The shaft drive has it's advantages and disadvantages. It's great for trail riding, it gives you more ground clearance, it's maintainance free, and there's no chain to jump off a sprocket. The downsides are that you can't change gearing ratios on it, and honda's drum brakes are disappointing; they work poorly, and have a tendency to get water inside them and freeze up.

I owned a 99 honda recon for 4 or 5 years, it's the same basic quad as the 250ex except for racks, fenders, and a few little tweaks to the engine and suspension. I truly loved my recon and hated to trade it in, I wish I could have kept it because it was a blast to ride in the trails, but because of the shaft drive I was limited to about 45 miles an hour, and like it was stated before, you can get used to the power of a 250 eventually.

My brother has a 250ex, it's not much slower at all than a 300ex, and in my opinon a much better quad for trail riding with the auto clutch, narrower stance, and better ground clearance. Power really doesn't matter much at all for trail riding anyways, speed in trails is 90% dependent on rider skill.

I would highly recommend the 250 if all you're going to be doing is trail riding, the recon and 250ex are truly bulletproof reliable machines, and I had more fun with trail riding on my recon than I did with any other quad I ever rode(i've rode more quads than I can keep track of)

 

yes i think i will get the 250ex but should i do anyting to it we have about 200 acers of rought trails and would i need better tires etc.

 

The stock tires are soft rubber 2 plys, which puncture very easily. The tread design itself is good for trail riding, but it doesn't take much at all to put a hole or cut in one. You wouldn't have to replace them right off the bat, but you should plan on replacing them with a good set of 6 plys within a year or so. Also, you should get some skid plates for the rough trails, and hand guards are a great investment to protect your hands from wind, flying debris from other riders, and branches/vegetation hanging over the trail. Another thing would be a good aftermarket bumper with wide grab points. It'll protect the front end if you run off the trail, and when you get stuck it's much easier to grab onto and drag out.

 

thanks recon for being helpfull

 

Right now my brother's 250 has: acerbis hand guards, dg chassis skid plate, swingarm skid, and moose a-arm guards, dg nerfs, 20" shredder rear tires, 22" trail wolf front tires, a WB front bumper, a few basic power mods (exhaust and intake), a durablue +4 axle, and offset front wheels.

From riding it, I can tell you that widening it is a mistake for trail riding, and 22" 6 ply mud tires would be better suited for the trails. Everything else was a worth the money though.

<<<There's a picure of it in my gallery

 

Like Recon said skidplates are a good investment, really the only 2 important areas for skid plates are the swingarm and the a-arms, while chassis skid plates are nice I don't like them because, if you go mudding or ride in mud they catch all the dirt on top of them and its hard to clean, it also makes oil changes harder, plus if you hit something chances are your a-arms will hit the object and stop the quad before it gets to the chassis but, thats just my thought. One other thing you might wanna add on is some nerf bars, if your trails are rutty they would help him stay on the quad.

 

I would still invest in a chassis skid. Nothing more expensive than putting a rock through your engine case. In my particular case(not a 250EX), the aftermarket chassis skid has oil drain holes while the stock engine skid had to be removed for oil changes. The 250EX will be a great ride for your son now, while the 300EX will be more frustrating initially but keep him satisfied a bit longer. A clutch takes just a few hours to learn for most people, and chain maintenance won't be bad for a responsible young man. Either way you'll be having fun[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

i would get the 300ex or a raptor 350.the 250ex would be a little small for him and he would probly get bored of the power pretty quiq.learning to ride a clutch isnt hard it took me like 10 min.