And I quote "When it came to deciding on a final choice, virtually every test rider said they would purchase the Raptor." " They all felt it had the best combination of power, agility, responsiveness and handling to make it our choice for the best allaround high performance quad". Need you say more! Honda eat your heart out. Yamaha has always made the fastest quads now they got the handling to boot not to mention reverse. If your a duner or two-stroke diehard well Yamaha owns that category too the Banshee is for you. How can red riders keep saying the Raptor is crap. In time they will come to reality. It will be a few years before Honda will come with a competitor to the Raptor. All these other companies like Cannondale, susuki,kawasaki, polaris don't stand a chance. Honda and Yamaha have always dominated the quad and motorcross world.

 

Hey 400ex Gabe how come you ain't said much to that???

 

I do not know what is wrong with the rest of the 4-wheeler world ....I do not want anything to do an expensive machine that bends & breaks when I ride it hard, but too each is own...maybe Yamaha is getting a kickback from aftermarket manufacturers? or maybe D.W.is kissing up their highest paying advertiser?

 

If you read the article closely, you should have read these other points of interest:

1) The DS sports the most suspension travel

2)We found that the DS does indeed have the most HP

3)The higher output of the DS gave it an edge in acceleration.

4)The Sportrax was the lightest and easiest to handle

5) To everyones surprise, on the MX track, the Sportrax 400 was the clear winner, with the Raptor in second

6) In the sandrags, the DS hooked up and pulled out a slight lead over the Raptor in repeated runs.

It might be a decent bike, but it surely isn't the new bike that all others will be measured by. I doubt it's worth it with all the troubles they are having with them.

 

Q.F....VERYGOOD POST...AMEN

 

wha wha wha wha wha wha wha wha wha

its about the same thing everyone has said so far.

for god's sake. so *&^king what this does that and that did this and and and and and but but but but.

it comes down to who will spend the most money.

trust me if all of the sudden I should want the best handling the fastest quad all I have to do is spend more money. no matter what i start with it will be a formidable piece when done up the right way

please lets put useful info in here not stuff like my brothers girlfriend s husbands aunts uncle has a this and it beat a that

 

What do you expect! its Yamaha! comeon now Ide love to see a Harly ATV but you have to realize Jps lead the pack. Look at the best Quads of all time the Suzuki 250R The Honda 250R and the Suzuki 500 Quadzilla! that says it all
RIDE BLUE OR EAT DUST!!!!!!!!!

 

Heres something to think about. Suzuki. Remember the last year they made a sport quad was in 92 and maybe they're taking that long to design a new machine that will blow all the others away. But i doubt it i mean come on its suzuki..... They never made any machines known for their great handling or suspention.

 

Raptor420... evidently u should read that article a little closer...

Quotes:
"When it comes to jumping and turning, the Sportrax 400's nimbleness and overall smooth handling make up for some of its horsepower deficit. It carves turns nicely and was the lightest and easiest to handle off of jumps. Everyone liked how the Honda felt on the track and how easy it was to ride at full throttle."
"We then ran all three machines on a much tighter, smaller motocross course with some small jumps and technical sections. To everyone's suprise, the Sportrax 400EX was the clear winner!"
"When it came time to riding our trail loop, the contest changed again. On a tight, twisty trail, the Honda Sportrax is much more competitive with these high performance haulers."
"Almost everyone liked the light and nimble feel of the Sportrax 400EX for tight technical woods riding. The fact that it is $800 less then the Raptor and $1500 less than the DS made it an attractive choice."

did i hear them talk about how it was the best on the tighter, smaller MX course? and with the extra $800 to 1500 you could add a 440 kit to make it more competitive???