Considering a 250 Raptor

[number12]

Hey Guys,
My son is moving from the 90 class to something bigger. I was thinking of either the 300ex Honda or 250 raptor. One of the things I liked about the 300 EX is the fact that I could put on suspension parts from the bigger bikes for a big improvement in suspension. Do you know if any of the suspension parts for the bigger bikes will fit the 250? Has anyone had both of these machines and could give me a comparions?

Thanks.

[etondaddy]

Put the two side by side and you tell me witch one will get your rider ready for a 450.....????. The 250 is a mini frame with a big a** motor in it........ 300ex is the way to go. JMO


Mike Kozura

[quadracer707]

Raptor our choice, light weight lots of power out of the box. Now it depends on what you are going to do with these 2 quads. Recreational, trail or racing??

Bad things about raptor, I believe 249cc you need to put a crank in it & stroke it for 300cc. Not as many aftermarket parts for the raptor as the honda, but they are getting there. We are building a race engine for raptor now, but on a scale of 1-10 on how far we are pushing the engine now, is about a 7ish. We arent stroking it yet!! Waiting for the little guy to learn a little of power at a time. He is just 13 & more concerned about him learning to ride, then as the season goes on we will give him more POWER, just my opinion though,

Ken

[number12]

Thanks for the info/ opinions guys. We will be using this exclusively as a MX bike. Any recreational or trail riding will be done on another quad. He is pretty experienced at riding. he has 5-6 yers behind the bars, 2.5 years racing. He seems to have hit that growth spurt right now. He has grown about 7 inches and gained 20 lbs in the last year, now 5 foot 7 and 125 lbs without gear. His only experience with a clutch is very limited and on a dirt bike but i think he is ready for it.

[hwf-racing]

I just bought my 9year old a Raptor, Mike makes a good point because the Raptor And my sons Apex 100 are very close in wheelbase. It's a little small however, the Raptor at our local race track is a beast! it will stay neck & neck with the 300s. In a couple years the Raptor will be our choice. It's light, handles great, and can make a lot of power out of the engine. Rage has made some serious power, check it out JMO. Derek

[john willhoite]

we really like ours, and have put a bunch of money into it.

If i could start over I would start with a honda.

I think they are just a lot cheaper.
You can buy a nice built used one for cheap.

[number12]

Thanks for the info guys. You are bringing up some good points. I might have to head back to the showroom and get him to set on both of them.

[etondaddy]

Originally posted by number12
Thanks for the info guys. You are bringing up some good points. I might have to head back to the showroom and get him to set on both of them.

Honda....Honda......Honda..........the built motors are twisting out of them mini frames there in.....give Yamaha a couple of years to fix the frames then if there still around get one......... or you could call Lonestar and get a new frame for a grand........ and I still can't see how they would be legal in a production class with a aftermarket frame......



Mike Kozura

[mxdad423]

My opinion is the Raptor, and yes I have one. Here's the deal, the raptor is 100 lbs lighter, and more power and tourque than the Honda right out of the box, I have rode both and it takes some mod's to the Honda to run with the raptor out of the box and thats already been proven. Yes the raptor does have some frame issue's but so do the Honda's. Almost every one of the Honda's that get rode hard will crack the frame on the lower frame rail right in front of where the foot peg is, and I have also seen alot of them crack up on the top of the frame under the seat, I don't care wich one of the brands you buy or what CC it is, if you are racing it, you are going to have frame trouble's, why do you think they make gussett kits for all of them, you start putting power to them and airing them out, they are going to crack and break, just the same as any vehicle that is raced. The Raptor does have a smaller build to it compared to the Honda, but for the younger kids, 13 to 15 they are alot more manuverable. Raptor 250 with a good engine builder, and a good suspension is the future of that class, At least I think so anyway. Now that there is alot of aftermarke parts becoming available you will start seeing alot more of them on the track, you got to remember they haven't been around that long, the honda has been and honda has made absolutley no changes to better there machine in a long time. Honda has fell back in time the last few years on all there machine's where Yamaha, Suzuki, and Kawi just keep going forward and belive me there are alot of people that will agree with me on that.

Kevin Smitley

[mxdad423]

Oh yea if you do go with the Raptor and are going to race it and want to cure you frame issues, here is how, for a whopping 120.00. http://www.atv.com/news/raptor-250-g...tech-1548.html


Kevin Smitley