ATV Florida Forum

I was just wondering why did honda stop making 250rs?

I never rode one till a few months ago,,,,and I have no clue, I wishthey still made them.

Id@

The government put a band on them in 89' until 99'. There's actually a 1990 trx250r that was sold in Canada and Europe. ;D

Why would the government ban the 250R? Until '99? That doesn't sound right. Several manufacturers have continued making larger displacement high performance 2 stroke quads up until now. I'm no 250R authority, but I'm sure it was a corporate decision by some bean counters, and not a goverment mandated thing. They're only just now phasing out the 2 strokes (no more Banshee, Blaster, etc.) to comply with the newest round of emissions reg's. It is odd that they stopped making it, I would have thought it would have been a good seller.   

Yeah the stupid ban on manufacturing 3-wheelers put a scare into some of the manufacturers and they quite making high performance sport machines. 

Kawasaki quit making the Tecate 250 and never made a 4wheeler with that engine in it.  Honda had the TRX250r for a couple years.  Suzuki dropped the Quadzilla.  Yamaha dropped the Tri-Z 250 but went balls to the wall though and introduced the Banshee in 1986 and never stopped production... well when this year is over they will. :'(

I wasn't thinking about 3 wheelers, I know they were banned or whatever.
I was under the impression that the Tecate 4 four wheeler used the same engine as it's 3 wheeler brother.? Is this not the case? Where's Quad32x when you need him, he would know.

I think it was more or less a compromise between honda and the government. Honda took the brunt of the lawsuits in the 80's. I think it was a deal to get them out of some of the trouble they were in.

I'm a bit of a buff when it comes to those old machines. The Trx250R ran from 86-89 in North America. The '86-87 motor was derived from the ATC250R. The '88 is the most sought after because it included aa power valve motor. The '89 was a little downtuned. Plus the '88 was all red with white lettering and just looked lights out!
Kawasaki did indeed have a Tecate4 (ask gasgasman/550superquad, probably still has his), and man they were fast! I could only beat him when he DNF'd
Yamaha was the Banshee and it wasn't considered an MX racer, but it was (and still is) fun on the dunes. Now many people are drag racing them--- that looks cool!
Suzuki invented racing Quads and the Quadracer revolutionized ATVs, especially for us with our pants on fire! Although Honda and Kawasaki were far superior after they were introduced. That's when you saw Quadzilla! WOW!!! That thing was nasty! But most of the 250s could hang with it on the MX track.
They were all pretty much deleted from being pressured by different groups, I'm sure the GUBMENT had something to do with it. I'm just glad to say that without them 2 smokes, ATVs (especially racing ones) would not be the same as they are today.
I think there would only be utility quads out on the farm.
That's the best I can tell you from my knowledge. Hope it helps!
BMD

The 89 and 88 trx250r motors are the same they never made a power valve motor and they never down tune the motor. The kawasaki's always suck they broke all the time and they handle like a garbage truck. Where do you get your facts from, Kmart catalog!!!!!!

I don't remember the Tecate 4.  But they did make it.  My bad for not researching it first.  http://www.kawasaki.ca/museum_atv.html   That is a Canadian Kawasaki Motors link... I don't think it really counts.   I can't believe I don't remember seeing it even in a magazine, that thing is FUGLY.

Here's one on E-bay  http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1987-kawasaki-tecate-4_W0QQitemZ160020674593QQihZ006QQcategoryZ42590QQcmdZViewItem

Suzuki had the power valve motor in the Quad Racer in the later years. Honda Stopped making the 250R because of all of the Law Suits in the 80's over the 3 wheelers. Like was stated above Honda took most of the blame and the biggest hit, so they stopped it. The 1989 250R made the most power, because of the different curve in the CDI.

What year did Honda pull out from ATV racing after the 3 wheeler ban on production?

it kinda reminds me of a green blaster on steroids w/o the heel guardds

End of 86' There last factory team.

You must have been waiting all day to say that one.  ::)

Seems like a good reason to stop making a race quad when sales tanked by '89. The only reason they came out with the 450R recently was to race it. I don't think lawsuits had anything to do with Honda discontinuing the 250R quad. Hard to believe it took almost 20 years for the ATV industry to recover from all the bad press 3 wheelers generated. They are still safer than dirtbikes, but the perception is totally different. The last time I checked, if you leave a dirtbike standing by itself and let go, it just falls over, lol.

My mistake on the powervalve,
Yes Mr. Smarty-pants my facts book is from k-mart. And your Spelling is from Uranus! ;D

Tell-em bout his ass ! 2:L 2:L

Here ya go sir !
(http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3/quad32x/DSCF1765_Small.jpg)

I have to say...the 2 we own...are a lot of fun to ride.

That's one cool vintage picture.

I think the raptor looks alot like the old tecate 4.

Quad, why are you the only idiot not wearing a chest protector? Cool picture though, you should post the one where you're racing the 3 wheelers, you know, so we'll all really know how old you areLOL. Did the Tecate 4 have the same motor as the Tecate 3 wheeler?

YEP! BUT YA SEE WHAT GOT THE HOLESHOT?

I somehow knew one of you damn 250R guys would chime in. I was actually going to ask why he "let" a Honda get in front of him. And, that looks like a Quadzilla behind him? WTF?

