Real Raptor Owners, with actual Seat time, not sales queue time, please post your honest, accurate reviews here.

I'll put mine in later, but I gotta get to Church.

Let's hear the Real Story!

 

I have had my Raptor for a week now. Yesterday I went riding with 3 other quads. A 440ex and 2 mainly stock ones. We basically had a mud bog. I showed up with it all clean and looking pretty. It was raining hard and had been the night before. We went up behind Shasta Dam in Northern CA. Lots of woods riding, hill climbing and tight trails. Also there were some deep creeks and puddles the whole way. The Raptor handled flawlessly. It had tons of power for all the situations we faced. I let the guys try out my quad, they couldn't believe the power. Anyways, I didn't have any problems with the axle or a-arms. The reverse came in really handy . They would have to either get off their quads and turn them around or go up the trail and find a better spot. The only complaint I would have would have to be the tires. They do hook up too much sometimes. Overall I love the power this thing puts out. I too have a 400ex and a TRX330r, this Raptor is much funner to ride than both of them. We rode about 25 miles and came back not too tired. We cut it short due to time constraints. Anyways, overall, I love the RAPTOR!!!

 

I picked my Raptor up Friday Oct 20th, after a 9.5 hour drive. A drive well worth the trip! Besides what everyone else has already said about the bike, there are two features I like the most. The first being Reverse on a sport quad! Talk about handy! We went on a huge mud ride yesterday, as posted in the Muddy RAptor Pics post. No prlbms at all in the Mud, no over heating, as a matter of fact, my fan only came on one time the entire day! Reverse while a little too tall, comes in handy when you need to get out of trouble! The other nice feature the bike has is the handlebar mounted choke! Boy, this is just fantastic, no more bending over, fumbling for the choke, and even on cold morning's this thing starts right up. I like the top end the quad has, I have about 22 hours of seat time on the bike, and I have yet to have any problems. The Air Filter leaves a little to be desired, and the chain adjustment could definately be better.

The machine run's very well, gets decent mileage, considering I've only put 2 tanks of gas in it and have ridden it well over 80 miles. I like the transition from low to high rev's, and quite often find my self tooling along the trails in fourth gear, just lugging around corners, and burping the throttle to zip down the straights. I've never ridden a sport quad through the trials and not had to constantly shift, but the Raptor can be ridden all day long in either third or fourth gear, depending on your comfort level and trail conditions.

Here's a little chart to see if you NEED a Raptor.

1. You like having the fastest stock bike in a group of riders.
2. You trail ride and would give anything for reverse.
3. You want to make your initial investment, and that's it, no nickel and diming to increase horsepower, torque, and suspension.
4. Your riding a Honda 300EX, Polaris Sport 400, or Yamaha Wolverine, and just want MORE. (These are all great trail machines with reverse, and great hop up potential)

Now, the list that you DON'T need a Raptor

1. You're 400EX has been bored, and has an aftermarket exhaust, and you like it.
2. You ride any other sport machine, are happy with it's power delivery, and don't need reverse.
3. You don't like Blue, or Black and White plastic.
4. You're Dead.

Thanks for posts!

 

Well I finally was able to hit the sand on my Raptor. I must say it is good to be in Glamis, because Pismo sucks. I cant tell you how many people were coming up to me all the time and asking me how I liked the bike, but here is my answer: "If you are a 2-stroke fan stick with your 2-stroke, if you like 4-strokes this bike is the one you want to buy." I was at Oldsmobile around 4pm Saturday and some dude on a Suzuki 500 with a pipe wanted to race me, I declined. I told him that the bike was new and I was breaking it in still. I think by the end of the next trip I will be ready to go full throttle up Oldsmobile hill.

I have been riding in the dunes for 18 years and I have had almost every high performance/sport quad there is (except DS650) so I am basing this review on that criteria.

POWER: My dad's 400EX it a tame little kangaroo mouse compared to this ATV. When you ride a Raptor and ride a 400ex (both stock w/ paddles) you feel how gutless the 400ex is. I find it easy to pull wheelies in 4th gear on my Raptor. This bike feels about as close to a 2-stroke as you can get.

GEARING: I dont think the gearing that I heard alot of people complain about it bad for the sand, it actually is pretty good. In the dirt, I feel like it probably could use a change. Now keep in mind I wasnt doing any drag racing up Olds or Comp. This is my opinion for regular duning, I might change my tune after doing some drag racing next trip out.

SUSPENSION: Talk about plush, now I am sure that the DS650 suspension rocks, but man the ride is so nice on the Raptor. The Suzuki 500 was plush too but you definitely dont feel the weight on this bike. To me the overall feel of the Raptor is almost like a 250R. My only complaint is that it feels like there is a little too much rebound on the springs because after landing at speed the front end slightly comes up. I didnt really hit any big jumps, I am still getting used to the bike, but I did manage to hit alot of whoop sections and it soaked them all up.

HANDLING: The only drawback, this bike doesnt slide well like the 400ex or 250R. If you go into a turn hard and you are on the gas it really wants to hold a straight line and not turn. I think this is because of 2 factors; 1.)this bike does have a narrow chassis and a high center of gravity, 2.) tons of low end power want to make the front tires lift up. I think the remedy here would be a wider rear axle and wider front a-arms and then we are talking about a Dune Monster.

Overall I cant tell you how happy I am with the bike. I took put the spark arrestor on Saturday after getting back from Olds and man did the top end open up! I ran the bike and then checked the plug and it didnt seem green/yellow it was more like a tan color which is good right? I cant wait for the performance mods to start rolling out!

Blake
2001 Yamaha Sand Raptor 660R

Please visit www.glamisonline.org for everything you want to know about Glamis.

 

Hey Bartman, I travel up to lake Siskiyou and ride around there often. It's beautiful up there. I had mine at Hollister Hills on Wednesday. Me and a friend (on a new KTM 300, damn 2 wheeler!) were the only ones in this huge OHV park and were about 10 miles from our staging area when it started to dump rain real heavy and throw lightning. The normal dust filled trail became rivers of silt and mud. Although he was slippen all over the place, the Raptor held the road awsome grippin the ground with it's talons (had to throw that in there). Like I've said before, I think it needs a little more low end for "my" applications. I have used the reverse countless times and just love this quad. I already have my Renthal twelve tooth sprocket ready to go on once I find out whether I'm getting my current Raptor replaced with a new California certified one or have my current one green stickered. And Big Crash, my pastor just gave a sermon on Idol Worship just in time, becuase I was really starting to worship this bike! LOL-but serious. Have fun---------