If you want ute like reliability and are willing to give up some power to get it, you are better off going with an air cooled motor. 300or 400EX are probably the best bet. Keep in mind that these are offroad machines, it isn't only the engine that needs maintenance.

 

personally, i'll stick with my 03 warrior, its a great overall machine, and with the mods done to it it'll go as fast as i need it to. mines a lil more "modded" if you will than the rest, with a custom built front rack housing a 3k lb winch and a rear toolbox with every tool you can think of for a quad(except for a spare engine...lol).....purchased my warrior used last spring and its never given me a problem yet(knock on wood). and i've beaten it a few times playing a little too hard but it still comes back for more. My brother has a 07 300ex and its a great overall machine, the only problems i've seen are the brakes and the engine runs VERY hot, the brakes warp too quickly(probably due to thin rotors) and the parking brake needs CONSTANT adjusting, as far as the engine running warm, my brothers leg almost has burn marks on it whenever we go riding for more than 20 minutes.

 

Sounds like your brother is running a little lean

 

I agree with SDM, my son ran a 300ex for years, modded and jetted properly, and never had a heat problem, running all day, or even when we ran the dunes at Silver Lake hard all day. If it runs that hot in 20 min, i would pull the plug and check for jetting. As far as the brakes, my son liked to use his back brake to slide the corners, and it wore pretty fast too, most brakes will when run hard, and if you have a lot of dirt in there, it will grind them down even faster.If you are warping rotors and wearing brakes fast, i would check to see its not the caliper hanging up, or that you have not adjusted the brakes too tight,so that they rub on the rotor and heat it up. The only time i warped a rotor was on my Wolverine,rode over a mile and a half with the parking brake on, turn it blue, warped it like a salad bowl, and melted the seals in the rear caliper, had to replace both caliper and rotor. Thats why after 95, Yamaha put the parking brake switch in, to keep riders from melting rotors !!

 

you mean factory is running a little lean? he bought it last year "new" off the showroom floor, hasn't done any work to it whatsoever, puts 87 octane in it and drives it.....what would possibly be causeing that? i wouldn't of said anything had it been modified, its completely 100% factory, nothing done or added to it since he bought it, and its done it since day 1

 

No way, I would go with the 400ex everytime when it comes to durability. I owned one myself for a handful of years and beat on it alot and all i ever did was change oil on it and tighten up the chain. It's a honda and they've always been known for reliability

 

It may be his riding style. I have burns on my legs from 2 strokes, nothing wrong with the machine, exhaust pipes just get hot! Actually have a megabomb on the YFZ, and my riding boots are all burned from it. That is why riding boots all have leather on the machine side of the boots though. As for the rotor warping, there has to be a problem. Either the parking brake is really giving you issues, or he rides with his foot on the pedal all the time, or he is hitting rocks and bending it(it does have a skid plate back there right?

 

well i can personally vouch for the 300ex. they are great quads and very reliable. Bare in mind though, I can already ride it as hard as it will go. I'm currently looking at some 4ooex's. either way u go u cant beat those 2 ex's.

 

Suzuki LTR450 Quad Racer. It is water cooled, manual clutch gearing 1 down 5 up chain drive with lots of low end torque for hill climbing and tons of high end speed for the wind in the face riding don the dirt road, and the wide track racing suspension is lots of fun to ride on. I run mine in the Mojave Desert and it takes 90+ heat all morning long and has never let me down yet.

 

oh recommending what you have, how novel! the ltr is a "high strung" 4 stroked from a mx bike, so i wouldnt say its the MOST reliable... and the 2003 predators could lose 3rd or 4th gear, but otherwise its reliable and is considered "overbuilt"