Wickedfinger
09-24-2003, 07:35 PM
... I had the day off and since it was such a beautiful day here in SE Pa and its been far too long since I have been riding, I decided to take a spin over to my regular ride area on my 250X. I got there expecting the place to be empty (it was afterall 3pm on a Wed.) but to my suprise I found a guy who was riding around on a brand new white Suzuki Z250. I pulled up next to him and started talking with him. He told me he had just brought the quad home from the dealership and it was his first time riding it. He said he had an old Big Red he used to ride but now wanted a sport quad and the Z is what he decided to buy. He wanted to get a 300EX but had settled on getting either the 250EX and the LTZ250 because cost was an issue. He eventually picked the Z because it was almost $500 cheaper and had better suspension numbers. After tooling around for a while, he asked if he could ride my 300EX around and I said sure, but its a 250X - then I explained that the only thing different between them was the lack of an electric starter and a little bit more bore. We swapped rides and I was off on the Z. I took the Z down some of the tight woods trails and up a few hills then around an old circle track. I have to say overall its a nice ride with good handling and is a well put together machine. Even though they both look about the same size, I felt even more cramped on the Z then my 250X (I'm actually too big for a 250X at 6'1" and 245lbs). I feel its also a little down on power from my 250X (it was tough to wheelie) and it dosent handle nearly as good on a track (it could get tippy) but its still a good ride. Also, the machines top speed seems a little low and I couldnt get the rev limiter to kick in in 5th gear wide open (im guessing 45mph? was the max) but that could be just a by product of the shaft drive gearing limitations. As far as the other quads in its class go a Blaster would smoke this thing in a drag race but they might be even up as far as handling goes. The Honda 250EX would probably put up a good fight, but I think the Z has more power (thats not saying much though). A 250 Trailblazer would also smoke the thing in a dragrace and would be even up on the trails but would get its ass spanked on a track. When we stopped to exchange quads I asked him what he thought about the old 250X - and he agreed with my asessment and started second guessing himself on his purchase saying he should have gotten the 300EX. I told him he was nuts and that he has a great little quad on his hands. I told him some of the things he could do to get the machine to move better. First off, get a pipe - I recomended my Pro-Circuit T-4, next put an aftermarket filter on it but don't go with any airbox mods because of the usually wet and dirty conditions around here and lastly maybe consider moving up to 22" rear tires/rims to raise his top end a little (Tim Sr. will be happy to hear I recomended All-Tracks and .190 Black Labels). We exchanged phone numbers, I told him he could call me if he needed help with the mods if he got them, I told him about 3WW.com and we parted ways. Well, thats my story and Im sticking to it.