I wouldn't be concerned about the broken teeth on the starter gear. True it does happen, but also true they have improved this part (twice now if you count the 2010 model). I have broke a couple of these gears one each on two differnt bikes. First broken gear was while starting the bike while rested on the skid plate on a rock. Snapped the tooth right away. Second was on my 300, as mentioned earlier, they are a bear to start. If you looking at a 250, I would be willing to bet you will never have a starting gear problem. Bottom line is if the gear breaks, it's an easy fix to swap the new gear out and usually doesn't cause any other problems in the motor.
