I have found that the YFZ are VERY fast out of the who, and pretty nice going up the hill. Conversly, I feel that the R's are somewhat enemic coming out of the who and pretty average going up the hill.

then again, I don't have a lot of time to look back [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

If you're a regular sized guy and have done some mods to your DS, and still loosing to Piped YFZ..... go back to the drawing board, you should be beating them. IMO Doesn't mean that you have a slow DS, but it could mean that some of your mods aren't working together well. Could have a gearing problem, or a riding problem. Once you get into going up the hill fast, you'll start to tweak everything until you get it on the money. If you have a little bit of everything, it might take you longer than most. If your going with some of the more common trends, you'll get closer quicker.

 

We have a couple of guys at our riding area with higher compression pistons, cams, HMF, ported, extended swingarms, alky YFZ's and they beat me more times than I beat them. If I get a good launch (I have not yet installed the +4 swingarm) it is very close with me edging them less than 1 length over 600' flat sand. If they get me out of the hole, and they usually do, they win by 3-4 lenghts in 600'. My Baja/rider weights about 200lbs. more than the YFZ/rider, but I also have more than 200cc on them to. Yamaha did a good job on these YFZ's and will give most DS's a run for the money from what I've seen.

JMiller

 

Ive seen very solid TVI 720 machines not be able to beat the YFZ. Perhaps, if the DS had NOS, or something else, maybe then it could - but I have yet to see it.

 

Aw, weight is a huge advantage for the yfz. Put a lighter rider on, equal mods, The ds will have enough power to win given the riders are average size. I race yfz's more than any other machine, Two still elude me even when I am spraying. One more does the same on big hills with him spraying also. One other is very fast and can beat me by as far as I can beat him when I am spraying. I am not a large person, I do ride fairly well, the only thing I cant make up for is the machine weight. If they were equal there would not be this debate. Mark, you going to fallon? By the way, the fastest yfz that I have seen are all running Ron woods stuff. Just food for thought.

 

I'm not a hillshooter by any means, but I have seen plenty of races up Sand Mountain in Utah between a DS and a YFZ. The YFZ's get out of the hole a lot faster and just pull's away. (Most all the DS's and YFZ's had pipes, filter, etc.) It's really not that close. I do own a YFZ and I'm not biased towards any brand. The YFZ's plane rev! I do race some motocross and it's an absolute rocket out of the gate and into the first corner.

The DS needs to go on a diet and it will fair much better. It has the motor for sure.

I took delivery of the very first YFZ at South Valley Motorsports in Utah about a year ago. Took it to St. Anthony that weekend and climbed Choke Cherry at 27 mph bone stock. I also weigh 215 lbs. I took the air box lid off a long with the pea shooter. I had the only one there the entire weekend. Most everyone thought it was a built Raptor.

Not trying to start a flame, just what I've seen

 

Those are some sad 720's, poor guys need their money back.

Last month at Sand Mt. when i was there, there were 4 450R's I ran all together and only one beat me to the top and not by much. he wasn't talking about what he had, seems like somebody said he had an fcr carb on it, not sure what else.
And only 1 of 3 YFZ's beat me up, there were more there than 3 that day but I only ran with 3 of them, and all at once.

Now granted my bike is a stage 2 with a tm45 carb, but I still run the airbox, a slip-on exhaust, and I weigh over 250. My holeshots sucked bad but I reeled 'em in on that long haul.
a big key is gearing and tires - DS's running crap tires, junk molded brands and 20" diameters, some overpaddled, and stock gearing or even just dropping one tooth in the front, won't cut it.
I run 22" 8 paddle haulers with 14/41 and had raptor boys asking me what my bore was.

 

Hightower is 200% right! Nothing makes more difference than tires & gearing. Comparing one machine, with the perfect tires/gearing and some crap cheap tires and changing nothing else You could EASILY see six bike lengths on a long hill. Sure DSs get beat all the time, but those all have cheap or the wrong tires. You HAVE to match the tires to the power, combined weight and size of the machine. Simply having paddles, or straight vs. "V" paddles isn't going to help, you need the right size, number, type, weight, and gearing all put together.

 

Exactly right Hightower. Paddle selection will make all the difference in the world. If you drag race two equally equipped machines with different paddles, you will be able to see how they compare. A 21'' or 22'' will climb a lot better than a 20'' as most of us know. I run a 20'' 8 paddle glider hauler mix mounted on Douglas Ultimates. The wheels are heavy, but for the type of riding I do, they work fine. Not the greatest climbing set up at all.

Great response BlackHawk!

 

The YFZ has no top end stock. Not because the engine but the stock gearing sucks. It needs a 15 tooth front sprocket and its happy. I run 15-35 gearing in the desert. The YFZ is really close to the DS in Top speed with Desert Gearing 17-38 on the DS and the 15-35 on the YFZ. Were the YFZ is better is in the Handling and the weight. I am not talking stock my YFZ has 12in. of travel up front and 13.5in. in the rear. A stock YFZ could be the worst suspension I have ever been on for a stock quad.

 

I found the YFZ stock suspension quite nice when compared to what I have been on. Those quads include the 250R, Banshee, DS650, 400EX, and Raptor. It felt alot like it had Works Performance suspension on it, but it was stock. In my opinion, certainly not the worst I have been on, and the best stock suspension I have ever been on - very close to aftermarket suspension. However, its not long travel suspension for high desert riding, but great dune riding.