I have a 05' 250ex and my friend has a 85' lt230s quadsport. he thinks his is way better than mine but I beg to differ. And he thinks that it's faster than my 250ex also. my 250ex is completely stock, and his 230s is bored .75 over and he has a xceelerator full sys. exhaust on it. what do u think. whos is faster and better ?

By the way does anyone know what the stock cc displacement is on a 230s ?

 

ive seen both in action and will not get into which is "better" but will say that he will most likely be faster. his 230 is lighter, is modded, and doesnt have shaft drive limiting him in any way.

 

stock for stock ide go with the 230 on power and speed, but i would take an EX over a 230 anyday. even after a big bore kit i would rather have the dependability of a newer quad. but the next time he starts talkin about his quad being better, just hit the start button and say wow that was so much easier then using my foot. ( ELECTRIC START, somthing his dinosaur quad wouldnt know anything about. ) but in all fairness its all about taste and preference.

 

I think any newer quad is better than an old antique. But what do I know? I've never had an old one.

 

My brother in law had a 230 quad sport with basically the same mods as your friend. When ridding with him on my Honda 300ex Sport-trax that had a White Bros Pipe, K&N filter and was rejeted....well, he could still take me on the top end. From the starting line we would be even but he would eventually pull away. The 230 should be faster but I wouldn't take that clunky old quad over a 05 250ex even if it is faster.

 

My first real machine was an '85 230s....... they are very light and quick, and handle very well for circa 1985...... and even compare well to today's 250 class machines fairly well.

I believe the stock displacement was 229cc for the Quad Sport.....

But your 2005 Honda is 20 years newer, so I'm not sure how anyone could say the 1985 anything was "better" .......

A 1965 Mustang is a great car.... handled better then most 1965 cars and can easily be as fast as a new cars.....

But compare that 1965 Mustang to a 1985 Camaro..........

Then take that 1985 Camaro and compare it to a 2005 Mustang......... do you see my redundancy yet?

Point is that newer is almost always better in some ways, even though older can compare and compete in many areas......

With ATVs huge leaps have been made in the past 20 years.......and although a 230 Quad Sport was a revolutionary machine, whose basic design has carried over to almost all modern sport machines, it is still 20 years old......it is becoming impossible to find parts, it is a classic and belongs in a museum or storage.... I would not ride one if I had it any more then I might take out a classic car for a Sunday cruise.......

The 250ex might be more of a warmed over Ute but it is still a brand new modern era machine.... the two cannot really be compared in some ways.... if you like your ride, who cares if someone thinks theirs is better? Better for who? Better for what? Better how?

It is fun to compare, but in the end it is all personal preference..... we are all different people and will be moved by different things....

 

The stock displacement is the same on both quads.... 229cc.

I have a 2005 250EX and a 1986 230S. I almost never ride the EX.

20 yrs from now, there will STILL be proud owners of 230 quadsports, but the 250EX will be like the 220 bayou is today... Nothing really noteworthy.

The 230 is lighter, faster, and far more upgradeable. You can even get an electric starter for the 230 if you want. You can get racks for them. The chain drive offers lots of gearing combos (11-14 and 38-42 are easy to find). The 230 can be made into a 260, 265, or even a 272! The EX can't hold a candle to the 230 from any perspective. About the only thing I can say about the EX is its new. But put $2500 into a 230 instead of an EX and you'll really have something to be proud of. And it will be new too!

Parts for the 230 abound! Ebay is chocked full! Many companies still offer Big Bore kits. Wiseco has plenty of pistons. There are oodles of aftermarket exhausts. Webams has 13 different grinds for the 230. Maier still makes plastics for a reasonable price. If you go shopping for bearings, you'll be overwhelmed at the number of companies competing for you business..... And how can you compete with an initial investment of $200-$500 for a quadsport THAT RUNS?

No, the 230 isn't going away. If its a dinosaur, then its the true Raptor.... Unlike Yamaha's copy-cat 230 that isn't nearly as upgradeable. The only quad I would put up there with the 230 is the honda 250X from the same time period and of course the 89-90 250S quadsport. New is rarely better. Vista for example.

 

New is better for some people. And some people didn't like XP when it came out. I actually like Vista. It uses a lot of RAM but RAM is way faster than the hard drive. Since you need a graphics card it frees up some of the CPU. If you have it set up right it's pretty fast, and it has a lot of features XP doesn't, and it's more secure. The UAC can be somewhat bothersome but all you have to do is click on it so it's not that big of a deal, and you can turn it completely off if you want to. I like new things.

 

I've thought about it after I said it.... Its not new things that are rarely better, its updated things. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] The R450 is new, its a good idea, its a good quad. I'm sure in 10 yrs it won't be half the quad it is today. After all, look what Suzuki did to the 250 these days! Like they say, if it ain't broke, why fix it?

Vista was the first OS I've known to give you an option to downgrade. That might be its best feature. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img] I liked XP when it first came out, but it was such a hog compared to 98. I'd still be using 98 se today, but too many of the apps I run refuse to support it. And the really funny thing is I have dual cpu's.... 98 doesn't support that and its STILL faster.

I think many people like new things because they get bored with the old stuff, but it doesn't mean the new is better than the old.

 

Maybe not better, just different. There are some things about XP that are better than Vista and there are some things about older ATVs that are pretty darn good. They're a lot like cars. The new ones are really nice and better in most ways but more complicated. When they work they work great but when it doesn't there are some things you can't fix it with regular tools.