Hey guys I just wanted a few real life experiences of the power of these two quads. Especially any race info. Everyone rags the ex and says how under powered it is but three of my friends came over tonight and we decided to drag them for ourselves to see what the real deal is. Well, I'm an admittidly bad drag racer and I haven't got a lot of eperience with my z in drag racing situations. Anyways my friend Marty who is the best rider of all of us raced me first in about a 100 yard drag. We got the singnal and we took off I wheelied in first bad and came down and then wheelied in second I caught up a little after I got in third but he beat me by about a quad and a half. So I let a buddy of mine ride mine, he's just a little better than me and has probably a little more b*lls. Anyways the same thing happens he wheelies bad in second and the ex won by about a quad. Now Marty the ex guy gets on my z and the second best rider Josh get on Marty's ex. They start and Marty wheelies the z also but handles it a little better and ends up beating his own ex by about the same margin he won with it. They line up again and Marty wins on my z again but he still wheelies and the ex guy never did, Marty wins this by about two quads. My point is I just don't see were the 400ex is underpowered compared to other 400's. We proved nothing tonight except that Marty won on either quad he rode. Which quad is really more powerful and does the z just wheelie to bad to really drag or were we all just not experienced enough for the z? What are some of your alls results when racing a z, stock vs stock of course. Should a stock z win or not all the mags say so but I don't think the ex is underpowered. I think they seem to be VERY close stock. Any info you've got would be welcome just try to remember I'm not being biased I just want some good real first hand knowledge, peace.

 

As a former EX owner, its my opinion who ever gets the better start will win. Their just that close. Me and a few friends done the same thing you did, last summer when the Z first came out. We ran stock vs stock and piped vs piped and either way the guy who got off the line the best ended up winning. One thing that might help you in the future is start in second gear not first. With a little clutch work it will help keep the front end down and get more power to the ground. The best thing the Z has going for it is how smooth the motor is, compared to a piped Ex, you can hardly tell the things running.

I honestly think alot of the mags over-hyped the Z when it first came out, they made it sound like Z was ten times better then the EX, in reality its as good as the Ex and just alittle better in a few areas.

 

Thanks for the advice and info. Yeah I love my quad but I think that they really overhyped it or they really understated the ex. I usually kill it when I take off in second but I haven't really practiced it. I had never really practiced drag racing either. I race at a homemade track and I do pretty good trying to get a holeshot but it's not like this drag racing we did tonight. Oh the races we did tonight were on pavement also. I want to tell all 400ex guys I don't think your quad is underpowered for the class we're in.

 

Our EX has a header, pipe, and K&N. I was riding down a long desert wash side by side with a bone stock Z. This wasn't a drag race, so the start makes no difference. Just two people riding down a wash, 5th gear pinned. The Z just gradually walked away from me, until I couldn't see it anymore in the dust!

So, you have it from someone who owns BOTH: A moded EX won't beat a stock Z. Suzuki took an EX, copied its geometry, and put a (much!) better engine in it. This is what we want manufacturers to do----keep giving us better machines to chose from!! THE REAL TRAGEDY IS THAT HONDA DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH SENSE TO DO THE SAME THING!!

This is the Honda forum, and it sounds to me like you are just trying to start something! It's Summer. So, get up from the computer and go ride.

 

I personally watched a completely stock Z400 spank a piped (from appearance...could have had more) 400ex in a drag. I thought that was pretty impressive for the Z.

 

if memory serves me correct the Z has higher compression stock than the 400ex stock. i wouldnt doubt its ports flowed a little better as well. ive rode both plenty of times and liked the Z for its water cooling and fan features.

 

I think the z is geared a little higher but doesn have much more hp

 

The Z makes its power right where the EX is already falling off the torque curve.

 

It pretty much depends on rider ability, weight on whose going to win being both quads are stock. I do not have a Z but I have several buddies that I ride with that have both stock and built Z's (450) and none of them can come close to beating my 465EX and I outweighed them by 60 lbs. Z's are great quads...I've not heard anything bad about them, but to tell you the truth I've seen more EX's beat Z's...on and off the drag strip and I'm riding every weekend. There are always exceptions.

JMiller

 

Damn man I know this is the Honda forum. I came here specifically to ask honda 400ex riders if they had raced a z before to get their opinion. I complemented the ex saying it isn't underpowered so how the hell am I trying to start somethin. I wasn't going to post on the suzuki forum because a lot of comments from other z owners would have been like man you just can't ride and stuff like that. I just seen from my own eyes last night there's not a lot of difference in power between the two. Maybe some of you have beat modded ex's but I don't really see how because my z is just like yours and with equally skilled riders they were close everytime last night. These ex's were stock and so was I. I talked to Marty today, he's the really good rider that won on the ex and the z. He said the ex had more bottom end through first, second, and third. He said when he won on my z when he switched to fourth it jerked and had a pull his ex don't have. He said the same thing for fifth that it pulled hard when he switched to fifth and his ex didn't. He said for longer drags and top end he thought the z was faster but in a short drag 100 to 200 feet he thought the ex would get it. He also said the z was really light in the front and it was hard to keep the front end down. Oh and reconranger it was like 2:30 in the morning I wasn't about to get up from my computer and go riding.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] I really just wanted infomation honda guys I really just wanted mainly info from 400ex riders or I would have posted in a different forum. I seriously wasn't trying to start any flame wars guys.