Well, Nippy bailed on the once "not so mighty", Lakota - no I'm not going to review the Lakota - and like all women before her, refuse to own a machine with a manual clutch. Chickie #1 had already owned the Honda TRX250 (in the reviews section), and Suzuki was doing some impressive financing, so our next ATV was the LTZ250.

There's not a whole lot of choices in the clutchless sporty-quad arena, the little Honda and the Zuk are pretty much in a class alone. There are lots of automatics of course, but if you are riding with a heard of Raptors and you've got racks, well, your the pack mule.

So Nippy, not pack-mule Nippy, decided that the little yellow 2fiddie was the logical choice. Suzuki did an impressive job of copying the Honda with Shaft Drive, electric start, dual clutch drivetrain and Hondalike overall quality. Except, they put more power in it! The little yellow bomb will actually take the Honda in an all out balls to the wall drag race. Now make no mistake here, they aint big balls, and it's a small wall. The Zuk and the Honda both top out around 40mph - wheelie speed for Leroy. But when you are moving up to your first trail/sport quad, that's plenty.

The LTZ shares many features with it's older brother the Z400, from extremely similar looks to double-click (the key to the right twice) headlight operation and reverse proceedure. It's just, well, littler.

The first thing we did is loose the stock baffle - this opened up the throat of the beast and let it ROAR! - Well, purr maybe.... But it was a loud purr. In all seriousness, it doesn't make the machine a whole lot louder and it does help in linearity and bottom end power. There's not a whole hell of a lot you're gonna do to this thing to make noticeably more power to it. The machine comes in around 14hp and even if you got 25% more out of it...well, you get the picture.

However, and much to Nippy's dismay, immediately after she upgraded to Bartholamew (her YFZ) multiple aftermarket accessories became available for the 2fiddie. There's A-Arm guards and skid plates and even performance pipes and decal kits. (!?) If nothing else, it proves that the little zuk is selling in numbers large enough to attract aftermarket attention. Oh, and it pissed Nippy off that the stuff didn't come out till she sold the ATV. (tee hee)

See, the story here is relevant, cuz this is how it goes - Kewl Dude rides big fast ATV and wants his chickie to get into it so that he can ride more without getting bitched at. Chickie is scared of kewl dude's ATV and wants something "cute". Kewl Dude don't give a shit so long as he can ride and gets her the 250 (Honda or Zuk). Chickie says "This is all the power I will ever need" - all is good in the kingdom of Rock and Roll. Then, Kewl Dude goes to the dunes and brings Chickie. See, herein lies the only problem with the little 2fiddie. It's a 2fiddie. And sand, see, sand has a way of makin 660's run like 400's - 400's run like 250's and well, 250's run like, um , well, crap.  So the first day in the dunes goes by and chickie figures "This is just fine" cuz it's all new and stuff and "I don't need to go up them big hills like the guys" - see, then day 2, then 3........ See then they start talkin bout an ATV with an auto clutch and more power......and you tellem there aint one. And the only thing that varies here is the length of time it takes said chickie to get frustrated enough to try out Kewl Dude's ATV. Then it's all bad. Cuz friends and neighbours there aint nothing more terrifying then a hot chickie with little or no ATV experience screaming bloody murder drivin up a sand dune on a modified YFZ at 50mph. Then the pain in your pocketbook sets in.

And you may laugh, but i'm hear to tell ya, the little 2fiddie is about to find a new home and there's gonna be another performance ATV in the garage.

But that said, chickies alike will agree that the 2fiddie is enough power for any trail ride, great for the kids and just plain a pleasure to ride. Hell, I grab it everytime we hit the beach for 3mph wheelies :)

You probably won't own it long enough to break it, but that said, it's a tough little machine. All quality controls and plastic - it aint a cheap knock off, it's a real Suzuki. It starts and runs with all the excitement of a mayoral election, but does it day after day, ride after ride - and gets the best fuel economy of the group while doing it.

It's even got enough (just enough) power to run sand paddles. But with the advent of the Rekluse Auto Clutch available for your mighty YFZ - giving chickies (and Kewl Dudes alike) the ability to ride a total performance machine without having to deal with a manual clutch, the future of the little semi-auto's are now in question. Thing is, if you can't shift with a manual clutch, should you really be riding a 45+hp all out performance machine?? I suppose only time will tell. But untill then, call it a transition ATV or call it just the right size, the Suzuki LTZ250 is a class act in a cast of 2.

As Always, your comments are welcome.