I am going out on a limb & predicting that the Cannondale will beat the Raptor in a shoot out.


Time will tell...........

 

Yup. After rave reviews on how much better the Raptor is over the DS in a head to head shootout, the next month or three, when the Cannondale comes out, they will say that the Raptor seems unstable in turns and is too narrow.

They might also complain about the cheap plastic Yamaha headlights that scratch easily and won't light anything up but the fogged up lens, that's at least when they don't fall off. But that's ok, you'll have plenty of time in which to search for missing headlights when you are looking for your broken shift lever during one of those numerous stops to let the engine cool down or check and make sure that the air filter lid is still on. :-)

They've done it before and they'll do it again. Heck, does anyone remember the Honda Elsinore? They claimed that to be the best dirt bike of all time when it came out, everyone bought one, then they all found out what a piece of crap it was.

It worked fine in races, with Honda sponsoring to keep it going, but for the average guy, they just couldn't afford to keep it running.

I hope for the sake of the ATV industry that the Raptor does do well. It's taken enough hits over the years. I only hope that with the power and narrowness that a whole new batch of lawsuits don't arise and kills the sport ATV industry completely.

Laters,
CRT_Leech

 

All reach equality at the same point

 

I must have missed the Elsinore?

 

You know it seems like everyone is fine except you, CRT_LeecH why do you come in and bash the raptor, this is not A banshee and you could not possibly know anything truthful about what you just stated, since it has not even been released yet to the public, personally I think that people who act like you should not post anything in a forum like this. As for a quick check I do recall some one mentioning the DS having its Headlight brackets break easily, but I could be wrong, So even if your Vague prediction is right, whats the difference any way and should it be of your concern? I think we should let the owners of Raptors be the judge of that and you can be the judge of whatever it is that you ride. Im sure that the Raptor and DS will be very similar comparatively, with one being slightly faster and one being slightly better handling etc. etc. etc. Thats the good thing about all of this. Good fair competition. It helps the market and it helps all of us. In the next few years there is going to be an explosive market in high performance and sport ATV's and this will bring back Factory Racing Teams and publicity. So dont complain and put down good old fashioned competiton.

 

Welcome back chris, It is useless to try to argue what bike will do what without having them around in person. I remember when the 400 EX first came out all I heard was it was a banshee eater. Many people I raced against stated "wait till that new 400 comes out" well it came out and I was dissapointed, it definately was NOT a banshee eater. All that doesn't mean the raptor will be a dissapointment ( I can't wait till my dealer gets one) but I will never know until I meet one face to face. We all have different needs and riding styles so it is great to see competition and more choices.
Funny someone mentioned honda elsinore it was fast,light, and the best handling bike of its time, if not for the elsinore (my opinion) we would not have had the invasion of works type bikes that made moto cross great, just because one manufacturer got the ball rolling ( I hope quads are next.

 

I agree Ang, but its still funny to me that everyone has to still trash on other quads, escpecially the banshee, which is very early quad technology, But then they all turn around and compare To it saying, My XXXX is a banshee eater or my XXXXX beat a modified banshee, and will i beat a banshee on my tuned port injected turbo XXXXX quad? In reality these new quads are technologically newer and the Ds and 400ex and raptor should not be compared to anything but each other, but then only after they can be ridden by everyone for a while to show their strengths and weaknesses. I think its safe to say Im happy to have any new quads end of story, I saw what looked like the end back around 89-90 and we all had to drive farm machinery or pay $$$$ to keep up our old race machines ever since then. Just be happy you can now get one new. After all any quad is only as good as its owner and his use for it.

 

Maybe leech ought to go out and build his own world beating quad...he seems to know more about them than anyone on the planet. Pity the poor *******s at Yamaha, they should have consulted
"leech R&D service" first! Time will bring out the truth, and it looks to me like Yamaha is coming closest to building what will work best for the majority of us. Bring on the shootouts, and we'll see who ends up eating crow! I think Cannondale will be taking some lessons.

 

Well....so much for rationality

Does anybody really believe that yamaha, having plenty of time to test-redesign-and retest, is going to flood the market with a $7000 dollar paper weight? (Leech)

Competition, real competition is a good thing! It's what promotes the manufacturer to keep on dreaming up raptors, and DS's, and the canondale.
Many here have mentioned the banshee, and how could we not? It set the standard. Honda walked away and left us high and dry on the 250r. The Banshee has left a mark, and continues to leave a mark no one can ignore. Thats a good thing, it gives everybody something to be able to try and surpass. The "My bike can whup a Banshee now...." philosophy is what drives the sport.

I bought my DS about four months ago now. Haven't had the first problem and I am constantly impressed with what the big beast can pull off. All that being said, when the Raptor comes out, I will gladly test ride it and if I like it buy one so my girlfriend has something nice to ride.

I can't help but notice that many people are saying "Who will beat who in a straight line...or.....who will have the best turning radius" I ask you: WHO CARES!?!?!?! Get the bikes out to the track and actually race them hard and then factor in the most important detail as to which bike wins, rider skill.

So some people here take it a bit to far. It reminds me of the guy who pulls up at a light, and then trying to impress everyone, cranks his stereo as loud as possible. To him it sounds great, to me I realize from the rattles that he is loosening every fastener on the car and that it will probably loose molecular cohesion at some point.

I'll leave my test of the raptor up to the first time I come up agianst one on the trail. RIDE ON!

 

YaMaRaPtoR,

I think you made a good point. Comparing new quads to a 13 year old design kind of gives testimony as to how good the Banshee was/is. The same goes for the Honda 250r.

Really, can you imagine a guy pulling up in a 2001 Dodge Viper GTR and saying, "Hey man, my Viper will beat a 1970 Chevelle SS 454 in the 1/4 mile by almost 2 tenths!" You'd look at him and think he was crazy for even comparing it to a car of that era. A much newer design, more money and etc. ought to be better at what it is designed for. Then, the next thing that you'd think would be, wow! those chevelles must have been pretty tough if guys with newer machines and way more technology are just now beating them!

About C3Po_Leach, I don't know what his problem is. Maybe he's never had anything nice before and doesn't know how to act when you have something nice, or maybe he feels like he's spent money on the wrong quad (maybe some of us Raptor buyers will feel the same if Honda were to come out with a "Raptor Eater" just after we spend our money). If he reads the posts here, he should realize that most everyone here applauds Bombardier for coming out with the DS. Most everyone recognizes it as a great quad for certain purposes, just as the Raptor will be good for certain ones and not for others. We are all here to discuss the issues with these quads, but at the same time should realize that if there are differences of opinion, we don't have to turn around and make negative remarks about every other quad other than our own.

Personally, I'm excited about having a quad with comparable power to a DS along with a reverse gear and the ability to ride it in the tight woods. It should be fun.