My first time here, I just purchased a 2015 Can Am 250, I have read on here that top speed is anywhere from 40 to 55 mph, with my child she is only getting about 35 top speed, the dealer says that is the best we can get, I am a little disappointed, she is a very skilled rider and we had hoped and were told by the salesman that it would run 45, any comments would be appreciated

 

Can Am is known for getting high hp numbers per cc. There 500 makes more power then most 650s.

It would not surprise me if their 250 does over 50 mph easily.

Their new 450 Outlander is rated at 38hp that's the same as a Honda 680 Rincon.

 

I am really disappointed with it, top speed isnt everything, but now I am worried there is another issue, taking it back to the dealer so they can look at it. I also heard there is a block or something in the carburetor that can be removed

 

The Can Am 250 is no speed demon unfortunately. There probably are some stock restrictions on it, but the cvt really steals the power from an already weak 250 motor, comparatively speaking. Still, it should be able to do better than 35, so maybe some hop ups are In order. Probably to late to get you money back I suppose.

 

Sounds like there's something wrong with it. I'm assuming your daughter doesn't weigh very much. Put a heavy rider weighing say 250 lbs and yeah I would believe it would only go about 35. About 50 mph is what it should do with a light rider on it. It must be losing power somewhere, maybe the carb is bad or a faulty spark plug or wire. Something is keeping it from making the power it should. Might be a loose wire somewhere. Not enough to keep it from running but enough to make it lose a little power.

 

Bought one for my wife to ride, found out that Can-Am just puts their name on a Chinese quad. It is the most under powered quad I have ever ridden. My grandson has a Honda 90 that beats it. It wouldn't climb even the smallest dune.
I put on an FMF pipe, re-jetted, and removed half of the clutch rollers. Then lightened the other rollers. I don't remember if it had restriction that I removed. It will now climb some decent dunes.

 

Many manufacturers do that now like Yamaha, Polaris they subcontract their smaller kids models to a China or Taiwanese manufacturers and just slap there name on the tank.

I had a 1987 Yamaha 250 Moto 4 and loaded the racks with few hundred pounds of camping gear and it took me any where I wanted. Back then a 250 was considered a big bad boy when most people had 185 3 wheelers.

I guess 250s are not like they once were.

I think the only 250s made by their actual manufacturers is the Honda 250 Recon and trx 250x and Suzuki's 250 Ozark.

 

I have owned both a Suzuki Ozark and a Honda Recon. Granted neither one of them were speed demons but both would run about 48-50(the Suzuki has slightly more power and top end speed) with my 200 lbs on them. But decent low end and midrange for trail riding which is what they were built for. Put them down in 1st or 2nd gear and they would climb some decent sized hills and I'm sure dunes too if I had ever rode anywhere that had dunes. It sounds like this current Can-am 250 just doesn't measure up to these more than a decade old machines. The Ozark dates back to 2002 and the Recon even farther back, all the way to the late 90's. No they're not fully automatic but the recon comes with optional ES, which is almost as easy to ride. Some of the foot shift models did require some effort to actually push the shifter up to upshift, most notably from neutral to 1st and 1st to 2nd, got easier to shift through the rest of the gears.