You were probably in diapers, when I was shredding trails on a Warrior. Absolutely the worst bike I ever owned!

 

Weird post. Obviously you would be in the camp of believing there is nothing dangerous about a loaded gun either...with proper training of course. ReconRanger makes real valid points that you better be thinking ahead of how you will handle the situation and practice your reflexes. You can read a manual all you want but it takes practice (training) so the mind reacts instinctively when the situation arises. There are added safety obstacles to overcome with the design of the 250ex as he states versus other quads.

/jon

 

I've been riding for years and lose track of the gear I am in all the time. For my quads (450r and 400ex), I never have to worry about hitting neutral whether I keep track or not. If I feel the need for a lower gear, I downshift. Have I ever tried to downshift when I was already in first? Yep, many times. With a 250ex you can hit neutral under normal shifting. This is definitely a bigger issue to be concerned with...enough so that I would never buy a 250ex. This would fall under the category of safety in my mind.

 

Nothing weird about my post. Guns aren't dangerous...people are. I keep a loaded pistol around here, locked safely away, so it's not dangerous until it gets in the hands of the wrong person. That person would be one that is not properly trained in it's use. Recon made a great point that granted, most people don't know about. But.....PROPER training is a must on an atv, motorcycle, automobile, snowmobile etc... I don't see where I stated that reading the manuals is a substitute for proper training.....by that I mean a rider's course.
Practice, along with the knowledge that a training course and information from the manuals provides will make you a better rider as a rule. Not always.
Human nature tells us to "push" our vehicles to see what they are capable of. Thus a lot of us push to see what the top speed of our atv's are, oblivious to the fact that one wrong move at high speed can cause a accident that will cause injuries or be fatal.

There is no substitute for thinking and paying attention while on an atv. Respect your machine, whatever it is for what it can and cannot do. Recon has just taught us to respect our atvs that have those type clutches for something it cannot do. Thanks Recon.

 

SETTING THE PARKING BRAKE is something that beginners need to practice as well. Some of them are hard to pull, for kids and smaller adults. Under pressure of sliding down a hill backward, it makes it even more complicated! And, some of them don't work right when the foot brake is depressed! These are all drills that needs to be practiced...........

Also, I never trust the parking brake alone. I tell my kids to get OFF the quad as soon as possible, and never stand on the downhill side. Then, if it is safe, drag the front around so it is facing downhill. Then, (be sure it is in gear) you DO have the advantage of engine compression to hold you on the hill.

 

I think every one should take some typ of safty class I just took one with my wife and little brother we all have been rideing for a long time but now I have kids getting to the age to start rideing so we wonted to learn how we should teach our kids how to handle a atvs to be as safe as posible. I will also take my kids to a class when they are old enough. The teacher of the class I went to told us that some parks are recamending you have the class before you can ride there. The nice thing about the safty class is that all the atv comp. will pay for the class and in my case they are going to pay for my miles for driving 120 miles to the class and he told us we should even get a $100 gift certificate from what ever comp. you got your atv from no one can say the class isnt offered it is in the papers with the atv when purchesed. BE SAFE

 

I took the safety class, and have observerd a bunch of times when my kids took it, and they just don't ever cover this kind of detail........

........and the kids took the course here at the Honda training center in Colton, and were on the center's loaner Honda 250's.........

 

I just took my two new 250ex's out this last weekend (my kids) and you are all right when it comes to the clutch issue. My oldest was supposed to stay in the designated area we were in at Ocotillo and when I turned around he had stalled it on a hill because he forgot to turn the gas on. thank God he was at the top and was able to step on the brake. We had a second safety training "meeting" right then and there. It wasn't pretty.

As for the gear issue, yes, you can get into neutral pretty easily when downshifting, but 1st gear is so low, if you can't tell your in 1st, you shouldn't be on a quad. I am more worried about the hill issue as my kids get better and ride more challengin terrain. Hopefully before that ever happens, they will be skilled on brake operation and I'll get multiple chances to work on hill safety.

Thanks for the tips recon, you defintely put that issue at the forefront of my mind.

On another issue with the 250ex, whats with those ballon tires? I rode that after running my 400 for a while and man it was tippy. I'm going to change out those tires pretty quick as they are too grippy and too tippy.

 

I think I posted you about the tires somewhere else, but just for the record.........I went with ITP T9 rims. These rims are wider than stock, and have a greater offset as well, so the quad ends up +3" in back and +2" in front. You combine this with some wider tires and you get a nice increase in stability! Plus, the steering doesn't "push" anymore.

I had run IPT Holeshot XC tires for years, and they did very well, but recently switched to ITP TracStar radials and they are absolutely superb! They contribute a lot to the suspension and handling. I highly recommend them, even if one stick with the stock rims.

Any training or equipment that keeps the kids out of the emergency room, is a good investment!

 

[quote]
Originally posted by: ddrumman2004
Good tips but not a real problem with PROPER training. How many actually read their owner's and safety manuals that come with a new machine?
I use my "parking brake" everytime I get off of my machine(s).


Stole my thoughts.

But still, good find; still good to point that out.