Andrew,

While I was at the one dealership, one of the guys tried to sell me a Cannondale Moto. I looked at it, or more specifically under it, and said out loud " You know you'd think for $12,500 they could at least put skid plates on it." He said they don't need them for MX. I said "Ah, but I don't ride MX, I ride trails. This would be a very poor choice for a trail machine, too wide, low and with the wrong gearing. (they didn't have a Cannondale Blaze) For that amount of money, I could build my own machine, thank you!"

I wasn't concerned all that much about losing power with a new machine. I mean, I would have gone with the Z-400. At one dealership a guy tried to sell me on the Prairie 650. He said that the Kawasaki Prairie would run dead even with a Raptor (horse pucky!). I said that since the Raptor is no faster than a Banshee, and I have beaten many of those, why would I want a slower machine? Sorry, but I couldn't resist pulling on this liar's chain.

No, I think what sold me was the fact that while riding the kids 250EX, I was constantly shifting up and down behind a guy on a 300 Express. I know that more powerful machines will require less shifting, but why shift at all? The automatic transmission works perfect for me. Now if Kawasaki were to come out with that wonderful V twin engine in an automatic sport quad that weighs 250 less I might think about it...

 

hmm, my dealer only wanted to give me low book for my almost new Scrambler too. These guys are like car dealers. When I tried to get more for it the next dude in line said "we don't take no stinkin' Polaris on trade" to me too.

Not much of a market here for modded automaitcs, so I'm going to just get better front struts, install my GTY-R heel plates and pick up a 628 next year. It's either that or "shove it off a cliff" like you said. Funny, last time I said that someone actually thought I would give it to them. "Work hard, get your own. I'm throwing this one away cause no one else is going to benefit from such a loss."

 

Only 2 dealers out of the 6 I talked too would take a polaris on trade? It struck me kid of funny because most of the Quads I see at Haspins or WNF are Polaris, So I just took everything aftermarket off and e-bayed it and traded it in, In stock form. The funny thing is tough the 2 dealers I was working with never even started my quad before they appraised it, They looked at the vin# and said well this what we'll give you and that was that.

 

Sounds like you have made an excellent investment for the kids. With shaft drive, the 250ex seems to be one of the better choices out there for kids.

 

Just back in town, wow, this one exploded. I have to say Mike, you made a great choice also. Who cares what the brand is ride and be happy. Can't wait to try the ergonomics of the Z400 for myself. Mike, did you take it for a spin?

Ken

 

Mike,

Sorry to hear about the TB. I wish I would have known more about it before you bought it. You were right on thou when you said maintance was the cure. My quad has never left me down either. Any problems its developed, I was aware of. Amazing what you learn when you take care of something.

Asfor dumping excessive amounts of money into a performance automatic, count me in. I have spent thousands to get mine where it is and I'm not done yet. I have atleast two more to go before I'm done. Will it be a waste. Maybe to most but not me. I do understand the idea of throwing it off a cliff before I sell to someone for next to nothing. Besides not to many people could understand just what all I've went throu to get it where it is now. If someone wants something like mine, then build it yourself or pay me the money to do it for you. It wasn't easy or cheap for me.

 

Ahhhmen Elroy.

 

elroy,

Hey, great to have you back!. No, don't worry about the Trailblazer. It certainly wasn't your fault. Really the only reason I got rid of it was it was too maintenance intensive for the kids. They wanted some thing to "gas and go".

We eventually ended putting new crank bearings, new seals, new piston (.020 over) rings etc. Then when I started it (it still made that awful screeching noise) and tried to rev it up, there was a rapping noise at a certain RPM. It wasn't at idle or high rpms, but I still think it was piston slap. The guy who bored the cylinder out probably went a little over the .0011 - .0022" skirt clearance. Oh well, I did get $1200 out of it and the kids are happy.

Let me know when you can go riding. Last weekend was a washout as I had to wait for the kids to pick up their new toy. We might be going to camp this weekend, so give me a call, e-mail or private message.

 

I too jumped ship in April of 2001. Couldn't resist the Raptor... arg arg! I did lose a bunch of money selling the mods off my Scrambler at less than half price but what the heck. I had my 15 minutes of fame and so did the Super Scram. One thing I have noticed since riding the Raptor--> I enjoy taking out the old Xplorer even more now. When I am sick of roosting up hills, doing wheelies and jumps I can go mud stomping!

I would have to agree with many of the points made by the others but will not go into that right now... Good luck with the 250ex!