250X owners-how good are they, what goes wrong or sucks? I'm looking at a '91 in 85% condition, how much should I pay? What mods do you run? Is it really a 250R with a 4 stroke engine? How strong? Good handling? Thanks in advance, I always get great feedback in this forum.

 

A 4 stroke 250R IT IS NOT. It is a great little 4 wheeler though.
Handling is good, but there isnt a whole lot of suspention.
The 87's had a weak 2nd gear, everything else is good.
Very durable, very dependable little 250 air cooled 4 stroke.
The power is OK, plenty to have fun, but dont expect to fly up olds hill at glamis in 4th gear. (or third, or even second, for that matter[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img])

-Matt

 

Ditto, my first quad was an 87 250X. Loved it, handled tight trails great. Not a horsepower monger though. I did do a pipe and jetting, helped a little, not sure if I got my moneys worth out of the mods.

 

just talk to need4speed about his 250.... wait 300x.

 

It's like a Mojave only not as fast. The 250X was the Mojave's main competition in the sport/recreation ATV group back in the day. They went back and forth on winning shootouts. It depended on what mattered more to the testers. The Mojave unanimously gets the edge in power and is liquid cooled, 250X has slightly softer suspension and smoother low speed ride, handling is about equal and the X is easier to access for basic maitenance...if that matters.

My cousin had one when we were younger. It was a good ride. I had a Blaster and can remember liking it better than the X. But that's me. I was biased to 2 stroke power and still kind of am. (look at my rides)

I must admit though, some days I wish I had a nice friendly torquey machine like an X or Mojave for those days that my brain's a little lazy and I don't wanna pin my ears back and go all out. If the price is between $1200-$1600 and in good shape, I say go for it.

 

Not a bad ride by any means. The only problem with them is that the aftermarket offers so many hop ups that you're limited to how deep your pockets can go. You can't go wrong with one and if you want advice on more power from the ole X I'd be more then happy to help you out.

 

Thanks for the great info. This owner is pretty proud of his '91, asking $2500. It is clean and has lived in a garage. He added a powroll pipe, K/N air filter, and back rack. He recovered the seat this year. I think he is $1K too high on price, I should be able to get a much newer 300ex with mods for his asking price. Does that sound right? Also, I had a Mojave briefly and wasn't particularly impressed, so the comparo of 250X/Mojave didn't thrill me, though it is useful feedback. Guess I really want a clean 400ex to fall in my lap for cheap as they become less state-of-the-art. Anxious to see pics of the 300X but haven't been able to access them from the link in this thread. I'll keep trying. If the price gets right, maybe I'll get the 250X.

 

Two things... one, the 400 is a good machine and has good resale, but it isnt exactly state of the art. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] (it is a GREAT machine though)

Two, you wont find a 300EX in decent shape for $2500. (at least not in my area!! san diego)
2500 is high, but if it is in great shape, that is the going price.


-Matt

 

Do you want to know how good a machine a 250X is? I'll tell you of one of the most frightening horror stories I've ever seen. It's my responsability to warn people with a faint heart or small children that they shouldn't read the rest of the post.

Several years ago, I went out to my friend's house to go riding with a few friends I work with. Well one of the guys didn't have a quad, so my friend borrows one from his neighbor Yep, you guessed it, it was a 250X. The guy, of course, had NEVER operated either a manually clutched quad or motorcycle so after a few laps in the nice flat field we were on our way. Not only did my co-worker learn to ride the quad fairly quickly he had no trouble keeping up with us. The ride was mostly at night and we covered quite a few miles. Finally it was getting late and we headed for home. By the time we got back (and into some light) the guy who was riding the 250X said that the quad was pulling to the right almost the whole time he was riding it. Sure enough, the right front tire was flatter than a pancake. He rode almost the entire ride with a flat tire! Wow, pretty durable quad, or so we thought......

The next day I went out to the friends house (the one we were riding at the night before), and he was doing a little maintenance on the 250X. After plugging the tire, he decided to do an oil change on it. He unscrews the oil plug and what looked like milk came pouring out of the engine and transmission. We flushed out the crankcase and he decided to ask his neighbor, who owned the quad, how long the oil was like that since we didn't hit any big puddles the night before. It turns out that the neighbor had drowned out the quad several years ago and NEVER BOTHERED TO CHANGE THE OIL!!!!! The oil/water mix had been sitting in the crankcase for more than two years! From freezing winters to sweltering summers and countless miles that had been put on the 250X it still shifted great and the clutch worked fine.

Eventually, the quad "gave up the ghost" but it was because of a frame failure, not because of the engine. I had to admit, as a Polaris owner at the time, I was impressed with the legendary Honda durability.

 

My 250x makes decent power[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img].

They are VERY dependable, and I feel the best ever built. I have put mine through heck with different engine combos and it still takes abuse. I am a large guy and I still have fun on it. Light weight, easy to manuvere. 250x's in my area bring $1000-1600. A friend just bought a '99 300ex that needed an ignition coil and paid $1200 for it. But that is an exception.