[Lonewulf71]

I do agree the thumpers have a higher center of gravity. My 450 also feels much heavier than my R, but it doesn't wear me out as fast. If I was drag racing or racing TT where you're screaming all the time I'd definitely prefer the 250, but for MX, especially if the track has huge jumps right out of corners, I'd take a 450.

Can't believe I'm on here defending four strokes - lol - but I really enjoy mine, although I'll never get rid of my R.

That's what my husband keeps telling me about the 4 strokes, it's a lot easier to just roll into the throttle to jump the jumps. On a 250R you definitely can't wait until the last minute to decide whether your going to jump or not. You gotta work for it a little more, lol. I think you learn better clutch skills on a 2 stroke. It may not be as important on a 4 stroke, but good clutch skills really help out in adverse conditions or in the case of a missed shift :blink:.

I do think as far as jumping goes the ease of the 4 stroke power gets a lot of inexperienced riders into trouble, and some of them start jumping things before they're ready to. I've tried to give some of the younger riders some tips, but I guess I come off sounding like their mother or something . After the last girl bounced herself off of a 400EX doing exactly what I told her not to do, I give up, lol.

If I was going to ride recreationally in the woods, especially if I was going up and down a bunch of steep stuff I would want a 4-stroke with a push button start. But for racing giving me my Rs with a kick start any day . Barring something just outright breaking I know my Rs will soak up just about anything I can do to them.

 

[Lonewulf71]

And as far as someone saying the 450R handles worse than a 400ex???? I can't believe two peoples opinions can be so different.

Bottom line is they are all Hondas, how bad can they be?

I've never ridden either one of them, but I did sit on a 450R at the Honda shop. It was like climbing up on a horse compared to my 250Rs.

I'm basically judging my opinion of handling by the number of flips and crashes that I see. When I was going to the Nationals in the late 90's, obviously most of what you saw racing was 250Rs. They just don't flip over, especially in corners like these four strokes do. Accidents are going to happen, that's part of racing...but I'm afraid to hit the four strokes in the corners because I see so many of them tip and flip. Is it the quad, the rider, the setup? Who knows? It makes me less aggressive in the corners especially against the younger riders, which I would never intentionally hit them anyway. I saw one guy get hit so hard on a 250R that it knocked him off the other side of the quad, but the quad never left 4 wheels.

 

[Lonewulf71]

400ex is not the most powerful or best handling but is by fare way more reliable and tougher then any other quad out there.

Hmmmm....I would have to say that the 250R has the 400EX beat hands down as far as being tough and reliable. Why else would we all still be riding quads that are 22+ years old? Granted I'm not as hard on my quads as some of you guys , but my stock 88 frame still doesn't have any cracks in it. The 86 has a couple of small cracks, buy hey I didn't do that :lol: .

I still say that there's nothing that's every been built that's as stable as a 250R. If you don't widen them out, put decent suspension and the right tires on them 300 and 400EX's can be just plain dangerous on a motocross track.