I went into mt local Bomby Dealer looking to upgrade to a 800 Outlander and came home instead with 2 ds 250's and alot of spare change. My 10, 11 and 13 year old ride all my machines and I just thought that 800 would kill one of them , literally. Awesome , just awesome , but anyway , on to the review.


I have about 3-4 hours on each ds 250 and so far have had zero problems.
The bad first:
It's a 250 four stroke cvt. In other words , its not going to win any races. We own a 2005 Suzuki LT-Z 250 sport Quad and I have not lined them up yet but I think the Zuke will eat the bombs lunch. (The zukes a shifter).
Its heavy. The old adage , what goes up, must come down, certainly was written about these quads. On our small tt track with two small jumps , it will get in the air but you definately feel it wjhen it comes down. It's a big solid machine , period. The shocks are STIFF. did I say they were STIFF yet?
It has graphics that make ya wanna puke. Soon to fixed but whoever thought these graphics up must have been on the same drugs that the guy was on that dreamt up the 07 ski-doos.....
The Good:
They run really really really good. smooth power , gobs of torque. Top end 'feels' like its maybe 50? They start great , they idel smooth.
The FNR lever is the BEST I have ever seen on a quad, period. The transition between gears is like silk on both machines, hats of to that feat. You can shift with one finger , its that easy, no clunks no bangs, perfect.
Fit and finish seem on par with anything else they make.
It WILL pull wheelies, albeit alot tougher than on any other machine. get way back and just nail it and PULL up . the good part is once your up , it is MUCH easier to ride a wheelie on this machine than any other machine , I rode a 300+ footer the 2nd time I pulled it up , my 13 year old was impressed (meaning i am cool for about 5 minutes before returning to parentville). The cvt makes it easy to sustain the wheelie.
It will spin the tires (grab the front brake , nail it it spins. nuff said.

hard to say much else, they havent been ridden hard yet. The fluid access points are good , the air filter is super easy , takes literally 2 minutes and its out ....
The only change I made so far has nothing to do with performance , the pipe looks not so good where it runs on the left side of the machine, the early ds 650's had the heat shield painted yellow to match the plastic , both my ds's do now also , and that looks WAY better.

Thats it , not many people will be interested in this review, but for those that have been wondering , thats the scoop.

Brad

 

Hey Brad, Good reveiw I was thinking about one of those 250's for my 11 year old daughter. If you dont mind me asking how much out the door did you pay. And also keep us informed on the durability. Thanks Duane,

 

I am planning on getting one for my 13 year old as well. Thanks for the info, very helpful.

Thanks,
Chiknhawk

 

Here is a follow up to my previous post. Today we put over 5 hours more on each DS now each has about 9 hours, todays riding could be classified as anything but mild.
1st , its a shame these things weigh 400+ pounds cuz as usual , Bomby has put together a great motor/cvt package. We lined up my sons for a drag race , one on the Suzuki LTZ250 and the other on the DS250. It should be noted that in back to back rides , the Suzuki "feels" faster. The drag strip tells a different story. In over 8 races , if the start was fair, the DS would take the Suzuki and establish a 2-3 length lead up to about 45 mph then the Suzuki would reel the ds in slowly. The motors are very tight and they were faster when we put them away tonite then when we started this morning. I am much more impressed now than yesterday.
Wheelies still require a good TUG on the bar but man the balance once your up is great , I LOVE wheelies on this machine.
A higher engagement rpm (back clutch mods here we go!!) will make this thing wake up big time. It has no problem leaving big holes if you nail it hard. This also is vastly improved as the motor breaks in.
Cornering in tight turns flat out sucks, it dives in and rolls into the corner so bad that you wonder if your going to pitch in over the bars, again we are talking about fast corners with me (a hefty 220lbs) on it . My boys say "what are you talking about dad, these things will kick out and drift super easy..." and watching them corner I agree they corner great with their 120 lbs on them.
High speed (54 on the gps) across varied terrain feels rock solid. We cross rutted up fields at varying angles, hitting rits and bumps of varying size and we all agrred they shine in that area.
NO loose bolts, , NO lose chains , cables , etc. I have not touched anything on these quads.
Jumping is getting better, my sons were landing jumps of about 3-4 feet high routinely, but it could use some real shocks, thes bottom easily.
Ok thats it , I'm actually taking these to Pennsylvania next week, where we plan to put on a hundred miles or so, so far I am feeling very happy about this purchase. Pics should be posted soon.

