Ask the Editors: What Happened to the 250cc Quad?
Going extinct.
This is a great question- one that sent us making calls like a vintage newspaper expose’ reporter. The answer, it turns out, isn’t quite as cut and dry as we (and probably you) had hoped.
According to the manufacturers who don’t offer anything so small on their line – the decision to move away from the small bore scene has all to do with supply and demand. They insist the market demands larger and larger engines with increased technical complexity and to an extent, this does seem to be the pattern we’ve observed.
In as recently as the mid 90s the largest utility 4×4 engine on Suzuki’s line was the carbureted 280cc King Quad. Yamaha led the industry with the 400cc Kodiak. These days 300cc engines are considered beginner ATV territory while 800 and 1000cc packages of computer controlled, fuel injected, emission sensor equipped monsters represent the upper echelon of the segment. These days machines in the 650-675cc range make up the middle of the curve while 400cc tend to be the smallest offerings.
Carbs in general are indeed going the way of the dinosaur thanks to stricter emissions standards not just in the UK, but globally. Fuel injection simply offers the manufacturer much more precise control over output variables such as unspent hydrocarbons and even sound.
Lastly, and you touched briefly upon this in noting Kawasaki began slapping their badge on Taiwanese-made hardware, we have the flood of small bore off-brand units to blame for drying up major brand demand in that particular segment. The fact that generic air cooled 150-300cc carbureted ATVs can be purchased at every Pep Boys, Farm and Fleet, eBay and sometimes even the local convenient store (often for half of what a reputable brand would be forced to charge) has sapped a lot of sales opportunity away from the big brands.
We imagine in the future, as the major Japanese, American and Canadian brands continue to move away from the segment, customers’ best bet if they are looking for air cooled, carburetor-equipped small bore performance will come from the larger (more reputable) manufactures from Korea and Taiwan like Kymco, Hisun, and CF Moto.
