I've owned both spent a lot of money on the 83 in upgrades but the stock 85-86 will blow the doors off the air cooled 250 w mods and the goodies for the water cooled 250rs are more plentiful, in my area the average price is 500 for air cooled r and 1500 for water cooled

 

Correct. The 85/86 ATC250R is far superior to the earlier model 250Rs in EVERY way...suspension, power, handling.

 

I'm actually looking for a clean 85-86 250r to customize I've got a pair of mint 250 sx atcs auto clutch, electric start & reverse and a complete parts bike that just has a spark issue in Illinois , if anyone is tired of kick starting and getting off to back it up and mixing gas ?? Send me a pm

 

In 2014 the engines from a well taken care of ATC250R/TRX250R were selling anywhere from $1000 to $2000 dollars, a complete ATC 250R in good condition was t uncommon to see them going for $4500 up to $6000 and for the TRX 250r those were being sold daily for $5000 up to $8000 and all of these vintage ATV's have only continued to gaing worth. I can't speak much for the earlier air cooled models because I never had any interest in those but I'm sure at the price that was being mentioned here for either quad the OG poster was possibly getting was a steal of a deal.
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