The 250ex is concidered a youth class quad but as you say adults can have fun on them to. I don't think my 2005 250ex does 55 mph though!

 

Hi everyone... I've been reading this site for a few months and finally decided to join.

I purchased two Tao Tao 125s for my kids and have had no issues at all. They only have about 25 hours on them each tho.

I do have a question. Why on the Chinese quad forum is the bashing of chinese quads acceptable? What I mean to say is if the Yahama riders were to go over to the Honda thread and only ever suggest that the good thing to do when purchasing a Honda is to head to a Yahama dealer how would that go over? I am very intrested in this topic and would like some real feed back from actual owners. The thing with used. Here we have the papershopper. Kinda like a want add press or penny saver. Anyway the only quads that are at all reasonable have been crashed or "the plastic is broke from a fall down a cliff"(this was in the add. No lie) and they still wanted more than 3500 for a 2000 model or they don't have title papers.... So here used is out. Of late I'm currently deciding if it's worth just getting a new Honda because financing is very cheap and the dealers are giving them away. Course I could get 2 chinese quads for the same money. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

 

I don't take it as bashing, just the facts. They are what they are. Nobody seems to ever dipute the quality is not that of the big brand quads. That is not to say they are necessarily bad deals, that is opinion while the quality issues are more fact based.

 

While I agree with you overall. Just about every posting like this has well meaning folks not really answering the question at hand. For instance it is well known that in purchasing a Bently. You will most likely not have to purchase an auto again in your lifetime. How many folks purchase Bentlys?

Fact is 25 years ago Japanese bikes were harder to find parts for and ran far worse than any of these chinese today. I remember waiting 6 weeks for a carb rebuild kit... A month for rings and crank bushings. Bad clutches that would slip when hot and cold on the same ride. Hoses and plastics that were fragile. do you remember those junkie plastic gas tanks that got brittle after a few months of being a gas tank? Ignation systems that wouldn't give spark if you went near water. God forbid you road in it!!! They ran for 4 hours and needed worked on for 4 days. Basically a day of repair per hour of riding. which was ok as long as you only rode on one of the weekend days.

The chinese have a bit more work to do on getting up to grade as far as materials. But the largest thing IMHO will be dealerships to provide quality setup and repair service. Because as we see posted here all the time. Setup and maintance is the key to happy riding. Once that happens they will be almost at par.

 

I hear what your saying! My first ATV was a back breaking Honda ATC 200 some 30 years ago! One of these 250 Chinese quads with suspension would have been the hottest thing in the neighborhood back then!!

Yes it is kind of funny the standards some posters who come on here talk about or tell others they made a poor choice etc. lol!!

I agree most people come on here because they want help in fixing something or finding parts, they probably don't want to hear they were dumb to buy it and should have bought a used "xxxk" from ebay or something etc.

 

I bought this last fall for basically the same price as a 250 cc china qaud, it is basically perfect shape and low hours.


there out there just got to be on the lookout 24/7

 

Thats great, looks like a real nice clean Polaris quad you got there!

Now tell me again how the Chinese quad form has turned into the "look what used non chinese quad I bought form" lol!

 

Im betting it does....if not pretty close. To make sure my mouth wasnt over running my speedometer (it happens) I did a Google search and got results that MOST people say all years of 250EXs top out at 55......while some optomistic souls believe their's runs 60.

I guess it depends on what your definition of youth class is. When I see youth racing I see kids racing 90cc machines. But then again my son is 9...so thats what I consider youth. If your son is 15 then yeah, I guess the 250ex is a youth quad.

My main reason for buying the 250ex is its user friendly with the auto clutch. All my ATVs are auto clutchs.....when someone shows up and wants to ride I can get them going in 5 mins or less. I could have bought a 300ex or even a 400ex for a little more money (less than $500) in my area but then for the type of riding I do (mostly in the yard and field) they would have been overkill and FAR less novice rider friendly.

Ive been pretty impressed with the 250cc machine really.....pretty peppy for what it is.


Like moetrout said....its not bashing, its just the way the majority of Chinese quads are. If your expecting Honda quality for 1/4 of the price you will be sorely disappointed. The sad reality is that alot of people cant look past "new" and "cheap" to see the real difference....they think they are buying an equivalent machine but in reality they are not. I see it alot....they just dont know enough to see the differences or think far enough about parts and dealer support etc. Like I said, I own 3 Chinese quads and only regret buying 1....the other 2 are decent machines. They are also not used as hard as I use my Suzukis and Hondas.

I guess to some talking about Chinese quads realistically MAY seem like bashing them.....they are inferior, its a fact. Then again if you can work on them, understand their limits and ride within them you can have great fun on a Chinese quad. If you buy one and start thrashing on it like its a Brute Force Kawasaki your likely to be disappointed and pushing it back to the trailer in short order.

Honda does have some decent financing but Ive never been in the buy new crowd....either Im to poor or tight, not sure which. Ive bought most all my quads and motorcycles on Craigslist. I use Search Tempest - The EASY way to search Craigslist! and do a search for what Im looking for in a 250 mile radius. Sometimes I have to spend a day on the road to get a great deal.....but so far its always worked out for me.

Just bought my girlfriend a 2008 Yamaha VStar Midnight with 3K miles on it and Vance and Hines pipes for $3200.....a similar bike in my immediate area would have cost $5000. With her budget it was buy a 2001 VStar locally....or hit the road for a few hours and get a deal somewhere else. If your not afraid of a little driving there are buys out there.


Im going to have to disagree with your statement about Japanese bikes from 25 years ago. Either that or I have great luck. My first love is motorcycling.....and I love vintage bikes. Ive got a 1975 Honda CB550, 1975 Honda CB400F, 1978 Suzuki DR370, 1980 Kawasaki KZ1000, 1981 Kawasaki KZ440 and a 1984 Honda Goldwing GL1200 that all click in under your 25 year old mark......I ride these bikes plenty and they all run just as trouble free as my newer bikes. Maybe Ive been lucky picking the good ones but I dont see the comparison at all to these "older" bikes and the Chinese stuff.

Perhaps you were alluding to off-road bikes....in which case the only experiences Ive had are my 1978 Suzuki DR370 and my girlfriends 1974 XL125 Honda.....and they were both peaches. We rode and never wrenched....ever actually.

 

Im guessing hes shooting for giving the original poster a few more ideas for cheaper, name brand quads he could look into in his area. Atleast thats what I got he was wanting from the below post of his.

 

Yes I was speaking of off-road. The street bikes back in the day were considered garbage as well. But most were well built and in fact needed less maintenance than the high dollar brands. But the parts when needed were hard to get and had to be shipped to your shop from over seas which took a great deal of time. It was also hard to be sure you were getting the right part. They also had those weird metric bolts. I remember when even bolts had to be ordered from japan because all the hardware store had was english sizes. Did you ever try to get a Honda serviced at a local motorcycle garage in the early 80's? They would laugh you out of the store or try to tell you to get rid of that junk and buy this used Harley Sprinter. You can get it used for the same price as that hunk of junk.


So this argument isn't new at all. By the way I wasn't saying people were bashing. I was asking if on the Honda forum suggesting only Yamaha is a quality bike would be considered bashing.