This year were seeing the raptor 700, a even more powerful, and i presume dominating, YFZ450 {true 449cc}... and a Suzuki Z450 to complimate the already bad a** and class dominating z400. Any word on what Honda's gonna do because i dont think new plastics are gonna cut it. Just was curiouse because i havent found or heard anything yet

 

im sure honda will just sit on their a$$ and do nothing.... then in like 7 years they'll totaly change it like honda allways does.

 

If you're referring to the 450R, no they probably will not do anything. Why would they? Are the 450Rs not dominating pro racing at this very moment? I see no shortage of R sales happening. If it ain't broke, why the hell fix it?

 

im also talking about the 400ex, its the same price as the Z but without DOHC, liquid cooliong, and resevour shocks. Your right though, if people are still buying it then why change it.

i AGREE THOUGH, honddas gonna sit on thier a** untill sales drop, then thell care. Plus it would be nice to see them compete witht the ds 650, vforce, raptor etc.

 

where is this Z450? Haven't seen one yet.

I guess it's in the same warehouse as the Grizzly 800 twin EFI?


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I agree that it would be nice to see a big-bore competitor. There has been talk for many years that they will adapt their XR650 dirtbike engine to a quad chassis, but now I kind of hope that if and when they do dive into the big-bore sport segment, they come up with something that has more ponies. I really don't want to see them release something that will be eaten alive from the start.

 

Suzuki announced that they have one and it should be featured in one of the next two issues of dirtwheels. Check the July issue in the front, it has a quick article about it.

Yeah your right, if they do release a big bore sport quad it better be the best from the start, eeing how thyve had a lot of time to analyze the competition

 

The 450R seems to be the better bike after mods, but stock for stock the YFZ (especially the '06) seems to be better in every respect except comfort. I think that all Honda has to do to the 450R is switch the carb out for the one on the CRF450 dirtbike. I've never ridden one with it, but people say it becomes an animal with that carb and the HRC kit. I would like the '06 450R to have....

-CRF450 FCR carb
-gull wing a-arms w/ an extra inch of travel in the shocks to be on par with the YFZ

....doesn't sound like a lot to me. Lets see if they do it.

 

yeah i would like to see honda add:

e-start but wouldnt care if the didnt
the crf carb.
longer swingarm
and hrc cam
but they would probally raise the price above the yfz, like they bumped the 400 ex up with the z.

 

A 1 inch longer swingarm would be good. I have a stock length Lonestar on my '86 250R and its still a chore to keep the front down. So I can imagine it must be a lot worse on the 450R with a swingarm that is 2 inches shorter than mine.