I am in the market for a Chinese 250cc utility quad, and want something big enough for me and a cute girl on the back to go camping. So I am 5'10'' and 150lbs plus another 120lb person plus camping equipment. Can most 150cc and 250cc utility quads carry that much stuff? I was looking at the dimensions of many atvs and many look like they have the exact same body, but many have different stated dimensions. I was thinking about the taotao 250d or something like that, but one website said that the 250d's dimensions were 56 inches long, and less than 35 inches wide.
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I am a college student and money is a huge concern, so I want to stay as close to a thousand dollars as possible. Which companies are the most reliable, which should I stay clear of? Is it worth it to get the 250cc over 150cc with the same big body?
How much should I expect to spend in maintenance and other expenses after I buy the quad?

Do you guys trailer your quads or throw it in the back of your truck? If you just put it in the bed, what kind of ramp are you using? I feel like if I could toss it in my bed easily I would use the atv more frequently

 

First, I would like to tell you that since you are in effect very new to atv's, I would not buy a Chinese quad. They tend to take a little more wrenching, and if you arent mechanically inclined, you could find yourself in a bad position. They are great bikes, if you have the know how to keep them going.

Secondly, that Tao 250 would be a decent setup for what you need. Even though its a little narrow then others, it will still haul the load you specified. As far as trailering, I have to since every outing consists of more than one bike. If you have a pickup, then you should be able to throw the Tao right in the back, with no problems.
Ramps are good, but if your truck sits too high, it can be troublesome to load your bike.

Maintenence to the quad would lie solely on you, if you buy off the internet. See if theres any MIC dealers near you, since that would be the best option. Local dealers can help with almost anything on your bike.
Good luck.

 

Oh, and slydog has one of those Tao 250;s, so maybe he will see this and offer you more advice. Im sure hes been through the same stuff with his that you are planning to do with yours.

 

I would recommend the Taotao 250 D as the best bang for your buck for a full size 250cc utility ATV. This is the same model I have and you can look at the pics in my gallery of this model assembled and how it arrives in the crate.

I wouldn't even consider anything less than 250cc if more than one person will be riding at one time. One more reason to choose the Taotao 250 D is it has manual transmission so you can down shift for going up hills where the 150cc is a CVT automatic transmission with just forward and reverse.

The actual size is 66"x38"x41" with a seat height of 30". It is big enough for two people but not really designed for two people, one person would have to sit on the rack a little, but then again none of the Chinese ATV's are designed for two people in the $1k range, but it would work for two.

The Taotao 250 D comes crated and you need to be good with a wrench as you have to assemble the steering linkage and align the front end along with drain the crap oil and install new oil. You will also need to change the spark plug to an NGK as the factory plug is crap. You will need to locktite every nut and bolt that doesn't have a locknut installed, along with adjust the chain before riding. Oh and don't forget to put the wheels and handlebar on, and tweak the brakes and clutch cable. Then after you get it running adjust the carb idle once it warms up.

One big flaw in the Taotao 250 D design is the gearing being geared too high for speed and has no low end power. This can be fixed by changing the front sprocket to a smaller tooth which will give you more low end power for climbing hills and trails.

I would look at Ebay sellers Vbike, best_bike, or Sk powersports where I got mine for the Taotao 250 D at around $1150 delivered. The seller you listed above was charging $1389 plus they had a shipping charge on top of that.

The Taotao has a lot of features for the money and after a few tweaks you have a very nice dependable ATV with good power through the gears. I also noticed the welds were rather good and overall build quality was rather good with the exception of needing a few bolts tightened here and there, like any Chinese ATV.

If you have any questions feel free to ask..........................Slydog

 

Thanks so much for your help, I did not realize how much information I could get by taking 5 minutes to say something, instead of googling for hours. I will definitely use this site through out my whole atv buying and using process. Thanks slydog and everyone else for giving me all that info.

I would like to think that I am an amateur mechanic, in that I always took apart and put back together my rc-cars, built some home made go carts, and put my mountain bike together. The problem is I dont know much about atvs, but I hope that with some time and advice from others who have done it before, I will be able to get one of these chinese quads running and reliable.

I have thought about getting a used recon250 off of craigslist or something, but even used, they cost twice as much as a brand new chinese one. And I feel like buying a used and more expensive atv over a new one for reliability reasons doesnt make much sense. I dont need something that will do anything to extreme, I just want to be able to do a little bit of trail riding and messing around near the campsite.

Also, I know these quads come with a little tool kit, but I bought a chinese mini scooter once, and the tools were of softer metal then the screws, it was a mess. I have some basic tools, but will I need anything more specific? How did you guys align your front wheels?
One question I forgot to ask earlier:

Is getting a china-quad with a shaft drive worth the extra money?

 

Shaft drive will always be better, but then the cost of repair is greater as well. I wanted to apologize if my first reply seemed to imply you had no wrenching ability, I was just assuring you that you would be doing a good bit of it lol. But, thats with any bike. Im surprised we havent had any of the anit-mic people in here bashing you for considering a chinese bike. Theyre good voerall, as long as you can maintain the upkeep. Good luck!

 

Aligning the front isnt hard, just loosen up the tie rods and adjusting to eye. I think its a 15mm but not sure.
The toolkit that is provided is worthless. Go to Sears, and get the 119 pc toolkit. Itll have everything you need to do any reapirs/maintenence, and it only costs around 30 bucks.

 

The good thing about a MIC bike is that they are pretty straight forward as far as maintenance goes. No special tools required, easy to get to parts. Mechanical simplicity from a mechanics standpoint. If you are mechanically inclined you should be OK with one of these, if your willing to learn.

My unit is a shaft drive and I love it. Do not have to worry about adjustments, chain stretch, or oiling. On the other hand you are stuck with what gear ratio they put in it. With a chain you can change out the sprockets to obtain performance for your liking.

I have two MIC units now and am impressed with the bang for the buck on both units. Heck my Marshin came with turn signals and a horn! My Marshin will easily haul two people on the seat. It is a 200cc with a 5 speed. There was a $400.00 difference between the 200cc and the 250cc when I purchased my unit. Could not justify the extra cost for 1.5 hp...

 

Thanks a lot for your help everyone, this has worked out far better then I had planned.

is vbike.us the same as the ebay seller vbike? I went to the vbike website and they had something that looked exactly the same, just different name. instead of taotao 250d it said 250cc v4d. Am I just being stupid?

A lot of stuff to think about, but it looks like im leaning towards this 250cc v4d. I go to school in Colorado, but I grew up in Maryland. Hopefully I'll be able to enjoy this thing in the rockies as well as back home. I wonder how it would do in the bed on a cross country drive

 

I also have the taotao 250 d and it does good, it easily fits in the back of a pick up i load it in the back of a ranger all the time without using any ramps just picking up the front then the back. But for the money it is a good bike just make sure you tighten up the chain. I also bought mine from a shop and they had it assembled and had already loctited everything and i got it for 1150