I have a 13 year old son who has been riding a smaller atv for years, and well has just flat out grown it. I let him drive my 14 Sportsman 400 with me on the back of course and I think that is way to much machine for him. And with the type of riding we do I think a utility atv is the way to go. We mostly ride trails with some mud, and hills (cant avoid hills in WV). I have narrowed it down to 4, but I am open to suggestions. Please help me in deciding the safest yet most reliable atv for my son. Oh yeah he is 13 as I said earlier and weighs 145lbs and is around 5'4" tall. The 4 options I am considering are.

1. Honda Recon 250
2. Kawasaki Bayou 250
3. Suzuki Ozark 250
4. Polaris Phoenix 200

Thanks in advance.

 

I like the Recon or Ozark because Honda and Suzuki actually make them, the others are rebadged subcontracted Tiwaness or Chinese ATVs I think.

 

In my opinion, those bikes are too small for him. I think 350-500 cc would be good. The Honda Fourtrax 350 is reliable from what I've heard and it wouldn't be too fast or slow.

 

The Honda Recon and Suzuki Ozark are both super tough, super reliable quads. Have a friend whose son rode a Honda Recon for years. Also his younger brothers, my son, me, his father, and a bunch of teens rode it. The quad was beat on by the kids and kept coming back for more. It will move him around fine for a few years and I've seen plenty of adults on them although they were a bit cramped.

 

I have had 2 recons in the past and I regret selling both of them. Like moose said, they take a pounding and keep coming back for more. Everyone can have fun on one.

With that said, is a 2wd utility quad neccesary? If you don't need the racks then I'd reccomend also looking at the 250ex. It's essentially the exact same thing as a recon only with slightly more suspension travel and the engine makes about 4HP more (12 vs 16). It has the same reliable 229cc OHV motor as the recon but I believe it has a larger carb among a few other small tweaks to get the extra HP. The 08's and newer ex's even have a "sport clutch" that doesnt require you to use it. Great for learning on.

 

Ill 2nd that one. Its only slightly faster than a Recon or Ozark but its a little bigger. I'm 5'11" and 205 lbs and it is a comfortable fit for me. Tops out at about 50 mph for the 2wd ES version I have with me on it. But that's not its strength, its a great trail quad. Its still small enough to be manuverable in the woods and peppy enough to be fun. Doesn't cost much more for a 2wd 350 than a Recon or Ozark, maybe a few hundred more. And just mark the Polaris Phoenix off your list, that's probably the worst quad Polaris has ever built. Its tiny and has no power at all. I'd replace that with a 4 stroke Polaris Trailboss 325 or 330, a much better choice if you want to go with an automatic. Polaris used to call the older 250 2 stroke a trailboss but the newer 4 stroke trailboss would be better.
It looks like this

 

Other than different plastics and racks, the recon and 250ex are basically the same machine. Same do the Ozark and z250. If those machines can handle your trails, then don't rule out sport machines like the 300ex. Other than a manual clutch to learn, sport quads are every bit as trail capable.

 

The 250ex and z250 are smaller. That's an advantage in performance and manuerability but a disadvantage in comfort. Your son will be fine on a small machine like that now but obviously he'll most likely grow quite a bit more and a quad that fits at 5'4" will not fit when he's 6'1". He'll be banging his knees on the handlebars in 3-4 years. The smaller utility machines generally have slightly bigger tires and more ground clearance and are geared lower giving them more low end because they're designed to work. The utility machines have full length floorboards and bigger fenders to keep mud off the rider as well. I'm not saying that smaller sport quads can't handle the kind of riding he will do, its just that a utility quad is better suited to do so.

 

The key is, all of the machines op is looking at have virtually no advantages over some of the smaller sport quads, and a few disadvantages. A recon or 250ex are great choices for trail riding. The blaster, raptor 250 and 300ex are also good choices with similar ground clearance to the little utes, yet they have more hop up potential later on. More importantly to me, they handle and brake better, and are better able to do the things a teenager wants to do. If the op goes for a little ute, I am sure his kid will still be happy. I just am looking to educate that adding a clutch and chain drive doesn't make the small sport machines any less trail capable.

 

Depends on how long he plans on keeping it. Thats the problem with buying a quad for a child, they will grow. If he plans on buying something else in a few years, then something small will do. A bigger quad will be something he won't outgrow.