My dictionary is from K-mart not Uranus, maybe thats our problem!

Honda stopped production of the 250R because of the costly payouts from lawsuits, which were being awarded by the court system who would not put fault on the responsible parties for injurying and killing themselves.  There was absolutely no Govt. ban on them. How could Suzuki make a 250R up until 1992 then?  I did extensive research on this, mainly because I started riding in 1984 and owned 250R's throughout the late 80's up until a few months ago and was curious about the same thing. 

Most of the lawsuits that I researched showed irresponsible owners who would ride recklessly, let their kids or friends ride it recklessly, usually without a helmet (of course), and someone would end up getting killed or seriously injured.  Guess who the injured party or thier family would blame?   The deep pockets of Honda and other ATV manufactuers.  Because the ATV had 4 wheels and looked "deceivingly harmless", it was the manufactuers fault for the roll overs and riders not being aware of how to ride it properly, and courts were awarding substantial amounts of money to victims and their families, who took no responsibility for what happened.  The courts would not always rule that it was 100% the manufactuers fault, but would say that, for example, Honda was 50% responsible for what happened when someone was killed, which would still net huge amounts of money to the winner.  Enough was enough, and Honda decided not to produce the 250R anymore.  Kawasaki followed, and Suzuki stuck it out until 1992, and decided to pull production.  I think Suzuki pulled production because sales were not that great, and practically no one raced the Suzuki on the Grand Naitonal circuit because the Honda was so much better.  On top of that, during that time Import taxes skyrocketed, and the prices of the LT250R's were getting ridiculous for that time period, sending them out of production. 

One of the lawsuits I remember pulling up in nexxus/lexxus regarding the Honda 250R involved a 15yr old kid riding a 250R into an intersection and getting killed by a car heading from the side.  The court decided in the favor of the parents of the dead child, even though THEY were the ones who were neglegent to trust thier kid, who obviously didn't know how to ride, with a race type ATV. 

I think its just as ridiculous as smokers sueing tabacco companies or fat people sueing McDonalds, but it happens, and it destroyed the ATV world at that time. 

Thank god we're back into time of having newly developed, progressing technology, race bred ATV's!!  Those of us who raced quads and lived performance ATV's in the 90's and early 2000's thought we'd never see the day!! 

FINALLY! someone who knows what they are talking about!

 Nice post. I agree with this for sure. I was on a 250R forever until the 450R came out.

Here's a good read. Which sparked it all from the beggining on why all the good bikes were discontinued. The CPSC (government regulated) held the atv manufactors arms behind their backs while consumers pulled a Mike Tyson on their azz. Companies can only dish out so much. Props for yami sticking it out though, but wasn't a big part of the problem compared to the other big 3.


http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:yQVpZTnJVwMJ:consumerlawpage.com/article/atv.shtml+cpsc+1989&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9 (http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:yQVpZTnJVwMJ:consumerlawpage.com/article/atv.shtml+cpsc+1989&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=9)

-Mark

Good post Mark... You da man!!!

the tecate 4 was a powervalve motor 250 from the factory the motors were awesome yes the handling wasnt there but the powerplant by far made the most power of the 250s where hoda had the best handling and best all around chassis i loved my tecate

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There is an article in ATV Sport about the Tecate. Sorry to say they said it was the worse 250 made. They said it was too short, too narrow, twitchty off of the face of a jump and that there was a big gap between 3rd and 4th gear.  Here's a quote from Jimmy White. I don't know who he is but he was a factory rider back in the 80's. "Most of the riders on it looked like monkeys having sex with a football."

Jimmy White was a jackass. I for one KNOW the Tecate-4s could hold more than there own. ;)

One fast jackass, in the day!

seems that i have a tecate that looks just like that one,what do you think mike? 8)

Yea he was fast but why would he bash the people that gave him his chance. Yea , hes a jackass. ;)

what happened to yours,Dont think anyone has seen it do that hahaha  :-*

you werent at the GA race now where you? Can you say "Foot in mouth" :foot.gif
Oh ya, and That was with a stock 250cc motor too!  :king.gif

GASGASMANs Phillips has a stock motor. Hes was WAREing people out. :o

Ight you got me  :Clap.gif
I'll do this now  :foot.gif

Humm lets see, custom built TRX/KTM 500+cc bike VS. a STOCK 250cc 250r.
Thats a tough one to figure out.. :tsktsk.gif   And i had ya whipped till I ran out of Gas...!

The thing he didnt tell you scooter is he was racing a 300ex and a Blaster. ::)

You couldnt whip your pee pee. 2:L

Sounds like you need one of those goofy looking , big 'ol tall gas tanks on you 250R. (I hate how those things look).

Shhhhhhhhhh ! Thats a fat guys secret ! ;)

Woops. Did you get my PM?

We have one of those big tanks... I fiilled up about 3/4 of the way, i thought that would be enough...

Well, it happens I guess. Sounds like something quad32 would do.

wa  wa waaaaaaa :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :'( :P :-*

Yeah cause you know im right!  :P

Steve sent ya a PM

Tradeing secrets huh. :deal.gif

Im not a secret keeper like a few fellas i know.   ;)

I have no secrets. I wish I did but I dont. :R