question about 250ex...

I'm new here and I've been reading through this forum, and have seen a few comments about the 250ex not being 'built' for jumping. I put this under the suspension topic because I'm assuming it's because of the suspension. I'm wondering why the 250 isn't built for jumping? And if this is the case, is there any way to modify the 250ex to be better built for it? Thanks for any input! :)

[2k2-300exnj]

i loved jumping my 250 but never got over like 5 feet of air cuz i just started riding now i have a 300ex and i can get like 10 feet of air i have only been riding for like 10 months but i have to say i like the 300ex better for jumping and it is way faster but i loved my 250 to

["BLAHH"300!!]

i wouldn't jump anything with 4wd..big bears aren't ment for jumping....i had an old 2wd timberwolf....it's about the same as your 250ex -(i guess.) never rode a 250ex...but i did a little jumping on it..every once in a while if i saw a place and was bored..no 10 foot airs or nothin' just little berm jumps...
it felt ok when it landed not nearly as soft as this 300ex but o.k.

here's a tip......if you hear anything pop or "ting" when you land....stop jumping it...somethings not right and jumping it won't help....

[ShiftFMX]

I love jumping my 250ex!!! The suspention works fine. I've done 30' tabletops w/ mine. Then the person who owned the land w/ the tabltop on it bulldozed it down!!! :(

[Poncho]

Originally posted by 2k2-300exnj
i loved jumping my 250 but never got over like 5 feet of air cuz i just started riding now i have a 300ex and i can get like 10 feet of air i have only been riding for like 10 months but i have to say i like the 300ex better for jumping and it is way faster but i loved my 250 to

Theres no way in he11 you are getting 10 feet of air on stock 300ex shocks.:huh

[Tommy 17]

i have rode a 250ex many times and they just don't got the power nor the suspension travel to jump high... i mean just when i would ride it on trails i hit bumps i never knew existed the back end didn't suck up the bumps it kinda jumped over them and bounced i dunno it was weird... its a beg bike not a race machine... and i don't see how u jump 30ft table tops on it bc my arms would be broke...

["BLAHH"300!!]

we were jumpin' like 6/7 foot air's this weekend and it was a hard landing......you can get 10foot air's but i bet it hurt's to land that chopper.....i just knew mine was going' to break on the next jump...never did....i did sprain my wrist once....(didn't slow me down any though).....i wouldn't try hitting those 10 footer's too much unless you wanna pay big time after something breaks....

[Live2Ride300]

Ya you could end up breaking your swingarm getting 10 ft of air on a 300EX. Did the jump have a nice landing? If it did then it wouldnt be that bad on the suspension. I used to have an 87 Suzuki Quadsport 230, I cracked my swingarm 4 times and welded it each time, then cracked it again, but worse and had it welded again, this time with a huge piece of steel welded onto it, there was no way it was gonna brake again, I was doin a big jump with it, with no landing , about 6-8 or 9 feet of air , landing flat, i had my rear shock as tight as it could go, and i was still bottoming pretty badly,

[2k2-300exnj]

it was a table top and it was probrably (sp?) about 8 feet of air and it didnt bottom out eb=ven when i didnt clear it
but when i did clear it really the landing wasnt that bad

[mudderchic]

I have no problem when jumping my 250ex. If you are jumping too high for the shocks to handle you are ready to get something bigger and faster :)

[DaveEX7]

Im with mudderchic........ jumpin a 250 I think is much easier because its small and easy to throw around in the air like if I needed to pitch it forward or backward, but ya the suspension travel on a 250 royally sucks. I bottom out on our own 45 foot double that we can land perfectly, and were not landing on a flat surface, we have a 20 foot long 5 foot high landing and yet we still bottom.

So if ya dont like the suspension travel or the size or power its a good idea to get rid of it.

[rider250ex]

Ya you could end up breaking your swingarm

it happens on a 250ex. i have snapped my swing are 2 times. the first time i just got it welded and the second time it broke 3 inches up form where i got it welded. but i think with some better suspension you can jump a 250ex pretty big

[Live2Ride300]

Originally posted by Live2Ride300
Ya you could end up breaking your swingarm getting 10 ft of air on a 300EX. Did the jump have a nice landing? If it did then it wouldnt be that bad on the suspension. I used to have an 87 Suzuki Quadsport 230, I cracked my swingarm 4 times and welded it each time, then cracked it again, but worse and had it welded again, this time with a huge piece of steel welded onto it, there was no way it was gonna brake again, I was doin a big jump with it, with no landing , about 6-8 or 9 feet of air , landing flat, i had my rear shock as tight as it could go, and i was still bottoming pretty badly,

I was looking at old pics of me jumping this quad, and I found this video of me hitting it, my rear suspension was so bad on that quadsport taht the rear tires would bounce up after landing.