looking at buying a 2003 TRX250 EX for my wife. i rode it once in the dunes and its really underpowered. i am new to HONDA and want to buy for the wife. it seems to be a good little trail machine for her. i want to know what are some good mods to really help it in the dunes. i was thinking of a pipe, k&n intake, rejet, CDI, and possibly more compression (piston) and paddle tires. any suggestions and proven brands would be greatly appreciated.

 

I put a Uni-filter along with a White Brothers E-series exhaust and replaced the main jet with a 112. It runs great. It's no rocketship, but I think it's now got plenty of power. It sure does sound a lot better than stock. It's a great little atv!

 

I just bought an '05 250ex for my wife and daughter.
Maybe a little underpowered for the dunes, but with paddle tires it did pretty dang good.
We were able to climb some pretty good hills and get around pretty good.

If your wife doesn't want a clutch, the 250 will be a great trail quad for her.

A riding buddy also has the 250 for his wife, she loves it on the trails, but wants the 300ex for the dunes.
They put the FMF Megamax (I think that's the name), and rejetted with a 100, and uni-filter.
He said that helped and now it does better.
I'm gonna try the same with my wifes.

Let us know what you do and how it works.

Good Luck

 

My wife is not an aggressive rider so the 250EX is perfect for her.

 

Go with really light sand tires and rims. Get the buffed down Skat-Traks, they are WAY LIGHTER than the new generation of molded sand tires that are out there. I run 6-paddle Edges in back and Mohawks in front. Stick with 20" in back, to keep your effective gearing lower. Pick some light rims, like Douglas blue label. Get some rims with a greater offset, to widen the bike a little.

For cross-country riding, the stock tires are lame on this machine! They make the bike push in turns, and the rounded profile makes it a bit tippy. I run Holeshot XC's on ITP T9 rims. It cures the pushiness, and widens the bike something like +3" in back and +2" in front, for a nice increase in stability.

As for motor, there is only so much you can do to the little 250. I run a UNI foam air filter (don't trust K&N!), and FMF MegaMaxII muffler. You can vent the airbox a bit. I couldn't get it to run right with the lid completely off, so I ended up with four 1" UNI vents in the lid.

I don't think I would mess with this engine internally.

 

i have a 250ex i put on a hmf full system (best pipe i ever had) a k&n and im now gonna jet it here soon. that added a lot of power to mine