This is a great quad. I am 19 and my family bought our recon new in 2002. Me and my friends have beat this thing to hell. It has been wrecked numerous times and still is still in near perfect wroking condition. We have never had any problems with it. It has been in 3 different diches. Once it was flown into the ditch at about 30mph and is still fine. I own other quads as well and the recon definitly is not the fastest, but it is very light and fun to drive. Wheelies on this quad are easy to do and also jumping on this quad is a lot of fun. We use it also to load wood that we cut. We load more weight on this quad than one should. We still have the shock tires on this thing and they are bald and still we are able to take this thing through deep mud and water without a problem. I love this quad and recommend it to all ages.

I see a lot of younger people reviewing this quad, and I know it is entry level quad, but that might turn some older riders away. I am 22, 5'10" and 170 pounds and I ride the 01 model Recon and have absolutely no problems with it. I have beaten this thing in every way imaginable, loaded up with FAR more weight than it should ever carry, towed things it should have never been towing and hit JUMPS with it that no utility quad should ever see and it just keeps ticking. The quad has sit outside through north east winters for 6 years without a cover, hasn't been maintained very well at all and yet still the only problem I have ever encountered was it needing a carb cleaning.

The great thing about this quad for a full size rider is that it is just big enough to be comfortable, get over any obstacle and it has enough power to still feel quick (and more than enough torque to never feel bogged down if you pick the right gear) BUT since it isn't the biggest or heaviest quad it is cake to maneuver and you can really shift your weight on it to easily manipulate it from getting stuck. This is a great aspect as even a 4 wheel drive quad WILL get stuck eventually, and when it does it can be a pain in the ass to get out. The recon is light enough that you can just rock it, tip it or lean back on it and get out of anything. I have taken it through a few feet of snow and never had problems. Of course a 4wd would be better if you ride in nothing but DEEP sand or really high snow, but the recon CAN make it...just sometimes with a little more trouble than a 4wd quad. But then again, I have never used a dedicated snow/sand tire in these conditions so that could make all the difference.

In the hilly/woods/trail riding I have done, I have never once had a gripe with it's performance and never felt like I was losing anything from not having 4wd that wasn't made up for by the aforementioned ability to be able to shift the quads weight around to prevent getting stuck.

I would say unless you are a very big individual, you will NOT be disappointed with this quad and it will give you many years of problem free driving.

I have an 07 Recon ES and I think it is hard to ride. It's like riding a basketball. Yea it gets around the sharp turns, but if you hit a rut on the trail you better be ready and hold on. I have decided to sell mine and get something that doesn't beat me to death on the trails.

This is a awesome fourwheeler im convinced its indestructable im a 14 year old girl but i ride rough i am now getting a bigger bike but i love it i have a lift kit a snorkel and 25inch mud lites i can gwt it through anything my dad has a polaris 700 with 27 inch mudlites, 4inch lift kit ans snorkels and i make it through everything he does but i can not tell you how many times i have flooded it and it still runs like day one its one of the toughtest 250s out there i also bought it used and the person who had it before me rolled it crashed it everything but we new lastics on it and it ran and looked like day one trust e buy it

I had a recon es when i was 10 years old and we sold it when i was 12. then we bought a rancher 4x4 which we later found out was great for trailing and pulling heavier things. the recon could easily keep up with my rancher but the rancher had more power to it. we sold my rancher and now i really want another recon because i realize now without having either, it gets really boring. for the price, the recon is a GREAT 4wheeler. a lot of people say it is hard to start when it is cold but if you keep it in a garage i don't think it is very hard to start at all. i would love to have another recon...... but the es is much better than just the regular recon. i would strongly recomend this 4wheeler to others...... TRUST ME IT'S GREAT!!! WILL SOMEBODY BACK ME UP ON THIS????!!!????

great 4 wheeler i dont care what u say my 2007 honda recon is a great 4 wheeler. im 13 and i have had my recon 4 3 years and have had no problems my brother also has one and we have no problems with it either. i live in west virginia and go riding every day i like the handling and the 5 speed standard. its cold natured but if u give it full choke and run it you will b fine.. i wish it was four wheel drive..but i love my recon i would buy one if ur looking to buy...