 

Love reading the reviews
My son and I test drove the DS 250 on Sat. but I could not get a feel for the machine the test area was to small . I ride a LT250 Z and felt that it would eat the DS up . This would be disappointing for my son if I simply blew by him, but from what I read guess thats not so. He has saved his money for a long time to help towards a bigger machine and it would be terrible to make the wrong choice. After reading your review he and I feel much better about our choice and since I do all my own wrenching I think I can squeeze a little more out of the DS by playing with the clutch and jetting

 

These quads are very reliable, and have a great engine/cvt package, but handling, weight and suspension are a disaster. 416 lbs is obscene for a quad in this category. Tall, tippy, stiff, heavy.
This is a tough category. These quads should be under 350 lbs. They should certainly weigh less than the 400s and 450s, but they don't because they are using cheaper components.

I am trying out a 2007 JetMoto 150 right now for my 10 year old. It weighs 314 lbs, and is wider, 42.5" and lower than the DS-250. Those are my measurements. I have not let him ride it yet, as I am still working on it. I expected that, since it is Chinese and needs to be finessed. I saw the DS as being too heavy and there simply wasn't anything I could do about it. With the JetMoto I am changing tires and wheels, putting an O-ring chain on it, and I had to cut away some of the steering stop to increase steering lock. Remember that the DS is Chinese too, and though it comes finessed from the factory, the engineering is flawed, and we can't fix that. I can fix the little glitches in the JetMoto for a couple of hundred dollars. I can not lower, lighten, and resuspend the DS without more than doubling its price.

We have a weight guideline for kids that no quad should weigh more than 5 times the weight of the rider, and that 4 times is a good target.
My son wanted an auto tranny with reverse. I want him to be on a quad that is appropriate for his size and weight, handles well, and has good suspension. JetMoto filled the bill. Now lets see if it holds up as well as a DS.

 

I have read about a throttle restricter in the DS . I am picking up a new DS250 for my son on Friday and want to remove it right away can you tell me where it is located . is it in the carb or in the throttle assy.?
Thanks Bill

 

I got one for the wife to replace the Trail Blazer she had. Compered to that, the performance was a big disappointment. Figure I could just pipe it and do some clutch tuning. Except no one makes parts for these. I could use a pipe from anothe similar brand and that may work. But I don't want to use a different part to make the clutch more efficient. Ours seems to grab instead of a smooth flow. Could just be ours too.

As for nerf bars, only Can am has them, and they look like an old aluminum lawn chair. No adjustable webbing, and 279 bucks to boot.

Haven't had it up any really good hills, but I don't think it has the guts to make it.

Now, it still is a solid machine. Starts right up, idles good, runs good. I think for the kids, it would be a great choice. But for someone my weight (190), it just lacks enough to have me looking at something else.

 

My wife has a ds250 and to me it feels gutless, in part because of the CVT. I went riding with a friend and he rode it all day and stayed with me on all the small trails and hills. Hills are not a problem, wheelies ect. -forgetaboutit. This machine is great for the person (like my wife) that refuses to have a shifter. It has run flawless thus far. $3100 out the door, that's about $800 less than a Honda or Suzuki, when my son gets older he will get something lighter and quicker like the Honda or Suzuki I think. My wife will probably ride the DS until it falls apart (could be a long time, I hope [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img])

 

You got a ds250 to wheelie? the ds250?????? are you sure it wasn't a ds650?

You must be a tank!

I couldnt get it to wheelie with a 50lbs tractor weight on the wheelie/grab bar, i could get it up, but it wouldn't wheelie.