My buddies who have 700's, are primarily DUNERS. They don't usually trail ride these machines, but when they do there are often great stories about rolled quads, and the like! For the most part when not in the dunes, they stick to fire roads, and stay off the tight, technical stuff.

The DS got mentioned, and I have ridden it quite a bit as well. While I certainly prefer it to the 700, it is still a big overweight machine. Not the hot ticket for trail riding either!

My personal impression of the 700 is that it is a big bore utility, with the front drive removed. It handles big, tall, and heavy, just like a big clumsy utility. I think folks get seduced by the power, and don't think about what a handfull it is going to be out on the trail.

While the 700 has lots of low end grunt, the 450's are certainly faster on the top end. That shouldn't be surprising, seeing that the 700 has a hefty ~170 pound weight handicap. And for trail riding, that 170 pounds is an absolute killer! One of my buddies has a vintage piped 250R. He rode the other day in the dunes with a pair of piped 700's, and he said he was surprised at how SLOW they were. Again, the little 250 has a HUGE weight/handling advantage here!

The Z400 is a great handling machine! It is a superb trail machine, and probably the best all-around handling machine there is. (I do however prefer the 400EX for the slow, really technical trails.) It's motor has tons of hop-up potential so don't be fooled if you have only ridden a stock one, but still it isn't in the same class as the 450's in terms of power.

 

The 450's are good for MX and jumping. They do not have better "top end" . And the 450's are defiantly a lot less comfortable to ride when compared to the KFX700 (when not on an MX track). I have quite a bit of seat time on both the yfz450 and Honda trx450 to make my comparison.

 

My personal impression of the 700 is that it is a big bore utility, with the front drive removed. It handles big, tall, and heavy, just like a big clumsy utility. I think folks get seduced by the power, and don't think about what a handfull it is going to be out on the trail.
>>>>>>>>>>>&gt ;

The Raptor 700 weighs a whopping 50 lbs more then the YFZ or TRX450r.....My big, fat, overweight utility quads AND my DS have taken me anywhere my buddie's YFZ or Raptor has gone, I've virtually had zero problems with tight trails or any trail for that matter unless they are dirtbike only trails. I've taken my DS on motocross tracks and kept right with my buddies YFZ and I'm no more tired after three of four laps then he is.

I'm looking into entering one of these 200-300 mile off road races early next year, I couldn't even imagine trying to do that on one of those little 450's...heck, I wouldn't even consider it.

Everyone has a preference, my buddy likes little quads he can whip around on, myself, I prefer to let the quad absorb the trails while I enjoy the ride. It could just be me, but there is a point in time during the day where not having an automatic and reverse is a real annoyance thats why I try to start the day on my DS and finish on my Rincon, that way I can get in two kinds of riding in one day.

 

We went riding with a guy on a kfx700. My brother let him try his yfz, and when he came back he was shocked. He took it out for another ride because he loved it. But the yfz definetely does not like riding slow. My other brother is 6'4" and 220lbs, and he loves my z. >>>>>>>>>

And I had the exact opposite experience. These forums can be great for insight but until you put your butt on the seat and ride it there is no way to really tell how you will like a quad.

 

Dirt Bikes: CRF450R if you mostly want to MX. CRF450X if you mostly want to ride off-road.

http://www.thumpertalk.com/forum/

 

A crf450 would make you think that kfx700 is slow. Bikes are fast (well not mine but MX bikes lol).

However they are not for everyone.

The KFX400/LTZ400's are pretty quick and powerful for a 400 quad. It is a DOHC unlike the 400ex's. Which aren't slouches I don't suppose but the kfx700's are pretty powerful. Easily outruns my buddies 660 raptor.

 

Even a low end bike like a CRF230, has a more plush ride than a high end quad. My friend who likes to MX, gave up his quad in favor of a bike. He can get a CRF450R, pretty much race ready right out of the box. With his Yamaha 450 quad, he would have to get a-arms, shocks, a swingarm, tire, etc., etc., so the cost got prohibitive. He rode the stock machine for a while, and pros he met at the track would come over and compliment him for doing so good on a bone stock machine.