I have an 06 Recon ES & an 05 Recon S for my daughters and these bikes have been nothing less than perfect in performance. Now we do a lot of camping/mud riding at different atv parks and the mud does take a toll on the brakes but that is expected. These bikes will handle their fair share of most terrains. My kids are 10 & 7, these bikes handle very well.

My son has a 2005 Recon and for the most part we love it. Have some issues with water and mud getting in the rear brake drum housing and the jets in the carb seem to clog easy. The jets getting clogged could be our fault though, and samething with the mud in the rear brakes. Also it is a little cold natured.  Not one bit of trouble anywhere else though. Overall performance is great! Not the fastest thing out there, but fast enough for most trail riding. From a stop, I can easily bring the front wheels off of the ground in second gear. Dont know what the top speed on it but would say some where in the 40 mph range. But on the trails is where this thing shines. I have a 08 Honda Rancher 420 4x4 and on the trails where we ride, my son on that Recon can stay up with me. Now the longest straight stretch is about 75 yrds long (in which I can pull away) but other than that, the trails have a lot of curves, and speed isnt as important as handling is, and he can stay right there with me. My Rancher is no slouch in the handling department, but that Recon with its light weight and overall good handling more than make up for its lower speed. It almost feels like a sport quad in a utility quads body. I have a blast on it. With that being said, I started riding atvs when I was 10 and that was in 1984 so I do have some experience. If you are in the market for a good solid entry atv for a someone thats not too big or a smaller woman like my wife (who weighs about 120lbs), you cant go wrong with the Recon 250!

Great bike! It is usually a starter 4 wheeler which is why so many people give it good reviews. It's their first bike because it looks good and it's cheap for cost. The performance is right up there with the bigger 4 wheel drive bikes because of the Recon's light weight and handleability that will allow it to go anywhere a 4 wheel drive will go if you know how to drive it and you are brave enough. It does not do too well in sticky mud with no water available to wash off the tires. I recommend the stock tires that come with the bike even if the first set wears out. They seem to give the best performance for the Recon and were chosen to go with the bike for a reason. They give the optimum height to the bike and are not too big for the Recon's motor and seem to give the best overall performance. As with all ATV's you should not go in water deeper than 3" deep. OH, you can, but you will pay dearly 5 or so years down the line. The water will start corrosion to the back shaft. The seal bearings on the rear of a Recon are designed to keep oil in, not water out! It cost me dearly for a whole new back end when my back shaft suddenly stripped out along with the ring gear that turns the back shaft. This stripping effect is due to less than desirable gear teeth. They are so small that you wonder how they don't strip out sooner. I have first hand info that honda is manufacturing atv's with inferior parts for the same price or more than they did a fews back where atv parts were more beefy and stronger. I've seen the difference and it is almost laughable. So, if you want to get a bike, and you want it to last, play nicely with it and take care of it. I took care of mine, but I put it in water often in south Louisiana. Let's just say that the cost to fix it was half the cost to buy a new one back in 2000, which mysteriously is the same price as the new models. There is some sort of defect with the left side rear seal and bearing according to the mechanic that fixed mine. He says most Recons that get to him all have the same problem which leads to much greater problems to the back end. Good luck on your journey.  I hear Polaris is striving to make the perfect "ALL terrain vehicles.  You might want to consider them for a new 4 wheeler.  I've seen these do some unbelievable stuff and kept on going.

Let me just start off by saying if you are here looking to see whether you should buy a recon or not, the answer is YES!!!!! I currently have a 2006 Honda Recon with the Electric Shift option. There are tons of great things to say about this ATV so let me make a list of all the pros and cons i have found out about it over the last two years of owning it.

Pros:

1)Great Handling -This thing handles like a sport atv, you can easily flick the back end from side to side allowing you to do extremely tight turns at high speeds.

2)Extremely Rugged -I live in Florida and there is nothing here but palmettos. This thing tears through them like nothing. In the event you ever do get stuck, this ATV is so light you can easily rock it back and forth until a tire catches and sends you on your way. If you ever get really stuck, all you have to do is jump off and pull it off of whatever your hung up on. IT goes anywhere and everywhere my Suzuki Eiger 400 4x4 will and sometimes has an easy job.

