Hi guys! In the market for a new or used quad.. broke my leg a few months ago so getting out of the dirtbikes.. I can't kick over my yz450f anymore and prolly will not be able to for a long time from now.. My woods is Tight and very curvy with a seconday river winding through it with lots of hills here in OHIO.. and did i mention its TIGHT.... Love yamaha but it has the same engine as my bike and i had to gear that thing down so much to comfortably get through my trails cuz for some reason its a 4 stroke that needs to rev... did some searches here and all the posts seem to be old.. so i need a sport quad that is great for trails and still fast and fun for when the crops come down and i fly across the fields.. love yamaha but seeing adds for outlaw 525 irs new 2008's for 3999.. and describe how these bikes rev and ride.. i think i'm looking for something i can lug without stalling..in the meantime i'll ride my 99 scrambler 500.. its pretty sweet in the woods..

 

I am partial to the 400ex. I can chug and lug all I want and it spools up nice as well. Not to mention.. there about 1 billion of them for sale at any time.

 

The 400EX is the all time best tight trail quad! It will lug all day long. I can put mine in 1st gear and idle through the rocky technical sections. It is however the slowest of the performance quads, which doesn't matter in the tight stuff but will mean that out in the open it will seem slow compared to your old dirt bike. They are dead solid reliable...the same engine as the venerable Honda XR400. Mine is 10 years old and all I have ever done to it besides routine maintenance is a set of rear axle bearings.

The Z400 is also considered a good trail quad, but it likes to rev some...but nothing like the 450's need to rev. The Raptor 700 is a torque monster, and it always comes up in discussions of trail quads.

 

the 400ex sounds great but i see that its a slower bike but has the.. but i do know that faster does not mean better.. i see them on craigs and ebay goin for cheep. still pondering the idea if the outlaw 525 IRS.. sounds like it would be a pretty smoothe ride and it would be a brand new bike for $3999.. Has anyone ridden an outlaw in the tight stuff?? can you lug it like the 400ex and is it nice and smooth in the woods? the 700 raptor looks good and reviews are great for woods but its still a pretty pricy bike.. even used.

 

you could just buy my custom 440ex, complete with 440 kit, after market big black gun exhaust and rejetted carb. it great for trail riding and has alot more get up and go than any reg 400ex.!!

 

If you are a taller guy the Raptor 700 is a great way to go. The Outlaw 525 is a great bike but there is 3 times the stuff/mods for the 700 and both the 400's for that matter. As far as the 450's goes the one that they offer in the bike and the atv are simaler but still 2 totally different animals. The one for the ATV offers a toataly differand cam profile esspecially the YFZ450X My suggestion is if you want a Great all around machine stick with the 700 or as the others have said the 400 class machines as thes engines will lug like no other. Another sujestion is a Raptor 660 or even (if you can find one) the Honda 700XX. Good luck with your choice!

 

Great info guys. now that i got it narrowed down to 400ex, 700 rappy, and the outlaw.. What is the Maintainance scheduales for these bikes.. i know my yz450f has a pretty crazy schedule of oil changes every few hours and lots of valve checks.. what are these bikes like??

 

It has been proven that the 400ex is the greates trail bike ever, especially with a few mods. If you put up anything against the honda 400ex on trails they will all lose, and i mean anything. The rappy will run the 400 down in a straight drag, put there is nothing that will ever come close the 400 on trails. I am 6.4 and 270lbs and i have a 03 400ex, i have had a few mods like the 440 big bore kit, rev limiter adj, stage 3 hot cam, and let me tell you that a raptor 700, trx450, or trx700xx, doesn't even come close to me now, on the trails or on a straight drag i just leave em with their mouths wide open!! Get you 400ex and make it your own and you will see exactly what i'm talking about, you won't be dissappointed!!!

 

The maintanace on the 700's and 400's is pretty basic and more easy than any 450 out there. The 450's have slipper piston that allow blowby of fuel into the oil therefore contaminating the oil reqireing more oil changes.