Video By: Alec Dare
After enjoying a major overhaul last year, the Yamaha WR250F returns for 2021 with cosmetic changes including a blue headlight, blue side number plates, black fork guards, and new graphics. We did not get the opportunity to test the updated WR250F last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but took delivery of the 2021 model recently to dyno, weigh, measure, and test the latest iteration of Yamaha’s 250cc four-stroke enduro motorcycle.
The WR250F is trail-focused, as opposed to a bike that is designed to be able to cross over from the trails to the motocross track like the YZ250FX off-road racer. Although not California green-sticker eligible like it has been in years past, the WR250F comes with different ECU tuning than the YZ250F and YZ250FX, and features a Forestry Service-compliant spark arrestor-equipped muffler. The bike is California red-sticker eligible and features quite a few enduro-specific components that are not featured on the YZ250FX in stock trim including a multifunction enduro meter, radiator fan, headlight, and taillight.
2021 marks the first time we have run a WR250F on the Dirt Rider dyno, so we were extra curious to see how the bLU cRU’s trail-focused 250 four-stroke would perform, especially in comparison to the YZ250F in spite of the different engine and ECU settings and mufflers between them. When all was said and done, the WR250F spun 36.1 hp at 12,000 rpm and 17.9 pound-feet of torque at 8,100 rpm, which is 2.9 less peak horsepower and only 0.1 less pound-feet of torque than the YZ250F at peak.
