Well, I am looking into replacing my Raptor with a worked up 250R. I can get a pretty much stock one in real good shape for $4k or a worked up one for around $5700. I intend to use it mostly for aggressive open trail riding(not tight woods) & hill climbing. I may dabble with amateur racing as well. I would like 250R owners to give their opinion of the one I am considering buying as described below.

This is per an email from the person selling the 250R:
"This quad has just been rebuilt from the ground up. Starting with the motor, It was sent to CT Racing, dissassembled, totally inspected for wear and tear. They replaced 2nd and 3rd gear, installed a barnett dirt digger clutch, machined the cases to accept the CT 350 complete kit which includes......CT ported and polished Pro-X Big bore cylinder (350) and piston kit, V force reed cage, 39 mm pwk , CT show chrome mid/top end pipe and silencer. Every bushing and bearing down low were replaced with dissassembly. Motor has no more than 6 hours on it. The frame is straight. Chrome Burgard +2 arms up front with works triple rates with cans. Pro-taper bars, raptor cluth lever, stainless lines, custom polished shrouds, Beadlock wheels with holeshots all around, Durablue eliminator +2 axle with new axle bearing and seals, new x ring chain with new sprockets, Black full bore plastics, AC nerfs, skid, full body skid and bumper. I know i am leaving lotsa little stuff out. Again this quad is mint and looks awsome. Lotsa polish and powder ! "

This is me talking again:
The quad indeed looks very clean from the pics I've seen but one thing I am not sure about is that Allen Knowles himself from CT racing had said I would be better off with the 350 power valve for durability for the majority type of riding I intend to do. I am not sure if he was being perfectly honest with me or if he was just trying to get me to buy the quad & then send it in to him for the power valve conversion to make a few extra bucks($1000-$1400)? He said the one I am looking at is a race engine & that I would have to rebuild it every 20 hours. He said if I bought the 250R, I could swap out the super light piston for a heavier one to increase reilability. I don't remember if there was anything else he said I could do to improve its reliability. What do you guys think? Also, Is this a quad I can easily maintian for the next 5-10 years or will the two stroke ban force the aftermarket to abandon the 250R?

 

I seriously doubt they will be able to ban 2-strokes in the next 5 years. The quad sounds nice. Yes you will replace the piston every 20 hours or so. But that is something you should do anyways, as well as rings and wrist pin bearing. Just preventative precautions. The powervalve will help you if your doing a low of low-mid range riding, but if your open trails/sand dragging the powervalve is not needed. Some will argue this, but that is my feeling. I run PV motors, and i notice no gain with the PV over the non PV in open throttle racing.

 

I say go for it!
Who knows once you feel the power of the CT 350 your riding style might change. You can't go wrong with a Honda.
Who knows whats going to happen in the next 5 to 10 years....but you can't stand around asking yourself "what if"!

Shane

 

if you do get that bike you may want to go to i pipe with more bottom end and a 38mm carb. also im not to keen( or knowledgable for taht mater) on teh barnett clutch. i know a couple of guys who run barnett springs and have problems with slipping clutches. personally i own a ct 350pv and use a stock honda clutch with a hinson basket. this seems to be a popular setup. you may want t olook into changing it over as well.... dabeechman has alot of good info. see what he has to say about teh clutch

 

barnetts suck. So do their springs. For our gas 370 i run oem clutches, roughed up on the belt sander (just circular marks, nothing deep) with CR500 springs. On our big honda the 7 disk wouldnt hold up so we run a hinson 8 disk clutch basket in that one. Both bikes run the hinson baskets. Ive seen too many broken stock clutch baskets, i wouldn't advice running one! The last broken clutch basket i saw locked the entire motor up in 5th gear going up sand mountain. It bent the buys crank and sent him for a hell of a ride. If your just trail riding i doubt you'll need the 500 springs, they seem to lock up good for our bikes. OH, also...if you want more info on clutches, PM and ill give you a little secret.