TESTED: YAMAHA’S LANDMARK 2025 WR250F

Since it first appeared in 2001, Yamaha’s WR250F has consistently been the biggest-selling 250cc enduro model in Australia. But that sales success hasn’t stopped it coming in for a complete ‘new platform’ overhaul for 2025. Just as we saw with its 450cc big brother a year ago, the 2025-model WR250F gets sweeping changes to chassis, suspension, bodywork, engine and transmission. It’s lighter and slimmer and gets another round of mass centralisation measures to improve agility. And the upgrades to its Power Tuner app creates a wider range of adjustment options.

But how does that laundry list of changes at the brochure translate when it comes to the real-world performance and the overall riding experience aboard this landmark new quarter-litre model for Yamaha? Have all those sweeping design changes been introduced in a coordinated, harmonious way? And could this 2025 bike really be that much better than the 2022-model WR250F – the last significantly upgraded iteration of the WR250F, whose praises we sung a few years back?

After riding the 2025 WR250F at the bike’s Australian media launch – on a cross-section of prime NSW south coast trails and grasstrack – here are our first impressions…