Hey, i currently riding 17’ wr450f and absolutely loving it, i ride 60% trials 40% sand, this is my first off road bike and i gear a lot of dudes saying that you shouldn’t ride a 450 as your first dirt bike and 250 is enough and I think I can agree about that now.
I was thinking about getting a 21’-23’ Yz250F but I have heard a lot complaining about their reliability and that you should be replacing the cam chain and piston every 30 hours or so.
now I’m not very mechanic guy and the most I ever did by myself was a valves adjustment and I can’t see myself opening my engine so often, I do maintain my bikes more than enough I never let and dirt into the air box, I clean the air filter after every ride, oil and oil filter every 2-3 rides, I am checking the valves often, can this be enough?
any suggestions for a 250 bike that’s pretty reliable and doesn’t need me to open it every couple rides?
sry for the bad English btw😅
I'd say it all depends on your riding style... If you over-rev on jumps, ride in higher rpms and are generally hard on the bike, you will have to service every bike a little sooner than expected. Sand is very hard on transmission so make sure to inspect transmission more often.
I have experience with YZ250F's since 2014 and all have been really realiable for me. I replace cam chain every 25h (they are really cheap and easy to replace), piston at 50h and con. rod between 70 and 100h. For my riding style, I think those hours are still pretty conservative, but better to be safe than sorry.
Just like with everything, I think you also need to have luck with a purchase. Sometimes, the bike will last you e.g. 150h and sometimes you can have problems with 5 hours...
The more power a motor makes, the high chance of failure it has. So engineers have to balance power / reliability. Yamaha isn’t necessarily unreliable but I’ve seen more of the YZ250f motors lock up than other bikes.
I don’t think that i am a hard rider i kinda a beginner and don’t have a lot of experience in dirt riding, thats one of the reasons i want to go down to a 250 so i could fear less and start learning to ride better, i ride mostly trails because thats what we got in my country sometimes even some small dunes
I would adjust my maintenance according to my riding style as soon as i started riding this thing.
Replacing the timing chain doesn’t look more complicated than adjusting the valves just need a flywheel puller and thats it, replacing the piston is a job that i never did and i don’t know how complicated that would be, do you think the piston rod is necessary every 100 h?
i really liked the bike and i just scared about the maintenance, my 17’ wr450 is bulletproof, never got had any problems, and never did mor than a valves adjustment and even that is rare
Yes i have seen a lot of people saying the bike has problems mostly in the timing chain and stuff, but some people said that it could be dirt that falls into the air box while changing the air filter because of the stupid design they got, some said the lean the bike over on the stand and than take the air filter out so the dirt couldn’t fall inside.
i just can’t think of another 250 which is reliable and pretty good overall.
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In my experience it need a bit more maintainance compared to other 250F. You want to swap the cam chain as a preventive measure every 25-30h even if your on a stock motor. 30h on the piston if you ride hard and lots of deep sand.
Fortunately OEM chain and piston is relatively cheap. Personally the labour is the pain in the ass.
Just so I understand, are you saying the timing chain issue is caused from dirt?
They also had a crank recall and transmission issues. There is a price to pay to make power. The most reliable 250f’s are the Honda and Suzuki but they are also the slowest.
If you want reliability buy a crf250r or rx
30h on piston is a bit excessive imo, but damn i don’t know if i could keep up with that kind of maintenance, top end every 30h is a bit of a hassle for me..
can you suggest an other begginer bike i could learn better on him?
or maybe i could just stay with the wr450 as its not a full 450 motocross beast, i don’t ride a lot of tracks, so the wr is great for the trails and sand rides, at least imo… maybe just get used to it instead of switching to an other bike
I've had six since 09'. Never an issue here. Actually on my 09' I was at Southwick and the drain plug fell out and I did like 3/4 laps and without it. Replaced/flushed oil and never had a problem.
Same thing happened on our 16! Put a new plug in and she was good to go!
We work on a lot of bikes and I would say the Yamaha is one of the toughest. I agree the airbox has caused problems with getting dirt in the intake. We are insanely careful when doing ours and I am sure a piece drops from time to time. Every so many filter changes we remove the screen and clean the box good. Luckily that little lip on the inside catches a lot of it.
