I am thinking about purchasing my first quad. I have a 85 200S, which runs great. I grew up riding that thing, putting on a quite a few hard miles along the way. To this day it has had needed no major repairs or has ever left me stranded. So, I am sold on Honda's relabilty. But now I want to get someting newer. I was thinking about the 250EX. I have about $4000 and the 400EX is a little pricey for me. Do the 250's have enough power? I would just like some general feedback from other owners. Thanks in advance! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Ole,

I'm an adult (45) and have a 250EX and love it, but....

I bought the small EX because I would have my 13 year old girl learning on it. If it weren't for that fact, I would have bought the 300EX or 400EX.

The 250EX has a peppy bottom end, but hits the rev limited pretty quickly. It is a hoot in tight trails. It is light and nimble. The autoclutch makes creeping through technical stuff a lot easier. The shaft drive also saves a lot of maintenance. It also has an easy to use reverse.

My dream machine would be the 250EX with the rancher engine in it.

If you buy a "sport" ATV, you're going to get wet and muddy unless you only ride in dry conditions. If you don't need a pure sport machine, you might consider a Recon or 2x4 Rancher as an option. That's kinda what I wish I had done. But I still like riding the 250EX. Just make it Honda.

 

I have a 2002 250EX and a 2003 400EX. I am very happy with my 250EX. The only thing I have done to it is front brake pads and lube the lower shock bushings ( they started squeaking really bad). It takes a few minutes to warm up before it will idle on its own,more so when the weather is cold. The quad is a lot of fun to ride and is easy to do wheelies on. It is great in the woods, tight trails and handles small jumps nice. But does it have enough power? Well that is when I get on my 400EX. It has enough power to get up the same hills as my 400 with maybe a little more momentum but your not going to win any drag races with it. But when I feel like taking it easy and not have to work a clutch or worry about not having reverse, I hop on the 250EX. I have no regrets buying it and I plan on keeping it for years and handing it down to my son when he starts out riding. I hope this helps you make your decision. Good luck!

 

I just bought a 250 in september, i got because it was ratted the best begginer quad but if you already have experience i would go with something that has more power. It has gotten me into the sport of atving and now im going to buy a kfx400($5600$) sure it more but i would just save your money longer and buy something bigger. if you want to stick with honda buy the 400ex, and if you need reverse buy the 300ex or a utility, hope i helped some.

 

i got my wife a 250ex a couple months back and its alot of fun, we ride it at the dunes and its real easy to do tricks on due to it being so light, my recomendation to you however with $4000 is that you could get like a 98/99 300 ex for that much in awsome conditions and have a bit more power and with your experiance you could use the bigger more sport oriented bike.
Jetjock16

 

Buy a blaster and put a pipe on it and it will smoke any stock 250ex by a long run. Especially if your talkin about the new ones they are weak my cousin has one and i raced him with my 1999 blaster and i smoked him, but its all up to you.

 

A 2 stroke requires a lot of work they arn't reliable in the long run. I own both 2 and 4 stroke quads and YES the 2 stroke is faster but they are a nightmare because they will loose compression so fast. You won't have to do anything to the 250EX but change oil and put gas in it it should last a good 10 years, where BASIC maitnence on a 2 stroke is new rings every 50 Hours and nerw piston every year, they consumpt a lot more fuel than a 4 stroke and you have to buy expensive 2 stroke oil if you want your engine to last. A 4 stroke is cheaper to run and you shoudn't ever have to work on them, if you ever have to work on a 4 stroke it sucks but you shouldn't have to do it that often.

 

He is absolutly right . There is alot of work you have to do to them. The 250exc is very reliable and also pretty fast.

 

The 250EX is as reliabe as a brick. Sure you can break a brick or a 250EX, but you're going to have to work on it. With shaft drive, light weight and a pushrod motor (no chains anywhere on this machine), you can expect it will last for a long time.

 

Hey Mike Chero were are there good places to ride in Centre County or Huntingdon.