3)Strength -The 250cc engine has a good strength for its size. In low gears you can tow almost anything within a certain extent.Obviously your not going to be pulling down a house with it, but as far as trailer full of dirt or hay it will easily do.

4)Reliable -It has never left me stranded and i use it on a daily basis, for either work or play.

5)Enclosed Drive shaft - This is something that was a key buying point. The enclosed drive shaft means less moving parts open to the elements and that is something very handy here in Florida. Sand is the best when it comes to destroying moving parts.

6)Appearance - Personally i love the looks of this thing, its looks like a sport with its open fenders, and wide rear tires.But you can still tell its a utility by its front and rear racks.

7)Headlights -This is not something i really care about when buying an atv but i thought i would incorparate it into my review because i was amazed by these. On my model i have lamps that have great projection along with being able to flood the trail with usable light off to the sides. This is great when you are shooting down the trails in the dead of night.

Now for the cons, yes there are a few but they are nothing major.

 Cons:

1)Skid plates -Yes the skid plates do suck, mine were bent the very first day. I would recommend getting some aftermarket ones whenever you can.

2)Touchy in the cold -It can be kind of a pain to start in the cold but that's expected from a lot of ATV's and it doesn't bother me all that much, but i live in Florida, so its cold for a month or two and the temp doesn't get low enough to brag about.

3)A but rough -The suspension is a but hard, i didn't notice it until i bought my Suzuki Eiger and that felt like a Cadillac compared to the Recon. But a stiffer shock means better handling!

4)Clogged Jets -The jets will get clogged sooner or later , but it is always nice to clean your carb every so often anyway.

5)No oil external oil filter. -Yes this is something that i wish they had done to the Recon a bit differently. There is no external oil filter on it. I don't know if this changed from older ones to newer ones but i know the newer models do not have one. They actually have an internal screen that filters the oil, and it isn't that easy to get too. Don't get me wrong its there doing its job, its just not as easy to do as an external filter would be.

Well there you go, that's pretty much all i have to say about the Recon, though it has some cons to it, like everything else it can't be perfect. But if your just starting out, or even looking for something to play around on, this is the ATV for you. It s great mix between sport and utility and i know for a fact that if you buy one, you will not be disappointed!

Recon is an awsome machine, I have ran into like 10 trees going almost full speed and the only thing that ever got broken was me.. besides a few scratches on it, its fine. Alot of people complain that it has trouble starting in the cold, you know there is a good explanation for that, Atv's generally have a tough time starting when u leave them outside to freeze, thats why I keep mine in a nice garage and it never has probs. You just half to be careful to never flood the exhaust pipe. (Dont get automatic) get manual recon with electric shifter. that way you can shift at your leisure and still never half to worry about clutch-work.  

oh yeah, and i am not joking when i say the honda recon is like a 250cc sport atv with a utility frame, its like its under cover or sumthin, + you can haaul aloot of stuff on this thing.

i have a 200 honda recon it's a good quad gos good for a 250 the only problems iv had is the jets get cloged and theres not enough ground clearence with the stock tires on it. the stock skid plates suck to if u buy one i highly recomend buying a after market skid plate

I have a 1999 Recon that I bought new. I previously had a Honda Big Red Three Wheeler. From day one the Recon was hard to start especially in cold weather. It is also very hard to set the correct idle speed. In cold weather it will idle and stop while at the same setting it will run too fast in warm weather. The transmission is hard to shift or simply will not shift while on a steep incline. Overall it's ok but I'm looking for a new ATV.

My wife was new to ATV riding when we got married, so I bought her a 2007 Recon 250 to get started.  She loves it.  We didn't fool around with the Automatic function we got the standard 5 speed shift option. This thing has plenty of power and it handles like a sport ATV, you can kick it and slide it around, its a lot of fun.  It doenst keep up with my 400EX but its not supposed to.  I haven't had 1 problem with this thing since we bought it.  This is a solid machine for someone just getting into the ATV market.  Once you get the feel of riding on this one, you can easily upgrade to something more powerful.

