Hi All,

Wanted to introduce myself, I'm Hoover.
I spent the weekend surfing this great forum, tons of information!!!

My wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told her an off road kart and to drive my race car at Fontana on the 18th with one of my friends. She gave me the ok. I build race cars for a living and have a full fabricaiton shop, building parts etc... if needed, will be easy.

I wanted to stay in the 250 size. In everyone's opinion, what is the most popular brand out there? If all goes well, I'll purchase it this week.

Best,
Hoover

Look at the Carter GTR 250/300, HammerHead SS250, Joyner SandViper 250 and Kinroad Phoenix 300. For open spaces, I'm partial to the last two since they have better suspension and a wider stance.

wow..that was a super fast reply, thanks!!!!!

I'll check out all of them
Are those Kinroads popular because of price, since they are made overseas?

what kind of HP do these make on the average?

thanks again.
Hoover

Currently all are imports, but Carter brought manufacturing back to the US and should be releasing product soon. The Kinroad is best value for the money, but the engine is new to the US market and jury is still out on performance compared to the more popular CN and CFMoto. Carter's SYM engine produces the most stock HP with a 4-valve head and ceramic line cylinder, but the Joyner and HammerHead have CFMoto dual range transmissions that allow slow crawls or high speed runs.

As others express their opinion, you will find that the chassis has to handle the terrain you plan to ride. If you run tight tree lined trails, you may find the Joyner and Kinroad too wide. However, higher speed desert runs will favor these longer travel buggies.

Check out the link in my signature to see some NW riding shots.

I'm with Pgh. All that he listed. I like the 2 300 my self. Kinroad and Carter. The thing I dont like about the Carter is lack of travel and the struts.

PGHruby pretty much covered it. Since you mentioned Fontana I assume you're a SoCal guy. Width shouldn't be an issue pretty much anywhere you would go. Travel is definitely a large consideration in our rocky deserts around here. Speed-wise, the Carter will give the greatest satisfaction, that feeling of oomph a little more, but the front struts and lack of travel mean you'll be feeling the terrain a lot more.

The Kinroad has been getting the best reviews on suspension, but it sounds like the motor may not be as much of a performer as the SYM or CFMoto. I say sounds like because none of us out here on the west coast have one.

Support is a huge issue with any offroad toy and All of the recommended brands have good reputations for parts availability and being well-built. My personal experience has been that Carter and Joyner offer the best support for their products, tho.

I'll look into the Carter.
Any references on Dealers would be greatly appreciated.

I'm in Northern California.

Has anyone ever turbocharged one of these motors?

WEST COAST is a forum member that has turbo kits for the CFMoto engine. He is willing to work with someone on creating a SYM kit, but will need feedback during manufacture...

that's perfect!!!
I can even help, I've built about 50 turbo cars in the last 10 years.

Carter Dealer?