Can Am DS 250

[hurtinalbertin]

Just bought a can am ds 250 for my kid. did home work, watched videos, thought it would be a good quad. Gutless peice of crap. I ordered a clutch kit for it hopeing that will help. Does anyone else have 1, and what to do for more power. Loaded of their ramp when I bought it but doesn't have enought power to load up a 6' ramp into truck. I droped the ball on this one.

 

[MtnMaster]

make sure you do a good check over for any simple problems. I knew a guy with a DS650 that was an absolute dog. Spent a full year trying to figure out why it was so gutless, including taking it back to the dealer. Turns out the snorkel tubes on the airbox were kinked, and not letting it breath. Pulled them off and rerouted them, almost ripped his arms off first time out. Had it at the dealer 3 times, and they never figured it out.
Never heard CanAm and Gutless in the same sentence before, unless there was a problem.....

 

[ICANAM]

I was thinking of getting one of these for my girlfriend last fall. I took it out for a rip and it barely hauled me, and I'm not a big guy. I thought the same thing..gutless. I don't think they put the sophistication into their small quads, that they do to their big bores. I hope that it is just a minor problem like air box intakes or something like that. Good luck.

 

[hurtinalbertin]

thanks mtnmaster I'll look into that.

 

[mbarryracing]

Just bought a can am ds 250 for my kid. did home work, watched videos, thought it would be a good quad. Gutless peice of crap. I ordered a clutch kit for it hopeing that will help. Does anyone else have 1, and what to do for more power. Loaded of their ramp when I bought it but doesn't have enought power to load up a 6' ramp into truck. I droped the ball on this one.

hurtinalbertin,
Yeah, the DS250 clutch calibration from the factory is very docile and mild mannered as to not intimidate beginners, as you quickly realized that it desperately needed help with it's hill climbing ability, etc...
Stock, the clutches engage 1000 RPM too low, well under where the motor actually starts to make it's torque, so the engine struggles and lugs on takeoff... Also the CVT shift-out is well under the peak HP so it doesn't pull very hard when accelerating either. This all results in a less then exciting performance.

For this, a performance clutch kit is the single most improvement with the biggest gain that you'll get from a bolt-on mod on these DS250's. With the help of new springs and weights, it raises the clutch engagement closer to peak torque, which gives the engine more umph to get it moving and keep the clutches from slipping, and also targets the CVT shiftout 1800 RPM higher so that it's up around the peak HP of the DS250 4-valve engine. It definitely becomes snappier and more responsive with quicker back-shifting compared to stock.

We installed one after it became pretty obvious to our family that my wife's DS250 struggled seriously on big hills on the trails that we often ride. She flipped it a few times because it actually slowed down and stopped forward motion all-together in the middle of big steep hills, rear tires stopped and the engine just moaned while the clutch slipped. Not good, I can see why you were having troubles loading into a truck...
The kit made the machine pull harder and didn't lug the engine down as much so now it zips right up hills, actually accelerating up hills now!
My wife found it easier to ride because she didn't have to use as much throttle so it was more predictable to her as well. She didn't have to worry if it was going to have enough power to make it up. The kit transformed this "entry level" machine into a more desired "sport" that it should have been from the factory all along.

The second thing is to ensure you are getting 100% throttle slide opening in the carburetor. I have seen some that the cables weren't adjusted from the dealer at optimal so the thumb was at WOT but the carb throttle slide was only opening about 80%...

Another thing too if you bought a 2010, the new DS250's are a "T" class so they now have a spacer on top of the throttle slide in the carb that prevents 100% opening from the factory (only get about 75%). If so, you'll want to remove that in order to get all the available power.

Hope that helps!

 

[island rider]

Just remember that the smaller cc bikes that brp has are sourced off shore , to be competative in priceing .

 

[mbarryracing]

True, but my 08 Outlander was made in Mexico for the same reason... Doesn't make it automatically a bad machine nor poor quality.

The DS250 is made in an ex Honda factory.