I'm looking to by my soon his first racing quad for Christmas. I'm just not sure which one to get. He has never used a clutch before but I don't think that will be a problem because my husband will be able to teach him easily. He mainly does trail riding and of course would like to have a little fun acasonily like with some jumps and wheelies and some drag racing with his friends. He is a bigger build he is 5"7 or 5"8 and 130 pounds I was looking at the Honda 300ex the 400ex and raptor 350 should I be considering any others? Thanks for the help!

 

anyone?

 

Howdy,
I had a 300ex and loved it, it was fast sporty and ran good. Hondas are very reliable and I felt as if the raptor was a bit catchy. Never experienced a 400ex but it hauled my 120 lbs fine.
Just as something to think about, although racing quads are cool they are definetley not made for trail riding and after an hour or two you can get very sore.
I hope this helps and let me know how you make out

 

After a year on his TTR 125 I got my son a Polaris Predator 500. I was extremely nervous about that at first, but he had his clutch control down, and proved himself to be a very conservative rider / driver. He's doing well with the predator, but to be honest, I wish there had been a better option available when we got it. The predator is very powerful. A 400EX would have been great. For reference, my 13yr old is 6' and 175lbs. The TTR was just way too small this season.

 

The 300EX is a great choice. I would also recommend the Raptor 250. A little more modern than the EX which has been around since the mid 80's. Both are great quads for a newer rider. My son has a 300, he picked up the clutch pretty quick as it is real torquey. Plenty of suspension for small jumps and what not. Certainly no speed demon but they are plenty fast for trail riding.

The 350 Raptors are decent, but they don't handle as well as the other 2 I mention. You aren't gaining much speed either, and I prefer the suspension design of the other quads(this is another one that has been around since the mid 80's.)

400EX only if your son is pretty reliable/trustworthy. It is a great trail oriented motor, and better shocks/handling. As a new rider, this may be a little to much power initially for a 13y/o size/mentality.

I wouldn't worry about comfort. He is 13, lol. I have raced a borrowed 300EX in a few xc events. I easily went 1.5-2 hours with that little guy wound out most of the time. On my race quads I would have been pretty tired out. The trail quads like the 300 I could have doubled the ride time and still been good. Settle that down to a respectful trail speed and I don't see any reason not to ride sun up till sun down.

 

Thank you all. I think im going to be looking for a 300ex!