Yep I got to ride one the other weekend at the beach. It was a stock 450R with the Sparks pipe, stock cam and stock air filter. When I was asked If I would like to ride it, I jumped on it and was gone! Bike started on the first kick. I put it to the test right away. The first thing I did was hammer the throttle. The power was good. It hit a little smoother than the YFZ. The power starts way down low and just rolls on. Where the YFZ's power just seems to have a hit. I liked the power. It was just different than what I'm used to. I than started doing some high speed turns. I'm thinking I got to see If I notice the seat being 1" higher. Well I went into my sharp high speed turn and I was surprised. It felt real good. I felt in control of the bike the whole time. I tell myself I got to do this again, Same results again. When you turn this bike it carves. I might have to admit it seemed easier to turn in the sand than my YFZ. I can't say for sure though because he was running a lot more air in his back tires than I run on my YFZ, so that might have been the difference. But either way the TRX450R handles real well. I didn't notice the front end being light like people said. And that even goes for when I jumped it. I also noticed the shocks were a little softer for dune ridind also.

Well I rode it & liked it. So I'm telling myself, I might end up getting one someday. But I want see how it does at the drags. Well we headed out to flats and lined them up. Me on my YFZ and him on his TRX. Well I killed him in the race. But he's a lot heavier than I am, And I have a lot more experience riding than him. So I didn't take that race to the bank. I took off racing some other quads that were out there on my YFZ. Than I went over and jumped on the TRX and started racing the same bikes I was racing on my YFZ. Well the same bike that I was beating by about 3 bike lengths on my bike, I was now loosing by about two bike lengths on the TRX. The TRX seemed to come off the line with the best of them. There great for a holeshot, but the TRX just didn't accelarate & pull as hard down the the drag strip like the YFZ. So I was a little dissapointed in that. But I had to take into consideration that he had the stock cam, stock air filter, air box lid was on & even though we had the same rear tires "Sand Skate 1's. He was running more air in his & mine are shaved for better performance. Not to mention the TRX needs to be geared down for the sand, I couldn't take off in second in a drag race if my life depended on it.

I admit the TRX is a awesome bike. I wouldn't recommend against getting one. Infact there so close I would tell someone who is interested in a new 450 that there going to have to ride them both and decide for themself. After riding the Honda though I can say for me I'm glad I bought the YFZ. It could use some softer front shocks & a softer seat, But I love how the power hits like a 2 stroke. Not to say you won't ever see me on a new TRX someday. But not right now.

 

Thanks for awesome ride report.

Very honest and informative post.

 

I have not put on the paddles and gone out to the dunes, but I am suspecting that the TRX is geared quite a bit to tall for the sand......especially for drag racing.

 

good report[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Good to see a non-bash-fest report!! I am not interested in either of these quads but I love what they have done for the sport! Along with all the new utilties!! Times are great for people looking for great choises in quads!!!

 

A non-biased post like yours comparing the two now days is hard to come by, thanks for the info. Personallly i like hearing these types of posts rather then hearing, "what i heard, what i saw, what i thought i saw, what i thought i heard, what i heardeded saweded.. lol". I read a couple posts so far where yfz owners got to ride a trx and thought it was great and vise versa.

 

I'll take one of each. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Nicely done.
I have found those same results. I have swapped and ran a few dif YFZ's. I really like the YFZ alot. I can say that the stiff shocks and stiff seat are the only dislike,and those are pretty weak reasons not to like a bike. I do prefer the powerband of the TRX, but thats probably because I am used to it.

 

Good review.

 

Kinda tells you why the YFZ's have such a "hit" in the powerband then. It is actually coming on very hard and is faster than the others. Why people complain about it I'll never know.

Good review.