I just got one as a 13 year old girl it is a Honda Recon 250 do you think that is a good bike for me?
I had no clue my dad had bid on it till 15 minutes before the eBay thing was up sooo i had to make a quick decision and idk.... soo i chose it was it a good choice?

their automatic is very undependable and honda has a tendancy to be old school on features for most of their machines.

I have a 2000 Honda Recon250, bought it brand new from a friend who bought it from a guy that needed monay to deal with court cases...All the time that i've had this ATV it has been awesome, its small and doesnt way much, yet its as strong as any other honda (besides bigger models) sometimes stronger than them....The only thing i dont like which i've seen alot in this forum is that its not 4-wheel drive, and you cant really tell but it would help alot if they installed dual rear suspension instead of single suspension, although you cant really tell...Other than that awesome ATV ALSO I NEED SOME SERIOUS HELP WITH MY ATV, IF SOMEONE KNOWS HOW TO DO THIS PLEASE EMAIL ME AT bballincO2@yahoo.com.....Today i changed the oil in my Honda Recon 250 and all that went fine, but i cant find where the oil filter goes?! I looked EVERYWHERE, on the motor, on the sides of the motor, under the seat, i just cant find it? I called the Honda Dealership but they were closed and wont be open until monday, and its saturday, i need to know soon, so please notify me if you know how once again at bballincO2@yahoo.com

Good little ATV.  No four wheel drive.  Reliable.

can anyone tell me if the 2006 honda recon's are available with automatic transmission?

we have an older model honda that is stuck in first gear any help would be appreciated we gave to a family that has 8 kids for Christmas and they want to ride it again.

i have 2 1999 recons each with 8000 miles on them and they both run great with the exception of the transmission. when racing one it will sometimes slip back into a lower gear. overall an awsome atv and never any problems. didnt even have to have the transmision glicht fixed.

Great little 4 wheeler. The only problem is there has been a recall on the Electronic Shift models.
The transmission won't shift at very bad times. On the side of a steep hill....I had to dismount and rock the vehicle to get it out of the gear.
Then downshift to low. Took it to the dealer and they are fixing it. (no charge). Now thats MY kind of service.

I have a 2003 recon and have about 8,000 mi. on it and it keeps going. Up here in Wisconsin there is mud in the spring and snow in winter. It goes through it all. I just wish it had 4x4

Bad costumer service, Honda knows of speedometer problems and won't do anything about them or tell anyone about them.
Don't buy

this muchine is awsome has good torque and is extreemly reliable

Although my Recon is reliable as far as starting, I think it is very dangerous has a poorly designed brake system. Wy wife and kids and I are all experienced riders and we all agree this Recon is junk. 5 people have ridden this Recon and 4 of them have flipped it. It started to flip on me, but I saved it. I've been riding dirt bikes and ATV's for 35 years and this Recon is the worst one I've had. I think if I widen the track by at least 6 inches, lower the seat by 4 inches, then it may be safe enough to allow my wife and kids to ride it. My wife flipped the Recon when she was taking a very slow turn and we are both experienced riders. As far as I'm concerned the Recon is too dangerous to ride in it's stock condition unless it has some modifications to make it more stable. It's okay as long as you take it easy, but this is not a sport quad and will not keep up on the trails with our Yamaha sport quads. I'll never own another one.

very reliable and fun.

I have a 1999 honda recon and it has been a very reliable atv so far.I got stuck in the mud real good once so i have equipped it with a superwinch 1500 and it gives me a sense of security. The only thing that i regret is that it is only a 2 wheel drive and it cannot perform in our canadian winter.Otherwise,it has been a good choice and my teenage daughter enjoys to ride it in the woods in Lac St-Jean,Québec.

have had two both demo models from our local dealer. both we have rung their necks and both just kept on taking a beating. the first we had for 7 years the other weve just got. one thing standard issue tyres have a soft ruber compound that wears out quick other than that great machine

We love our Recons! They're reliable, durable and responsive. Light enough that we never find ourselves in tougher spots than we can handle while still quick and sporty. Great machines!!

I have had many quads and the small but strong honda recon is one of the best mid-size quads out there. The 2002 comes standard with an oil cooler which helps alot on long rides. It runs great all the time and never fails. Honda at its best! Also i installed a K&N air filter and it helped alot.

Very reliable and fun to ride.