Enduro21 heads to deepest Wales to test the 2025 Yamaha WR250F which, with the heavy development programme by the Yamaha motocross department, promises to be leaner, fitter and smarter. Does that make it better for enduro?

Leaner, fitter and smarter – not a life recipe for us but a mantra we’re used to hearing from manufacturers of every kind of product. 

When it comes from a dirt bike manufacturer promising more agility with improved handling and suspension, plus more power, Enduro21 would be lying if it we said the 2025 Yamaha WR250F wasn’t a bike we were pretty keen to swing a leg over it and prove them right or wrong.

Europe is a step behind other parts of the world where the 2025 WR and FX’s were announced last year, and arrived already. The delay has built the hype not just for us but is a fact likely behind some dealers reportedly sold out of this bike already.

A few weeks badgering with messages, and a five-hour drive to the Yamaha Off Road Experience base in mid-Wales, and Enduro21 had a boxfresh WR250F to test on some of the best enduro terrain you’ll find.

2025 WR250F key highlights

• New twin beam frame with 15mm lower tank rail for improved rider feel and lower centre of gravity
• New 10mm shorter KYB suspension for improved stability and shock absorption
• New hand adjusters on the forks for compression
• New lightweight 3-cross spoke rear hub and new 22mm rear axle
• New airbox which improves power and reduces water intake from the front
• New compact bodywork including a slimmer and flatter seat
• New battery and starter motor

Looking at the details of the updates on the ’25 WR250F and it feels like a significant one, even if you’re looking at it right now and wondering how much difference can those things really make?

A smidgeon slimmer, flatter lower, better weight balance and with an overall focus on feel and feedback…these are the things we’re used to reading from a manufacturer.

What we hope for always is a better enduro bike standing in front of us. A bike fit for purpose – a bike ready to race as some might say.

In short, and if you can’t be bothered reading too much, then take this summary: the 2025 Yamaha WR250F was immediately confidence inspiring, easy to ride faster and encouraging in every area of our test at this awesome venue. Particular positives were feel for grip in corners and front end confidence down hills, a strong mid-range and a really settled chassis flying along a beaten-up, fourth gear trail between the trees.

Grip feel and confidence

Braking feel, bump absorption, the stiffness needed to hold itself in-line with enough subtly and feeling for the tyre grip on a rooty, rocky downhill turn into a rut… it took about 15 minutes to be convinced this is the best WR250F by some distance.

Jump onboard the new WR and the first thing you notice is a slimmer bike under you, and a slightly lower one too. Most aspects feel very familiar however, like handlebar shape, the brakes, controls and overall Yamaha-ness which still makes it stand out from other 250Fs out there.

The ’25 WR250F has 50mm slimmer shrouds, a slimmer fuel tank, and a flatter seat which overall puts you in a slightly different position as a rider with more room but a clearly less bulky beast between your legs.

It’s infectious

Immediately on the trail and trying to warm ourselves up in freezing conditions on this test, that slightly different feel from the bike beneath quickly becomes encouraging and clearly Yamaha has created a playful bike ride. You can’t ignore an addictive nature to the new WR. It’s infectious.

An example of what that actually means on the trail by comparison to other standard enduro bikes comes quite quickly in our test. A fastish, bumpy fourth gear blast feels rapid in the fog but confidence is high. 

Take a standard KTM/Husqvarna/GASGAS to this kind of trail, try to ride as fast as you can and soon enough you find the limit of its standard suspension, on a bike which is actively trying to buck and hard to both hold onto and hold a line with.

“I’d happily go to a race this bike as it is,” – Dylan Jones, our guide for the day and former championship and ISDE Trophy rider.

We been there and got the t-shirt with that kind of behaviour which is why the WR250F’s KYB suspension and new chassis felt like something of a revelation. 

It would be an improvement here anyway but with improved bump absorption and lateral flex characteristics, and a development focus to “help soak up the shocks from uneven terrain and provide a smoother ride but also reduce rider fatigue”, the reality in simple terms is more straightforward: you can ride as fast as you like on this bike  without fear of ending up in the trees.

People tell you the Yamaha frame never changes…

The reasons behind that confidence are down to the chassis changes and the KYB suspension. Contrary to popular belief, Yamaha does update the frame of the off-road models regularly in fact to keep up and up development in MXGP and Supercross. The new WR frame derives from that and now features a 15mm lower tank rail with a different rear profile, and a connecting tension tube also dropped by 15mm to lower the bike’s centre of gravity.

The KYB front forks and shock are 10mm shorter in their stroke too, dropping the centre of gravity and reducing the seat height to help the rider. Another detail is a new lightweight three-cross spoke rear hub and 22mm rear axle which, though you might think otherwise, Yamaha says adds to rider feeling and feedback.

Fork top adjustors for compression only

The ’25 model also has fork top adjustors for compression damping, about time you may say, although it would be great to have easy adjustment to rebound on both forks and shock as well to be honest.

While we’re looking at consumer durables and thought behind the end user, Yamaha also added to the list of updates including a new starter motor and a stronger lithium-ion battery which should please owners because, before you ask, they still haven’t quite nailed the hot start issue. It’s better but sometimes the restart takes seconds, not less than a second like it should.

The only other niggle for the end-user is not having handguards as standard. We think some countries, including Australia, fit them as standard but Yamaha doesn’t put them on as original equipment.

Tougher dust seals and slightly larger fork guards are a positive addition to the new bike we must add.

Engine updates

Engine updates on the 2025 WR250F are just as noticeable as the chassis changes although looking at the technical details, they don’t sound like much.

