hi guys,
i just bought 2nd hand yamaha R25 v2 2019 from my friend
- current mileage is 21k km
- he just changed tire, set of chain/sproket, engine oil, brake pad before sell it to me
- never done vc

abit profile about me
- never rode clutch and 250cc bike before
- ride scooter around 13years now. ( yamaha ego n then nmax, clocking almost 100k km with both )
- im doing my own engine oil service for my scooter

yesterday, i try to ride is around my neighbourhood, so want to ask few tips/opinion since i never ride this kind of bike before.
so any1 that hv rider 250cc 2cylinder before this

1. the clutch is 1st time for me, so still keep finding gear and learn to upshift and downshift correctly based on engine rpm. and i always change gear around 3-6k rpm. is this good enough ? as i feel this engine is mid-high rpm . the power come after 6-7k rpm. so is ok to change the gear early as i dont want over stress the engine when ride slowly.

2. around 6-8k rpm, i feel the handling is vibrating lil bit and feel my hand abit numb after few minutes.is this normal for R25 ? seem like its vibrate more than my scooter( my nmax is single cylinder, but the engine is at the swing arm, which is normal for scooter and is very smooth). from what i heard, 2 cylinder is better than 1 cylinder. but i think this case is diff since engine mount at diff place( chasis vs swing arm)

3. yesterday i also stuck at stopping at junction due to i cant downshift. i totally forgot for clutch bike, if u cant up/down shift, u need to move the bike lil bit forward/reverse then up/down shift when u stationary. any tips for braking until stopped ? or should i just downshif 1 by 1 until gear 1 and press light brake at the same time ?

4. from the engine oil small circle windows, i see the engine oil bit dark. and from the last service is at 1200km. is this normal ? because i think normally 1k after service, the engine oil should be lil bit dark yellowish. anyways, i think i want to send for service later since its better that way. i like fresh oil and smooth engine.

5. for VC, lots of model V1 of R25 got this kind of issue if not service and u will get valve issue and most utuber i see recommend to do the VC interval of 20-30k km. i see the manual is 10k which bit weird because i think way to early. any tips for this ?

6. any tips i should note for this model R25 v2 ?

thanks

Tips for number 3

Always downshift when you try to slow down or plan to stop.

Once you stop change to neutral.

If you stop and still in high gear. You pretty much screwed 🤣🤣🤣

i wonder why is it that way. There was once i did a hard stop and i got stuck not knowing how to downshft after that in the middle of traffic.
newbie rider here so it takes time to wire my brain to downshift all the way to 1 at the same time not locking the tires during hard breaking....that's tough...

Well it's always been that way.

If you drive moped. It's still possible to downshift when full stop.

With clutch you need to plan ahead. It's hard at first. But you get used to it fast.

Play around with you clutch. Experiment. Having a clutch motorcycle dont means you need to be fast all the time. It teach you how to be in control. Slow when you need to slow. This is what riding is about. It teach you to be discipline. And i dare say that some scooter rider usually ignore this quality aspects.

this what happend to me yest.
stopped at middle of junction, cant drop gear like its stucked. hahaha
then i remember long time ago. i need to move the bike lil bit for the gear to engage.

yeah, my brain already lock with scooter handling. if need to brake and just press both right and left lever. need daily ride to relearn mussle memory.

fuuuu respek

My advice practice clutch friction zone. Develop the muscle memory to where the clutch disengage so you can be smoother with gear change and slow speed maneuver. Go to a parking lot and play around in 1st gear.

Clutched motorcycle you need to be in the habit of downshifting when you need to stop. It adds engine breaking thus helps in slowing you down much faster then brakes alone. Plus being in the correct gear makes it easier to go when the lights change on you. Double if your bike doesn't have a gear indicator. Also try releasing the clutch with every gear as you do this as some gearbox can give you false neutral where it got stuck between gear when you down shift quickly

Plan ahead when taking corners as you need to be in the correct gear before you take the corner. Mid corner shifting can be done if you have more experience.

RPM when changing gear depends on how you want to ride. Always change gear if the engine is straining. Lower rpm (3-4k rpm) should be OK when in relaxed cruising. Be in the powerband when you anticipate more aggressive maneuver like when filtering.

Edit:more tips in downshifting

This post has been edited by Flyinghighaero: Dec 25 2020, 07:45 PM

Not advisable as a bad shift is a guaranteed accident low/high side.
Don't introduce risk unnecessarily.

250cc screamers are expected to have much higher RPM.
Optimal power band is in the 8-10k RPM while peak power is 12k RPM, red lines at 14k and absolute RPM limit is 14.5k.

3-4k is ok if you're in gear 1/2 from standstill, any higher gears the bike's gonna struggle.