I've been lurking here and doing a lot of research because I want to buy a quad. I'm moving to Michigans Upper Peninsula next spring. I want a quad for zipping around on back roads in the national forest and doing a little trail riding. I've been thinking about the Ozark or the Z250. I'm 5'9 and about 170 pounds. Any riders out there that weigh the same as me I would love to hear what you think about the power of either of these bikes.

I know a lot of you will start telling me I need a bigger quad. I haven't ruled that out yet but as a motorcycle rider I have a real problem with the weight of some of these midsized 4x4 quads. A Prairie 360 at 600 pounds? Crazy. I have been looking at the new Honda Rancher (2wd, standard shift). I like the fuel injection and liquid cooling and the price but it weighs over 500 pounds. That is like riding around on a Z250 with another 160 pounder sitting behind me on the quad. I learned that if you want to go fast on a bike shedding weight is just as important as gaining horsepower and 120 or 160 pounds is a lot. Seems like you would need a lot of horsepower to make up that kind of weight disadvantage.

The Z250 is the leader so far because it weighs the least of the bikes I am looking at. I like the full fenders, racks and light weight of the Ozark. I can see myself loading some camping gear on it and heading into the woods to fish or hunt.

Lastly, please leave out the "Honda rules, Suzuki sucks, my quad is faster than yours, etc" comments.

 

the ozark is a great quadim 5'10" 140 and it hauls me around good and my dad is the primary rider and he is like 6' 180 and he is pleased with the power if it. they handle amazingly and you can through it around like a sport quad. it will go through as much mud as a 4x4, and i can only imagine how it would be without stock tires. my vote is +1 for the ozark

 

Im 5'10 and 180 pounds. The Ozark feels fine for me. It is a great machine for crusing trails and playing in the mud.

 

warriorchimi,

Thanks. One of the other quads I have been thinking about is the Raptor 350 with a rack on the back. How do they compare? Do you think the extra power of the Raptor is worth another 1500 bucks?

 

Yep, the Raptor is faster but you will get a lot muddier! We have ridden our Ozarks with sports quads all the time. The trails around here tend to get really muddy. Our friends with the sports quads are always drenched with mud when we are relatively dry due to the large fenders of our Ozarks.

Not that I mind a little mud but I don't like to be drenched with it every time I go through a puddle.

But, yeah, if it's speed you want and don't care about mud protection, go with the Raptor. It will be faster.

 

but the raptor only has less than 5 inches of ground clearance and the ozark has 8.3 trust me if u do trail riding ur going to need it, and want it.

 

hi, i have a eiger 4x4, my lady has a ozark,[ shes 206, i hope she dont see this] cant kill the ozark... lite/ fast/mud. a tough two wheeler....

 

The lack of mud protection sucks in the winter when your are trying to stay warm and DRY. I almost always prefer riding the Raptor over Ozark, the Raptor is just more fun. If you do alot of rough trails you want to make sure that sure have good swingarm protection (I banged up my Warrior's swingarm skidplate many of times). I grew up riding a Honda fourtrax 250 which is also a 250 2wd utility and i always had a need for more power so that is why I bought the Warrior.

I have thought about getting a rear rack cause I would like to haul a cooler or whatever.

It depends on what of riding you want to do. Are you geared more toward utility or sport?

They are both great quads.

 

You can't go wrong with an Ozark. I am 5'6" 170 lbs. and this thing pulls me around without a problem. Also, it is light enough to throw around on the trail. Also rides like a Cadillac and has great torque. I would go more in depth about this quad, but visit this link to hear my 6 month review of my Ozark:

http://forums.atvconnection.com/mess...did/509231.cfm

 

Thanks for all the help guys. Most of my friends have Kodiaks, Grizzlies or dirt bikes. I ride an 88 Harley FXR and have been riding streetbikes for a long time. All my quad owning friends think that I will get bored with the 250 and end up buying a new one. I keep telling them I'm not interested in driving around a 500+ pound machine and that the power to weight ratio is just as important as the size of the motor. I have been doing a little riding on some of their quads and I'm not real impressed with automatic trannys either. Riding is fun but I wish I could find an Ozark owner somewhere who would let me hop on and take one for a short spin and see how much I like it. I still can't get past the fact that some of their quads weigh 160lbs more than the Ozark.

I also think a lot of quad owners get trapped into buying a lot more machine than they really need, kind of like the guy with a 1 ton diesel who commutes back and forth to work and tows a trailer once or twice a year. I'd rather take the extra money and throw it into an exhaust, jet kit and tires. Has anybody here looked to see if there are big bore kits for this engine? I couldn't find anything in Dennis Kirk or Rocky Mountain.

Don