Honda Odyssey FL350 vs the rest

[maconbass]

I'm brand new to this site (my first post) and to mini buggies. I've been doing a little reading and noticed that the old Odyssey's still seem to be held in high regard. My question is, if most of you had a choice between an FL350 in very good condition OR one of the newer popular namebrands such as a HammerHead 250, which would you choose and why? I know next to nothing about buggies so any opinions and information will be helpful.

[olderthan]

hammerhead can do a lot with them
two seater is handy for you & wife or
taught both of my kids to drive in vw buggies
taught my grandson in minibuggy
welcome to the group

[EJ Mac]

I like the Odyssey, but the turnoffs that keep me away from them are: single seater, (my 7 yr. old likes to ride with Dad) and the age of these machines makes parts costly and sometimes scarce. I'll stick with my Joyner 250 or HH250 until I have the money for a Boss 500 4x4 Buggy.

[maconbass]

Thanks for the reply's! There is a clean one for sale locally and I always wanted one as a kid. It sounds like maybe I should just stick to the newer buggies instead. I'm just afraid of Chinese built products I guess. I'll also be getting two buggies for my 8 year old twin boys so I've got a lot of research to do. I know absolutely nothing about them so far.

[olderthan]

go check it out
my son had a 250
he now rides 4 wheelers
two or more buggies is normal
once you get started

[maconbass]

Originally Posted by olderthan

my son had a 250
he now rides 4 wheelers

I guess he prefers the 4 wheelers over his buggy? I'm not totally opposed to going that route either for my boys. However, I have a friend whose son was killed on one which is the reason I was looking more into buggies.

[Rarerat]

This is a no brainer, go with the

[metalstudman1]

I'll put my 2 cents in-- Odyssey,Odyssey,Odyssey!!!! I'm with Rarerat- The're simply solid ,well engineered buggies.

[roysheepdog]

odyssey is a lot faster

[ckau]

Originally Posted by metalstudman1

I'll put my 2 cents in-- Odyssey,Odyssey,Odyssey!!!! I'm with Rarerat- The're simply solid ,well engineered buggies.

I agree 100% but you should consider where you will be riding, your local terrain and trail conditions. The Oddy's are fast but if you don't have the room to use that speed, it's irrelevent. I am in central N.C. the trails are tight and narrow. I would never get to exploit the power of an Oddy. Now if I were in the western part of the country. with some room......... Odyssey or 'busa power!

[maconbass]

Well maybe I need to go take a look at that Odyssey! LOL. What is considered a fair price for one in very good condition? Thanks for the reply's everyone.

[Rarerat]

Originally Posted by maconbass

Well maybe I need to go take a look at that Odyssey! LOL. What is considered a fair price for one in very good condition? Thanks for the reply's everyone.

Here are my thoughts it... We own two FL350's and a really nice little Yerf Dog 150cc Buggy. The Yerf was about 4 or 5 years old when we got it and both of my FL350's are 25 years old. Thanks to a few of the members on this board, like Ckau, Metalstudman etc.. I have been able to modify the Yerf into a very well handling little machine that my 11 year old daughter just loves. In fact, it was her little Yerf that got me to buy my first FL350 so I could go ride with her. Her buggy has been very reliable for the most part but I have also spent a little money & time doing the upgrades which REALLY helped out. It will run around 30-31 mph wide open with a tail wind, so it not really fast enough to get in too much trouble. On occasion it will still break something, but I just chock that up to normal wear & tear and the fact we are much harder on it then it was ever designed for.

Then there are my two FL350's. The first one I bought was in pretty good condition for the most part but the plastics were ruff but it seamed to run strong, over all I would rate it a strong 6 or a weak 7 on a scale of 1-10. I bought it in the Phoenix area from a guy in the military that was being deployed and just wanted it gone. I gave him 1700.00 for it and after my travel expenses had 2000.00 in it. I have had to fix several things and pulled the top end apart to replace a blown cylinder gasket. While it was apart I had to drill the lube holes in the piston as well as relieve the exhaust bridge because the previous owned didn't do it on the last bore. I got lucky that I had the bad gasket causing me to open it up before I ceased the motor. This Ody is very fast and the one I was riding when I made the videos I posted the other day. I used a GPS and clocked it at 67.8 mph with a fat 250 pound butt in the seat.

My second 350 I found on craigs list not to far from where I bought the first one outside of Phoenix. He was asking 900.00 and I gave him 850.00 for it. I went down & back in the same day so I have a little over a grand in that one. It is pretty ruff and needs to be completely torn down and restored. If you can think of it, it probably needs it. however i still ride it when the whole family goes out and it will still run about 60mph. I would rate this one a 3 on the 1-10 scale, but I will bet it will still out preform 90% of the buggy's out there even in its poor condition. I had it out earlier tonight with my daughter in her Yerf and made a couple of videos of her Yerf.


To answer your question, I would think if the FL350 you are looking at is as nice as you say... If you can pick it up between 2500-3000 you would do well on it. Personally I think you will be happier with the Odyssey over the Chinese buggy, just check it out well before you buy it.

I hope this helps,
Nick

[olderthan]

my son had his 250 odyssey from 12 to 15 or so
he is 34 now
he now rides 4 wheelers
his wife has her own
my grand-daughter has one
my 9 year grandson rides with one of them
when he came out to nevada i taught him
to drive in one of my buggies- you get to learn
& fix anything you get
get the odyssey if you love it when you go see it

[maconbass]

Thanks again for all of your reply's. I'm going to try to go check it out this weekend. Any advice on specific things I should look for would definitely help me out. I'm glad I found this forum!

[Rarerat]

Good luck & Check your PM's