Hello all,

Been hanging out here the last week or two and decided to join up. Have a couple of question as well. I am 39 and been off the dirt for about 15 years. Going to get a quad in the next month or so but obviously it's a whole new ball game out there and there is only so much you can tell from reading reviews etc.

Have a couple of questions for some of you that have been riding for a while. I used to have a pretty much stock 86 Quadracer LT250R and really liked it. Felt it would have been perfect with a few mods, pipe and port etc. but it got stolen before I got them done. Before that, I rode dirt bikes, 4 and 2 strokes for years.

Flash forward to now. I plan on doing mostly local stuff, messing around down by the river, have a field to lay out a flat track course with a couple jumps on it. A couple of trips a year to the mountains for some tight trail riding and an annual pilgrimmage to Little Sahara for some Dune Blasting.

I am a good size guy at 6'2" and 260lbs in gear as well. I am looking at 3 main options considering budget right now.

1. 87-91 LT250R - They fit me better than the TRX does and are about half the price of a TRX in this part of the country. I know this quad and feel it would work for me but do not want to ignore the new stuff with the better suspension as 10 years of riding/racing has taken it's toll on me and the back, knees and hips aren't what they used to be.

2. 92 and Up Banshee - Always wanted one but never got to actually ride one, and they are plentiful around here. Lack of low end and old suspension is a concern though, especially for those mountain trips.

3. 2001-2003 Raptor 660 - Right at the edge of my budget and always loved Yamaha. Not sure about the 4 stroke thing in a quad tho. Reverse isn't a big deal to me.

Now that you have the back ground...Thanks for sticking around this long. My main questions is with cornering...flat track style of cornering, Hanging off the side with the bars cranked, flat tracking through a sweeper, steering with the great 2 stroke power and the rear end of the quad. I absolutely loved that and I am not sure the Raptor can do that as well as the old 2 stroke quads did. Doesn't look like it from videos I have seen anyway.

Love the Hit of the 2 strokes as well although I am not a revver by nature. I know, sounds wierd, but that was one of the things about that LT250R, it had great low end and mid for a 2 stroke as well as decent top end. Not having to use premix would be awful nice tho too.

I would consider myself an intermediate level rider and would love to hear from someone who may have owned an old LT and can compare it these type of riding conditions to the Banshee and Raptor.

 

You need to step into this decade and forget about the 2 strokes, especially the Dooky-Zuki. The newer technology 4-strokes are much better than the old 2 strokes, with just as much power, snap, and speed and better suspension. If you find a LT250, it will probably be worn out, and they are getting harder to find parts for. The Banshee will be a handfull to ride in the mountains. The 660 is an excellent choice for a lower budget, and they have all the power most people ever want and good suspension for trails. Not sure how much you are looking to spend, but the Banshees around here run at least $2200 for a decent one and the 660's run around $2500 for a decent one. Just as a reference, I am selling my '03 660 for $2600

 

For what you have listed I would also go w/ the 660. Another option would be to look for a Honda 400ex or a Suzuki Z400 as these are pretty easy to find and great allaround bikes!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>The newer technology 4-strokes are much better than the old 2 strokes, with just as much power</end quote></div>

As long as the 4 stroke have there 200cc hadicap advantage that is.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>As long as the 4 stroke have there 200cc hadicap advantage that is.</end quote></div>
Ha ha ha ..........you beat me too it TLC!!!

 

I'm with the 2 stroke side - it has SO much power potential compared to the 4 stroke - in a smaller, lighter package.

If all the Democrats and Californians were to gather on the California sea shore, maybe the fault line would break and set California adrift, making the US a happier place for the lack of these idiots - AND we would not be going through the 2 stroke emissions thing.

On the serious side - Having ridden both the Raptor 660 and the Banshee, both have their "nice points", but I can't see the Raptor ever coming ahead on the Banshee. Performance mod's for the 'shee are almost unlimited. I had a '96 once (got stolen) that came set for alcohol - Stroked, Ported & Polished, Cool heads, Lectron carbs, LRD exhaust, stretched, almost the whole 9 yards - Dad "tuned" it down to run Super NL, and would still run 120 easy. "Sport" is not my style of riding anymore, so I pretty much stick to the "Ute's" now.

Dad, on the other hand, prefers the Polaris 400 2 stroke Scrambler - another engine with tons of mod's, fun to run, but with the addition of 4WD which makes is a little more fitting to both worlds - "playing" and trail riding. You won't get the top speed of these other quads (I don't know exactly how fast he pushes his) - but he can get top speed pretty dang quick.

 

you should take a look at the honda 250r fourtrax over a lt250. parts are so mush easyier to get so meny more upgrades out. imo the 250r is the best 2stroke quad ever made. the frames are far better than anything of there time and most modern 450s frames are based on 250r frames.


also stay away from 01 raptor 660s unless they already have th tranny upgrade because they can go out and cost quite a bit of $ to fix. i know the parts alone are like 800+ and if you cant install it will cost you atleast 1500 i whould think.

 

2 smokers are sooooo 70's and 80's..Get yourself a Thumper..

 

If you need to be the fastest out there get a 2 stroke and start spending lots of $s on mods. If you want to ride have a good time and very little down time for repair go with a 4 stroke. Me and the guys I ride with switched to all 4 strokes. We had fun on the old 2 strokes but are happeir with our quads now. We often marvel at the fact that we can ride sunup to sunset and stop for nothing but gas and lunch. With the old 2 strokes we brought extra quads on long trips, always carried tons of tools and rarely made it through a full day riding without working on somthing. Now we just ride till we cant take it anymore or they kick us out cause its dark.

 

F 4-pokes, 2-strokes went out because they were badass, we all know things that are badass and dangerous are illegla or stopped being made for a stupid reason, get a lt250 or banshee for half price and put some mods in it and make it to you riding conditions