i have a major P.O.S. warrior and im going to sell it either way. its falling apart. I was going to go to a 250R cus i want performance yet im sure w/ my luck itll fall apart. I DONT want anymore of that. i see some pretty cool 98's 300ex's w extras for 3000. that seems reasonable. so do the 250R's though. basically i want to know reliability. thanks ps. i dont have enough money for a 400EX

 

93 warrior,
I have a '98 300ex and love it, I wanted to get the 400, but when I was ready to buy they were in demand so much they simply were not avalible. sure I wish I had the performance of a 250r or a 400ex, but the little 300 has served me well so far. I get suprised all the time how the 300 can hang with some of the bigger bikes, just because it handles so good.

I like 4 strokes personally; less maintinence, low end power, and long engine life are what sold me. remember, if you get a 250r the newest model you can get is a 1989.

I guess it all boils down to what kind of riding you are going to do. pure racing performance demands a machine like the 250r. a 300ex is more of a "riding with your buds" kind of a bike, but can be made into a pretty good racer with some mods.

and with the 300ex you got to love electric start and reverse!

 

A 250R can be undependable as mine was when I got it. I was so frustrated I almost gave up on it. Now, after over 4 years without having to do anything but maintenance, it's very dependable, but in the first two years I smoked three motors!
The thing with an R is that you never really know what has been done to it unless you have a lot of experience with them.
If you want to just play it safe, get a 4-stroke.
If you're unafraid and want to ride the best ever,
get the R.