I have rather a unique set of requirements, and I am hoping that you guys can give me some advice:

I live on a Greek island which does not allow cars, I can't ride a motorbike, so drive a quad. I currently have a second hand Dolphin 50cc (don't know who makes it). It is a toy, it won't take two people up a hill, blows smoke if I try to drive up to the top of the island and won't work in the rain!

First the boring practicalities of this being my only form of transport:
- Number 1 requirement is that it is small. I need it to pass for a 50cc, at a quick glance, otherwise I will not be allowed to bring it into the town center.
- Road legal, as it will sometimes venture onto the mainland, where there are cars, trucks and Greek drivers!
- I sometimes need it to get 2 people up steep hills.
- I need some racks, so that I can do my weekly shopping.
- A reverse gear is always handy.
- It needs to cope with extreme heat and dust, as well as start every time in a rainstorm

And the fun bit...
The top of the island is covered in rough tracks, fire breaks and trails. There is even a professional motocross circuit up there ( though this is a bit advanced for me at the moment!!!)
So I want to get something like a 250cc so that it will never be struggling, and I can have some fun!

There is a very good Yamaha dealer on the island, but can get other makes from Athens.

I have started looking at the sport atvs, rather than utility, in order to get the grunt to size ratio required - but am struggling a bit to find one that will also take a passenger and my shopping.
Any Ideas?

 

Welcome to the forums katina. I don't know of anything that will work for you and still pass for a 50cc. I wish you the best of luck.

 

Thanks for the welcome Frank,

I was, perhaps, looking at something like the Yamaha YFM250R - the diminsions are not much bigger than a 50cc, the seat looks quite long, but Yamaha don't sell any racks for it... maybe I could get 3rd party racks?

What I don't know is if there is a road legal version, or if it is really noisy?

 

If you must have racks, the Honda Recon 250 is the smallest utility. It's a neat, fun little machine! Solid and reliable, easy maintenance, descent power....

http://powersports.honda.com/a...009&ModelId=TRX250TM9


Otherwise, I would go with the Yamaha Raptor 250.

 

Thank you so much for that reccomendation - it looks perfect![img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]