I have a 86 LT250R right now that I cant afford to keep running anymore. Im in the market for a new quad, well, used around the $4900 range. There is a couple here for sale for that. My question is, how good of a trail bike and jumper is it? I ride alot of tight trails and also go wide open in whoops and jumps. Reliability is also a high priority for me. I was also looking at a 400EX. Thanks for any help!

 

Jumps great. Check out DS650Stage1's site http://www.parrett.net/~jimg/
He has some great video of the jumping capability of the quad.

The Whoops are soaked up by the DS.

Tight trails may be a little tight for the DS. Some say if you can take any quad you can take the DS. Some say the DS is just too big for the tight trails. Bottom line, you know your trails and if you can easily fit a 250R you are probably fine.

Reliability is not an issue on the DS.

Price, if you can pick one up for $4900 you have a great deal. These are new enough that most used ones are selling for about $5k.

If you are over 5'10" (or less) the 400EX will seem small to you. Have you sat on both these quads? If you can try them out. The 400EX is a great, reliable quad. It wheelies from here 'til Sunday. Add a pipe and the EX gets a good boost in power.

 

love250x- Get the ds650, there are too many raptors already out there.

 

Thanks for the info. Im only 15 and im going to try to get a partial trade in for a DS or EX, but im not 16 so will they still let me test one? Will it work to tell em witha grin, ''its gona be my moms, im just making sure it runs good for her?''

 

Yes get a DS. You probley wont like going from a 250 2 stroke to the slower 400 fourstroke any way.It will be slower. A DS is like a super charged cadilac of four wheelers... It is big and has a smooth ride. It is extremly comfortable. 12 in of travel in the front and rear. The 400ex cant come close to that.And has the most powerfull engine currently offered on an ATV.

 

yea the ds is also the fattiest girl in school it needs 12 inchs of travel you don't wanna do it dude every ds and former ds owner i know and ride with hate them and there front end's are heavier than that of a utilty

 

A Ds may have a little heavy front end. But After a good set of rear tires that heavy front end is nice to have. When the Raptors and Banshees are wheeling up trying to holeshot, The DS will be gone. That heavy front end will keep the power where it needs to be. On the ground. But dont think that it wont wheelie over if you hit it to hard off the line. On some good dirt I can litierally lay hangin off the front of my DS. And still wheelie it over just reving it and dumpin the clutch trying to make it spin(after the ohtsu radials)...With the stock tires on damn near any surface I could spin through 3rd gear Pratically hangin off the back of it. A DS is a great machine. It just needs the same tires as the baja..

 

Going from a 250, you will love the handling of the 400ex but the power is lacking bigtime. The DS is a good machine but most people will admit it is a great ride for out west but not really for your region. Although I rode with a guy at Brown Mountain that had one and it was HORRIBLE through the tight trails. I felt very bad for him. For where you live, i would go with a used Raptor or 400ex. You wont find a used DS around here anyways. There are very few of them. Let me know if you want to go riding. We are going up to Winston-Salem to the 311 trails this weekend. We are the 2 obnoxiously loud Raptors roosting everyone! LOL.

 

Have fun riding.Be Careful on that narrow unstable raptor.</u>. I think the weight thing is a bigger issue than the width. If you're under 200lbs I think the DS can be a handful but I'm not so it isn't.

 

charleyhorse, I have never heard of the 311 trails before, is there a site that shows pics of it? I have decided with the DS beeing 5'' wider than the EX that it wont fit the trails i ride on around here. So its either gona be a raptor or ex.