Good luck with whatever you get. Thousands of dollars for an investment is definitely worth checking out all options. Of course you can always get a DS in the future, but then after you've ridden the DS for a while, you'll be stuck with the headache of trying to get rid of a 400[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Sounds like a snowmobile is really the answer doesnt it?

 

K see, snowmobiles go fast and corner good, but it's not the same as a quad, a quad crawls compared to my snowmobile, but you can jump, wheelie, do donuts [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]. You can jump good on a Skidoo too and you wheelie just as good, but it's not the same. I have always ridden quads, and want to keep it that way.

yea, I can always get a DS in the future. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

i guess i just got bothered by the honda 416 thing beating when all the ds guys were trying to give you help. have you ever thought that the ds you rode was not set up right? look at it like this, when i got my ds from the dealer it was al stock and now that i have it set-up for the sand it is another bike altogether. so if i was going to want whellies from a ds i would lower the gearing 80 bucks, have you ever read dirtwheels and seen the raptors with the monster wheels in back, it is a mud bog monster. so the ds isn't stock a snow machine, we would have told you that, and the guys in arizona will probably have no idea about the ds in snow, but if it was me i would put some hugh tires on the rear flowtation, then lower the gearing to 15-42, that was the problem i had was ground clearance, with a set of 25" on the rear that would help, not sure how to deal with the front, but the 4x4 guys should be able to help, plus i would stiffen the springs, the problem as you noticed is the power, well the powder eats that stuff. well the way i see it you can get a honda, but for the same or less you could take a ds and turn it in to something special in the snow, that $600 you posted over in the honda forum you could buy those tires and other snow items

 

Tyre,

NowI have to go against ya. NO 400 has ever beat me in a drag or is able to hang in there (includes 416s, 426s and even the 440's). They get me in the tight corners on the track but as soon as it opens up I reel them in. My 400 had HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE suspension. I jarred my wrist more than once on it. Also... after owning 4 quads in my life... the DS is by FAR the easiest to work on. Other than the chain adjustment on the 400, everything else is a pain. Accessing the carb you need to remove the front plastics, the gas tank AND THEN you can get to the carb. On the DS, it's easily accessible (magazines sure don't post that one). The 400 has this retarted thing by attaching the seat with the rear plastic which was always a pain in the rear to put back on. Also the frame paint on the a-arms is the cheapest paint I ever saw on a quad. It just doesn't hold up
very well. As far as price, everyone who looked at it said to me "this quad is not worth 5600.00". I it should sell for 4000 or less. If I were to buy a new quad in that class it would be a Z or the new 400 Kawi (same thing). THey sell for the same and offer more such as LIQUID COOLING.

For wheelies the 400 EX the machine to get. The rear grab bar is very tuff, I never bent it and I landed on it many, many times and it handles better than a DS out of the box nuff said. However My friend bought one and all he did was complain about it, wishes he had a Raptor. I'm not knocking ya about going to a 400, but please don't bash the DS in a DS forum. We are all proud owners of our fine machine and to be honest when I rode the 400 I was always wishing I had my DS cause everyone has a 400, Shee or Raptor. When ya roll with a DS it defintely gets noticed.

 

I'm not bashing the DS...wtf...I was just telling the idiots that said "oooh you won't have to worry about spinning tires with a 400", simple as that,

The power-to-weight ratio on a well-done 416cc is quite better than a stock DS. I didn't dragrace them, just the numbers, sorry if that sounded like bashing, because it did, I do love the look and unique-ness of the DS.

Power to Weight Ratio example(if any of you care) :

416ex (Piston, Cam, Slip-on, Jetted) - 36 HP

so 375 lbs. (dry) divided by 36 equals 10.41 lb/HP.

DS 650 - 40-41 HP

so 460 lbs. (dry) divided by 40 or 41 equals 11.5 lb/HP - 11.2 lb/HP.


The EX has an advantage on paper, but paper obviously doesn't mean much, many other factors decide the outcome.
Again, I'm not bashing, just justifying what I had said.

Also, Entomber, i would be buying used, so I think Z400 is kinda out of the question.

 

400ex suspension is horrible?? I happen to think it's perfectly decent. Unless yours had a problem with it, the 400ex susp. is pretty damn good. Set it right and it'll treat you right, I have lots of experience on the 400ex and I find the suspension awesome.

dunno thats just me.

 

Sandman, i had missed your last post before i wrote my last post.

You definetly have a point on setting up a DS for snow, and to be honest with you, I'd like to have a DS in my garage a lot more than a Honda. I won't hide that. I haven't bought anything yet. I was leaning more on the Honda side because of it's price and size/weight/wheelie.

If you knew how stressed I am at trying to decide what in the bloody hell I wanna get...No bike in my price range seems perfect for what I want, Raptors break down, DS' are big, 400ex's are slow...Sigh.

sooo confused....

geh.

 

Well, after all this, I'm going to see a used DS, gonna take it for a ride, seems like a good deal.

Might come home with it. After some meditation, I figured out I could still used my 500H.O. in the snow if the DS was really that bad.

My only concern it is it's width for the trails. I'll see about that.

Anyway, i'll keep you posted.

 

Raptors broke down in 2001 and that shoud be expected for its first year, every quad had probs their first year. I have't heard of any major problems after 2001. I know lots of people still with 2001's and they haven't even had problems with them its just you hear about problems more than you dont. Raptors ARE reliable now.