I am a bigger guy at 6'4" and 300 lbs, and i have ridden both bikes and love both of them. Plus a friend of mine has the 08 ltr 450 and its a great bike, but a little wide for a lot of the trails.

Im gonna be hitting the dunes and local trails and maybe even a little amatuer xc racing.

Im kinda stuck on which one to buy because a friend mentioned that the 450r might not have enough power to pull me around on the trails or the dunes, and i dont wanna get left too far behind since most guys i will be riding with have been riding for a long time. The ltr-450 was a fun bike to ride, but as i mentioned earlier i dont want to end up not being able to make a trail because the bikes too wide.

I really just wanted somebody other than the guys who ride these bikes oppinion, since theirs a just "little" biased

 

I might be biased towards the 700 but I will tell you this if I was looking at a 450 to buy it would be ither the new Yamaha YFZ450R or a Ktm 450 as I feel they are they are new class of 450's esp the YFZ with its EFI system basicaly the same as the 700's. With that said I can tell you first hand you wont find a better allaround bike than the 700R the only one that even comes close it the KTM 525 but that comes at a price is not as moddabile and without EFI!

What you need to do ids ride each and go with the the one you feel most comfortable on! Good luck with whatever one you choose!

 

i also think the raptor would be the best bike. lots of tq for big guys and the frame is much more suited for a taller rider. very easy to make power with simple mods with the raptor 700.

 

Thanks for the replys, and thats exactly what ive been thinking.

Plus with all the snow we got these past few weeks, the tents covering the bikes at my local dealership collapsed and they have to sell the bikes that got damaged at DIRT CHEAP!!! please god let their be a raptor in their lol.

 

The Raptor is a torque monster down low, but falls kind of flat on the top end. Actually, off the line the Raptor has to much torque, so you have to baby it to keep the front end on the ground.

The 450R is all rev, and make its power up high in the rpm range. So, you have to ride it reved out. Any R needs an HRC kit to get the engines full potential! This will net you big gains, especially on the top end. I have friends who have both the HRC equiped R and the Raptor, and any one of them will tell you the R is faster on top.....so no need to be worried about being "left too far behind". Consider too, that the R is quite a bit lighter than the Raptor, and has a more favorable power/weight ratio!

So, the Raptor is the better trail quad, and the R is better out in open country. I would also prefer the R on the track.

Got to say that I have never been able to warm up to the Raptor. I don't like its ergonomics (a common thing wtih most Yamahas), and while it is way better than the old Raptor 660, it still carries its weight up high in the frame.

As for the Suzuki, it is a track quad.

 

yeah the raptor does fall out over 6500 but a cam swap will change all that. the hrc kit is ery nice for the 450r though.

 

I don't think I would pick a 700 if you would be hitting the dunes or racing. It's more of a trails bike. It is a GREAT trail bike though. Comfortable, and cushy, and definitely powerful, but the center of gravity is too high to be raced/rode on the dunes IMO. I think that the 450R would be best. From what I have read it has long been considered the "dune king". It is also supposed to be a good trail riding bike, and is not lacking in power at all. It is also fairly lightweight.

The LTR IMO would be just as good as the 450R, but most people (especially those who have never rode it) will say otherwise. It has lots of power, and on the LTR450 forums lots of guys go to the dunes (it has a very low center of gravity and is low and wide, so it is very stable). I ride a few trails up at my cottage, I've never had any problems with it being too wide. It is very comfortable, and IMO should suite you fine. Maybe see if you borrow your friend's LTR for a day and ride in the dunes and on the trails and see how it goes.

I really don't see why people are calling the YFZ450R such a new, innovative quad. It brings nothing new and nothing innovative to the table. Suzuki was the first to bring out a fully race-ready, 50" wide bike, with EFI in 2006. In 2009, Yamaha puts EFI on their 450 and makes it 50"s wide and everyone is hailing to it like it's Jesus himself or something. The way I see it, the YFZ R is equal to the LTR. As much as I may like Yamaha, I see nothing about it that's really that much better (It's even heavier than the LTR).

I think that the real "new", innovative, top of the class quads are the KTMs and the DS X's. The DS450X (MX or XC) comes with a lot of race ready parts, like the KTM, only they have EFI, so people who aren't ALWAYS on the track may appreciate it when they are just casually riding with friends. If it wasn't for the great deal I got on the LTR, I would probably be riding an 09 or 08 DS450X XC.

 

raptor 700 not a good dune machine. u are out of your mind. i dont see how u call the 450r dune king. what would make the 450r a better dune machine than the raptor 700r. i really want to hear this. ant that ltr. first of all yami has done a suprior job with efi over the ltr. the first year ltrs were just crap. had tons of problems. yami efi accepts mods so much better than the ltr once u get past a pipe and intake.

 

My guess is by looking at this comparison the YFZ would be the better machine with the newest and greatest inovations!
http://www.powersportsnetwork....&vehicle2=101551&go=Go

 

What I like about the 450's, is the use of Formula 1 technology to do more with less! Old school engine designs can only get more horsepower by adding more cc's. The 450's do it with intelligent design, not just bigger displacement, and they keep the weight/power ratio more favorable. There is a replacement for displacement!

Have you seen the new fuel injected Honda CRF450R dirt bike? They took evey bit of unnecessary metal off that engine. It is more the size of a 250 than any of the other 450's out there. It will be in a quad in a year or two, so that is what I am waiting for!

Don't get sucked into the 700 orbit just because it is a "700".