I have a 01 400ex with works tripple rate front shocks, 18'' shredders on steel, 21'' holeshots on douglas and nerfs.
I love the handling and most of all reliability. It is pretty short on power compared to my 86 LT250R I used to own, but it was ALWAYS breaking down. I loved the power the LT put out but I cant have a bike that I only get 1 ride on every 2 months. I've been looking at Honda 250R's and was wondering if anyone could tell me how reliable they are? My bad experience with LT has scared me from 2-strokes but everyone is talking about how much they love thir R's. Will a 250R in good condition last a while? How often will it need a new topend? Is a R lighter than a 400ex? I ride alot of MX and some trails. I've been looking around and if I can sell my EX I can get a pretty nice 250R for $4500 in the next state where there are alot of them for sale. Do you guys think its worth it to sell the 4 stroke reliability of my EX for the power of a R, and how reliable are they? Thanks alot!

 

The only thing i could say about is reliability is that it is a HONDA becuase i have newer ridden one. It should weigh less though because the R frame and EX frame are about the same but the EX has a bigger engine. Please correct me if i am wrong.

 

the R has a reputation for reliabialty! If you can get one for cheap its a steal, i wish i still had one but iam stupid and I sell the nice quads[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

 

just get a banshee

 

What he said..

RoostKing...

 

If you ride MX, get the R. Ride trails...get the R. Spend the extra money and get one thats done right.

 

if you looking for reliability dont get a 85-86 engine (what i have)
because they didnt have a bridged intake port and have a little more power for a little less reliablity
and if you dont run it into the ground and change the piston and hone it before it totaly goes out(not what i did)
it is pretty cheap to rebiuld
oh and what clawness said is absolutely right

 

I had a 400ex and I absolutely loved it. However, I came to realize that it would never have the power that I wanted. It was a hard decision to make, but I eventually sold it to build a 250r. The reliability is absolutely not a factor. All I have is some mild porting and a $45 Bills pipe that I got off of ebay and it is lenear fast when compaired to an ex. My engine came out of an '85 ATC 250r and the only times it has been opened up was once in about 1995 ( that's 10 years if you can't count) due to piston seizure (it was bored .5mm over and a new piston was put in) and once about 3 months ago when I sent the cylinder out to be ported, I simply installed new gaskets and a new set of rings and ringa-ding-ding - instant two-stroke power!

And as for handling- I thought that my R would feel and handle like my 400; Wrong! Totally differnent! People are quick to say that the 400ex's, Cannondale's, and Z400's handle as good as an R but truth be known (flame all you want) nothing, absolutly no other quad handles like an R. The only way to beet the R is an R with an aftermarket frame which is designed from the R in the first place. I have ridden everything except the predator extenssively and allthough there are some excellent machines out their to choose from, on track or trail nothing can compete with any year Honda 250R. Rider skill does make a huge difference but if you took one rider and gave him time to learn each machine, faster lap times would come from the R.

My friend has a 400 ex that has nearly everything that can be done to it. It will outrun my R every time in a drag but he just can't hang on track or trail and we are both very good riders. I have ridden cannondales a lot and recently I had my first shot at a Moto. First off let me say- outstanding machine, I really think the cannondales will be hard to beet in the future. But when compaired to my R- the moto would two-wheel in the hard corners and the front end would push and the R just goes where it is pointed. This wouldn't be a big deal because the front end on the moto can be fixed with some adjustable a arms with the right settings but when you look at the widths of the two machines it puts things into perspective, the moto- I think it is 52" wide, my R- 46"!
Good luck with your decision, but as I have said in my two thousand word essay, The R is the machine to have.

I hope you've enjoyed my soapbox,
JP

 

BoogerBub,

Your second paragraph is dead on it. Its a hard pill for a lot of people to swallow, but the truth none the less.

I'm not bashing other machines, so please dont turn this into a pi$$ing match.

 

Buy a Banshee, buy the best! Ride a mile and walk the rest!!!!!!!



(Yes, this is supposed to be funny!!!!)