whew! nope nope don't tell me don't tell me. I know what you said man it's there in the forum. The Honda world would be a much better place if you ran R&D. They would make more money. Profit from mass sales greater than ever before, and dominate each and every level of the atv market. Well expcept the entry level sport quad. And by the way, close guess on my profession.

 

First of all if you took away about 80% of highway vehicles in the U.S. just to make the numbers equal to ATV, and then filtered out alcohol, hazardous senior citizen drivers and under-aged drivers, then the numbers might be comparable, most driving accidents are caused by external influences. With ATVs 99% of the time it is operator error, common sense, inexperience and machine performance versus operator capabilities. Just by saying "I think that a 14 year old can handle a 250, but can't handle a car or a loan" is what every parent says until something bad happens. That's why we have this problem. Everybody bends the rules.

Your little guy that is riding that lt80. That's fine,it can be governed, and is a suitable machine for a beginner. Ukon or whoever it is makes a line of smaller quads for beginners with 50s, 80s, and I think even one around 100. We didn't need another 250. They need to have something in the 125cc range of a 4-stroke to bridge the gap between entry-level and the young adult. If it gets too small for you at 14....tuff. You only have to wait 2 years before you can go to an unlimited choice of quads. I wouldn't be suprised if they raise the age limit to 18 before long. It just another step to phasing them out all together.

I learned the motorskills for driving vehicles from a minibike, a go-kart, and a riding lawnmower before I was 12. Then I had an old Honda trail 70 until I was 14. From 14 to 16 I had a Yamaha 100 enduro. No my dad was not buying me new stuff, they were all beaters. At 16 I bought a Yamaha 250 2 stroke trial bike (for 200 bucks). At 20 I bought a KZ650 streetbike. And now at 26 I just bought a Blaster to get back in to sport dirt riding. I learned so much from all of those smaller machines when I was younger, those things also play an incredible role in developing basic driving and hand-eye coordination skills. Too many people today just slap their kids on machines that are harmless to them, but don't remember what it was like to not know the first thing about driving a d**n thing. Then they go out and get banged up or killed. I must admit it sounds like you are takin the right approach to developing your little guys skills.

 

What is "expcept". Yeah I would make a good R&D person for Honda because I know I would want a quad to compete with the Raptor and DS because Honda is getting blown away in the highperformance category now. You would be better off with a Blaster than the 250EX, for one thing it is $1,000 cheaper and a lot faster. My guess would be that you are a politician because you have no idea what you are talking about.

 

Hum lets see? light weight, shaft drive, sporty looking? under 4000? How many people drive Recons because they wanted a honda but could not afford anything more? Well here you go! the 250ex, get a good reliable cool looking for under 4 grand. yeah real STUPID of Honda, this is purely profit driven idea. Buy the 250ex ride it for a couple years trade it on a bigger EX. Yeah they ought to give the guy who brought this idea up, a bonus and a bigger office. Honda is not the company they are by doing the wrong thing. so what if it doesn't breath fire.

 

The answer is make a big-bore monster to compete on the top end, knock the price down on the 300ex so people can have an entry level "sport quad", and finally make a couple of smaller quads for youngsters, so they don't have to learn on a 250ex. That would be a better market. Right now they are missing a few rungs on the ladder. Isn't the 300ex gutless enough for beginner adult riders, that they needed to bring in a 250. Not to mention shaft drive, auto clutch $$$$$$$$ to repair vs. clutch plates, cable and a chain. Is it even worth it on this machine?

 

thats called a typo. I'm sure you figured it out after a while and chill out man. Your getting way too excited.

 

Adults and teenagers alike bend the rules, that is true. I can throw a stick and find a teenager that can handle a 250, but I might just as easily hit one that can't handle a trail 70. I don't think anyone intended to include first time riders who are 12-14 years old in this.

 

Actually studys show that a large majority of children injured or killed in auto accidents are injured due to improper restraints orh alcohol use by the driver of the vehicle they are in...
So tell me then, what is the atv of choice for an experienced 14 year old rider?

 

The number of people who train their kids in the right way with machines that are appropriate for their age and capablilities is far less than the amount of people who buy quads for the whole family so they can ..."get into it" without knowing what the heck they are buying.
I know the countless times I have been at our local dealership through out the summer I have seen family's come in gawking and looking at everything and will buy 2, 3 or 4 quads at one time, or be picking them all up. It's usually a big 4x4 of some sort for dad, a smaller utilty ATV for mom or one matching dad's, and for the kiddies it's a small utility, a 300ex, or a blaster. Not once have I ever seen an lt80, or a yukon 80, or a badger, or a go-kart loaded up with the quads. Have no fear they will "learn" how to ride them! Or he doesn't need something that small, he can learn on dad's machine. Maybe they don't want to spend the money on a smaller one because they will outgrow it in a year, I say tuff sh*t, that's the rules, trade it in on a differnet one. The ignorance of the general public is simply amazing.

But my main point is as easy as the above may sound it is not possible because there are no quads too bridge the gap between mini-entry levels quads and normal size quads. Honda didn't need to make another quad so close to the 300ex. They should have made a couple of middle level quads for youngsters, 80, 125,etc... and a monster to compete with the top end. Then they would probably be out in front right now. They wasted the molds on a detuned 300ex, when they should have just lowered the price on the gutless terd and then spread their market through the age group from a safety view.

 

Although i'm kinda pissed at honda for maiung such a wussy quad, i think it'll be popular with the teen or beginer riders. Most of us can't afford anything over 4 grand, if that.

And I think we actually need to try and get more kids involved in riding. We are the future of the sport. And i can honestly, if i didn't have my quads, i dunno what I would do. Prolly just go to parties and get high and drunk like most of the kids who DON'T ride.