I just bought the wife a new 250EX. This things is great. Perfect bike for her. There are only 2 things I want to get some feedback on.

1.) When the bike is cold, pulling the choke out and pushing the start button does not work. I have to give it a little gas. Once it starts, it will not idle unles I give it some gas. Once it is a bit warm, it will idle. I tried adjusting the idle, but found it was in a good position. If I went too high, I lost all throttle response (it woudld die if I gave it gas too fast). Any ideas?

2.) I don't think this is related to the first, but it may be. The engine is not real smooth at full throttle (second gear). Going to third, even less power. I wanted to keep the RPMs up for tackling some hills, but the motor sounded like it might be hitting some sort of rev limiter. It seems to be real choppy up high in the power band.

I am much more diagnosis-savvy with 2-stroke mx bikes. This sound much like a jetting problem. But I have been wrong before.

Any help is welcomed.

I think the starting is easy in the winter. And I don't notice the 2nd problem when I'm riding.

Our Recon also needs fiddling on a cold start, but they're known for it, no biggie, it runs in the family. It at least coughs on the first hit, my Rancher maybe not. (Now that I've finally learned how to use the carburetor heater it's much better though). I believe Honda has tuned them both for bottom and mid range. The 250ex is a Recon underneath, so shift sooner, keep it in the range it likes.
I'll gladly accept a few extra minutes at startup for the way they run afterward.

My new recon is the same way. I can't pull the choke and walk away, I must stay with it and feather the throttle to keep it running. The rev limiter on the motors are set at 8750 I believe, but I've never been there yet, as I only have two hours on the motor.

I had a similar problem with my 400. I solved my problem by starting to use my choke on cold starts, which I was not doing before. Maybe you are giving to much gas? Good Luck-
Eddie

The second problem is probably because you are used to 2-stroke MX bikes. I know that when I go from my blaster to my 400ex/recon, I always try to rev them into the stratosphere, and hitting a rev limiter untill I readjust to a fourstroke.

For the first problem just start it with the choke half way and give as little throttle as needed and let down the choke and keep giving it a little gas for about a minute. Works everytime for my 250ex. If its really cold bring choke all the way up.