Going to be buying a used bike about a month from now.

Stuck between two bikes. The 400EX, I bought a 2001 brand new and absolutely loved it.
Forced to sell it for financial reasons. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

Bomb DS650. Problem is, there not very available used here in AZ. There is only two in the cycletrader right now. One of them is a 2000 model, and is 4500$. This is my spending limit, as I am saving cash for the bike.

Would I love the DS or what? I would deffinetly remove the front fenders... cant stand them. Other than that, it is a sweet looking bike.
How does a stock DS hang with a stock Raptor in a drag race? (please, only honest, mature answers here)
Does the DS handle well? Is it built well like the 400? Is the rotax motor reliable?
Is the overall bike reliable?

Ok, here is the question you are going to laugh at.
First, this. I raced a couple of stock raptors with my supertrapped 350X.
Surprisingly I was able to jump out in front quickly and hold the lead untill my 4th gear. (of 6) The raptor slid away... and I was behind him about 4 bike lengths, steady.
I was honestly surprized at the quickness of my ol' 350X. (it is recently rebuilt with new clutch, and has a VERY strong motor... My 170lbs can stand on the kickstarter and the compression will hold my entire body for 10 seconds)
Ok now my stupid question... Honestly, HOW much quicker is the DS or Raptor up a dune than the 400? I never got the chance to race my 400 against anything except a piped 86' R on flat ground. I would pull on him the whole race untill my top speed, and he would sneak ahead of me screaming in his 6th gear.

Sooo, would I love a DS? Should I save a little more money to get one?\
Thanks people, your responses are appreciated.

 

I will give you a little background. I used to own a banshee back in '93 and then got out of the sport. About 8 years later, I decided to get back into it and that was just a few months ago. I wanted the newest fastest thing around and read all the mags and stuff. So, of course I ran out and bought a raptor. It is a nice bike, runs strong and blows away my friends 400ex. I cannot say much bad about the bike, except I did not like the overall size and it is kind of tippy and pretty much most the stuff you have read on this board.

Anyway, my wife loves the raptor. So, I decided I was going to give her the raptor and buy myself another bike. I liked the cannondales and the Bombardier Baja. In the end I decided on the Baja. I love it. It fits me much better and is a monster of a machine. It is very impressive.

I would do it all over again, well except I would buy the Baja and skip the raptor, in a heartbeat.

As for racing, you know it is very subjective and everyone will give you their "fishing stories" if you want. But I have raced my Baja against my raptor a few times for comparison sakes. My friend who is a good rider and has put a little time in on the raptor was racing me.

He rode the raptor and I my baja. He is about 70 pounds lighter than me and my raptor has a Big gun pipe, K&N and jet kit. It runs real strong.

My baja is stock and at the time I was still pretty much breaking her in and never reved over about 6500 rpm (got to love a tach).

We did about 10 runs or so and from a dead stop. The raptor would jump out about 2 bike lengths on me and then by 3rd, I was starting to pull on the raptor. This was the case every time from a dead stop. We did not switch bikes, because I did not want him to over rev it.

Now, from a slight roll (about 3 mph) we would be dead even, side by side. Topping in 2nd I would start to pull and in 3rd, would have him by a bike length or so.

I was impressed with the baja. I expected to have him beat me, because of the mods and the weight difference. But was pleased with the outcome. I need to rejet the Baja to make it run a little better, but it runs strong.

I have never ridden a regular Ds, but I do know that the only difference in engine between the two is the rev limiter and I was not even close to that. I also know that some of the suspension has changed and I hear it is much better on the Baja. I don't know first hand but that is what I hear. I love the handling on the Baja.

Well, sorry to ramble on, but that is my experience and I hope it helps. The 400 is a nice bike, but it really will not compete with these bigger bore 4 strokes.

Bat