harsh feeling over th e wh oops has to do with th e bike' s weight. It's too heav y for the sus pe ns io n. As a .who le, for casual tra il riding the overall sus pe ns io n package is fin e, but for competit ion use it needs so me beefing up. Turning th e WR seemed a little strange a t first , aga in , because o f its tall sea t height, bu t the more we rode the bike the mor e we go t acc us to med to it . We found ourselves si tting fa r up on th e gas ta n k to m ak e the WR turn quickl y on th e tig ht swi tch backs, but since th e sea t is so lo ng a nd relatively flat, it req uires li ttle effort to ge t u p th ere. One thin g nice a bo u t th e WR 's height is th a t ta ller riders won 't be co m p la in ing a bout ba n gin g th eir knees on th e handl ebars wh en leaning over for th e turns. Aga in , th ere's plenty of room on th e WR. Both front a nd rear brakes a re strong. We had no complaints at eithe r end. . Other nice details with the WR200 is that it comes stock with a reseuable The WR comes stock with all the enduro trimmings such as a resettable odometer, hand guards, lighting and kickstand. (Left) Check out the tiny kickstarter lever . Believe it or not it works well , (Below) An electronically operated power-valve system helps give the 199.7cc watercooled engine an extremely smooth powerband, no. .If you're just loo ki ng to have a good time, zeroi ng a few ~hecks an d finish ing, th en th e answer IS yes. Overall, we enjoyed trail rid ing th e WR immensely, but we would think tw ice ab out competing on it in stoc k form, m ainly because o f its less-thanpa r suspe nsion and its o verwe ight p roblem. The moto r, too , cou ld use so me attention, b u t like we said earlier, swapping th e stoc k exhaust system for an afterm arket syst em shou ld be a ll th a t is needed. Work o u t th ese bugs and th e WR200 shouldn ' t be a stra nge r to th e win ner's circle. eN Specifications Yamaha WR200RD mech anical od ometer, hand guards, head a nd tail lig h ts a nd a kick stand. Adding up the scorecard Is th e n ew Ya ma ha WR200RD "enduro-read y" right out of th e cra te? Depends. If you 're looking to overall you r nex t end uro, th en th e a ns wer is (Below) The WR200 weighs a hefty 245 (claimed) pounds. It's not exactl y light. Engine type Liq uid -cooled, two-stro ke, case-in duction reedvalve, sing le Bore x stroke 66.S x 57.0mm Displacement 199.7cc Compression ratio 6.3:I Carburetor :30mm Mikuni Horsepower N /A Torque N /A Starting system Primary kick Ignition CDI Lubrication Premix Transmission Wide-rati o 6-speed Primary drive : . . Straight-cut ge-dr Final driv e #520 chain Final drive rati o 4.000 (52/ 13) Frame sem i double cradle Rak e 2S· Trail. .4.92 in . Front suspension Kayaba, inverted telescopi c fork Fork tube diameter A l mm F':-on t wheel travel I I.S in. Rear suspension Showa, sing le sho ck, linkage, swingarm Rear wheel travel 12.2 in . Front brake 9.65xO in . Disc .12 Rear brake S.66xO IS in . Disc . From tire SO/I00·21 M51 Rear tire Brid gestone 100/100.1S M59 Bridgesto ne Claimed wet weigh t 244.7 Ibs Wheelbase 57.5 in. Seat height 39.0 in. Ground cleara nce 14.4 in. Fuel capacity (incl. reserve) 2.S gal. Colors While w/powder blu e Suggested retail price $3499 25

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