I chased a problem with a 15, long thread on here about it. Seems every few years they have a few issues that are more parts related IMO. Like the rod failures and then a recent batch of 22's had a problem with some internal parts, it has been kept pretty quiet.
The nice thing about the yz250f's is that they are the cheapest bike to maintain. A OEM piston is $60, and once you throw in a cam chain, rings, and gaskets, you're at $140.
I have 85 hours on my 2019 yz 250f, I put a new piston in at 65 hours and it still looked brand new.
I still haven't adjusted the valves, but when I was in there for the top end, they were getting on the tighter side. I'm also a B level rider but know plenty of other guys who go way longer than me on maintenance and have no issues at all.
Ive been riding YZ250FX’s since 2015. I generally put about 150 hours on them before replacing with a new one. A level off road. I keep clean air filters in them and change the oil every 5 hours with Shell Rotella. At 100 hours they get piston/rings/cam chain. In 8 years over the course of probably 6 different FX’s I’ve had to put one shim in one valve- other than that absolutely zero issues.
Sounds good its just that i pretty scared to mess something up when doing the top end.
did you replace the cam chain as well with the piston? other than that time at 65h you didn’t touch the piston cam chain or valves?
currently i cant ride because i need to recover from a surgery that i did, gives me more time to find a good deal on a yz250f, maybe i will find 23’ on the market
Sounds like it would be very reliable for you. With proper maintenance you would likely see 80 hours on that bike before you even open it up. The fast guys are the ones that grind them up.
LOLthe Honda 250f has had more issues than anyone not names Kawasaki.
Just for knowledge, is there any sign or something that should tell me when is the time to put new piston or cam chain? Some sign of wear that i could know when to replace the cam chain or when to do a top end?
or maybe its just a guess?
the cam chain should be replaced more often than the piston?
thanks you all for the help, I’ll probably get some of the new Yz250F one of the models from 21’-23’ is there a difference between this models?
There is an oil screen on the side of the case that is very easy to remove. I take a look at it every once in a while to make sure its not packed up with plastic from the cam chain guides.
An hour meter.
Pit Row
When you download the app, it keeps track of the hours. So you can document your oil changes and engine run-time all through the app.
Imo if you are nt a really fast rider get it swap the cam chain after 20 HR s. Get a non OEM replacement. Prox etc. Run it for 60 - 70 hr s change the piston . ( Probably be fine longer anyway) . All the failure s I've heard were cam chain or con rod related. Con rod most of the time was in a tuned bike ,hp piston etc
I am going to buy a used bike with about 20-40h so when i get it i will change to proX cam chain pretty soon and change the piston when i get to 60h
from there:
ProX piston kit + ProX cam chain every 60 sounds good?
When I did my top end I did both the chain and piston. Honestly, I would do both at the same time.
For me, getting the bike torn apart far enough to get at the top end was half the work, and if you are already that far, might as well just do the piston.
I stuck to OEM parts, and I think that Yamaha updated the chain, but don't quote me on that.
I d stick to OEM piston . I am sure pro X is good enough piston too. I d normally stick to OEM the whole time .but that cam chain is junk . ( Unless it's been undated or something)
It was updated in 21
In my country i couldn’t find anywhere to sell oem parts except from the dealership and they price everything twice the price, just for a oem piston its like 150$ without the ring snd pin just the piston…
thats why i considered going on the ProX piston/cam chain and gaskets, my country is pretty pricey, tried looking online for the oem parts but most of the sites i know its out of stock, Rocky Mountains atv dont ship to my country so… yea
I would do those together.
Take a look at what I answered brimx one comment above about the OEM parts
01-13 yz250f is as reliable as they come. 14-23 is no more reliable than any other bike I’d say. Rmz250 is bulletproof, the newest Kawasaki’s seem solid and the 16-22 ktm trio is bullet proof also.
the newest yzs have more people talking of issues than anything since the 04 crfs.
how much are you able to sell your 150 hr 250f's for? I just have it engrained in me that a used "high" hour 250f is not worth anything. Genuinely curious as I have never been a four stroke guy, but may be making the switch in the near future.
What issues?
I have a few buddies that are over 60 hours with zero issues.
I have a 16 with 280 hours and only replaced the clutch. Keep the filter clean and change oil regularly. I run Mobil1 synthetic for motorcycle. Tried Motul and the clutch didn’t like it.
I know it’s past due for a rebuild but …
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