A redesigned “high-efficiency air-management system” draws air from the rear of the airbox, with through ducts in the new side panels, frame, and tank.

You might not feel that so much unless you conduct a back-to-back test on old versus new WR250F but it is worth a closer look. The new airbox design stops water coming in from the front now, only sucking from the back, meaning you don’t get water coming in from the front and can’t introduce water from a jet wash for example.

The 2025 reverse-head engine is a new cam chain design, with a wider chain, revised sprockets and dampers to reduce friction loss which was introduced in the YZ250F last year. Yamaha also boast a newly designed short(er) muffler to help the weight distribution.

But it is a little hard to understand how come the new bike feels so lively in the mid-range. A new ECU tune could be the reason which they say makes the motor smoother and more controllable for low-end grunt and mid-to-high-speed performance.

The truth is the new chassis helps it feel eager but it is amplified by the lively and stronger in the mid-range. It’s a fact you notice most if you start using the two map options on the new cluster switch on the handlebars.

The WR models are tunable via the constantly evolving tuner App which we know from experience is very adaptable in terms of changing the bike to suit moto guys or complete novices.

We played with it on this test, switching between full power and a softer second map which flattened out the mid-range and introduced a little traction control. Depending on your throttle hand feel, that can be a good thing in snotty conditions to help you use the throttle more aggressively without such consequences.

We tried it and preferred the standard, more powerful map to be honest because of that playful nature it brings and the strong mid-range which lets you fire out of corners, up rock or root steps and pop the front wheel up over puddles and holes.

The new incarnation of the App is simplified compared to previous gen with clear, easily selectable settings for different riding levels and conditions making it richer or leaner, more or less traction control and so on.

UK owners take note, due to daft EU/UK rules you can’t currently make all changes yourself on your phone, a dealer has to do it. It is hoped this will change soon.

Worth noting also, if you didn’t know, that unlike some Japanese “enduro” models, the WR remains six-speed.

Enduro21 Verdict

This feels like a short test to write and it is. Simple updates to make a bike a little lower and slimmer, benchmark suspension from KYB, familiar and strong Nissin brakes, controllable four-stroke power which has a bigger kick to it and a few updates aimed at the end-user like a stronger battery and a better airbox design – that’s the 2025 WR250F in a nutshell.

The redesigned starter and a new lithium battery, plus fork top adjusters, feel like we should say “about time” to Yamaha but the fact is they are welcome. So too is the new airbox design which is less liable to see water enter from the front.

We can’t pretend to say details like the new rear axle size of a cross bar in the frame design are easily felt as a rider but it’s true, it was hugely confidence inspiring and “you can ride this bike as fast as you like on this bike straight out the box” is no idle boast.

You have meaningful range to play with in suspension setting and via the power tuner App but it all boils down to a bike which is adaptable to trail or moto track and certainly most things enduro in between.

We say most things because it can still be a minor pain the backside every time you stall it and need a quick restart sometimes it fires up, sometimes it takes a few goes and it makes life harder than it should be sometimes on an uphill, snotty climb.

But by far and away the overriding feeling we had from the moment the engine was warm on our day testing was super-confidence and great handling – the definition of a 250 four-stroke enduro bike.

The only danger is, in coming directly from the YZ250F more obviously than it used to, it could be too racy for some of the traditional WR trail riders. If we’re honest, that’s not our bag here, but can see why the tuner App will be useful to tone down this bike for those guys and girls.  

But if a more racy enduro bike is what floats your boat, look no further. The new WR250F should inspire confidence in everyone who rides one.

We count a couple of decades heading to the Yamaha Off Road Experience to test the latest WR but this really is the best one yet. Try one.

2025 WR250F technical details:

• Lower centre of gravity for attacking tight enduro courses
• Redesigned aluminium bilateral beam frame based on the YZ250F
• Fully adjustable KYB spring fork includes hand-adjustable knob for toolless compression adjustment
• Linkage-type rear suspension features a fully adjustable KYB® shock
• Lower centre of gravity for enhanced manoeuvrability and easier reach to the ground
• A flatter, narrower body design
• 250cc four-stroke engine features a high-spec piston, aggressive cam profiles and forward positioned intake cylinder head layout
• More efficient intake path
• Wrap-around exhaust design
• Compact 44mm Mikuni® throttle body ensures optimum fuel atomization
• Revised Yamaha Power Tuner App
• New four-level selectable Traction Control System controlled through the Power Tuner App
• Wide-ratio six-speed transmission
• Large 270mm front brake disc and 240mm rear disc with a Nissin caliper
• Large-diameter 15-plate cable actuated clutch
• Tapered 1-1/8-inch aluminium handlebars with four-position adjustable handlebar mounts
• 55mm foot pegs
• Compact, lightweight push-button electric start
• Larger 2.0-gallon fuel capacity (compared to YZ250F) with low-fuel indicator
• Advanced computer-aided wheel design shaves weight without sacrificing durability
• Rear wheel features three-cross-spoke pattern
• Dunlop® Geomax MX33 tires
• Radiator fan
• Sealed O-ring chain
• Aluminium side stand
• Composite engine guard
• Embedded graphics
• Enduro-specific features including unique engine and suspension tuning, an H4 headlight, LED taillight, shortened, quieter muffler with spark arrestor

More details: www.yamaha-motor.eu and www.yamahamotorsports.com

Enduro21 did this test at the UK-based Yamaha Off Road Experience centre in Wales: www.yamaha-offroad-experience.co.uk