Rasor has nice dunes, but the terrain leading up to them would shred a set of paddles. Nobody runs anything but regular off-road tires.

As far as maintenance frequencey goes, the answer is NEITHER ONE! Both mine have been dead solid reliable. My EX is an 00, and my Z is an 03. Lots of very hard desert miles on both, especially the EX. And, more than a few mountain trail miles on the EX. Had to clean the carb on the EX once (because of bad gas), and had a short in the headlight wiring. Nothing else!

 

That is pretty impressive. I dont have much experience with high performance thumpers except for my KTM. And it requires a bit of maintainence time, mainly to keep a eye on things. I have been extremely impresed with the air cooled honda thumpers which barely seem to need a oil change let alone much else. If you can compare the Z to it, that is great.

 

What do you think of the Bombardier DS650? I may be able to get a really good deal on one.

 

Nevermind.....opening new thread on this.

 

The Bombardier is HUGE. Only consider one if you are a huge guy! My buddy had one, and I rode it quite a bit. Never liked it much.

 

I've decided to go for either the 400ex or the z400. I'm looking for a used one and have been watching the local classifieds, atvtraderonline, and any other resource I can find like a hawk looking for a deal to pop up. I don't have that much to spend. I pulled out a loan for the most I can spend (or I should say the most the wifey will let me spend on an atv). I have $2500, but could probably scrounge up a little extra if need be. The local paper allows you to look at previous dates classified ads online. I noticed that last week a 2001 400ex with low miles went for $2500, so I feel if I hold out I can find something. It's driving me crazy sitting on this money and having to wait. I'm realizing that I'm not a very patient guy. Anyways, thanks for all your help recon. It really influenced me and I feel confident that I'm making the right decision.

 

Doubt you will find anything but a 400EX in your price range. If my old, tired 400EX got stolen, I would gladly pay $2,500 to replace it.

 

Yeah, I hadn't realized that the first year of the z400 was 2003. Little too much money for my wallet. But, I should be able to find a 400EX in that range. I just gotta be patient and wait for a deal (much easier said than done).