i am seriously considering buying a raptor. the reason that i ask on this site is that i am a die hard honda man; but in all honesty the raptor seems to fit my style of riding. from what i have read it seems that they get bashed alot. my question is what, if anything, would be the reason for not getting this mashine. other than being a yama. also, does anybody know if they ever had six forward gears? i heard that the 01's did. that is a big factor in me wanting one. i'm going to look at an 01 tommarrow and i need to know what i may be getting myself in for. i want something RELIABLE.

 

If reliability is your concern, don't buy an '01, or you will have no gears.

 

all years had 5 speeds.... and the 2001's tranny sucks(goign to be buying a raptor in a few weeks though after riding a friend)... get ready to spend a grand on a new 2k2 raptor tranny if you get a 2k1 that's tranny hasnt been replaceed

 

depends on what kind of riding you do. I hear lots of people saying that Raptors are great dune bikes but that hasn't been my impression at all. They feel very tippy to me and I have seen them roll quite easily where I don't feel other quads would have. I agree with everyone else here that you should not buy an 01 unless you can save at least a grand over an 02. They are fast and have tons of torque but you cant slide them or do donuts like you can on lower bikes, trust me I've tried, and sliding a Raptor is almost scary as opposed to a 400ex or yfz

 

hmmm fast440's view on them almost makes me thikn twice about getting one....
so turns are a little more tippy? and is fish tailing easy? and can you ride wheelies good on them? and what has more lowned power... raptor or banshee? and im guessing donuts are pretty scarey on them? so im guessing a raptor is more tippy than a z400 and thouse lines of bikes?

 

shackattack why dont you get that new honda 450r its pretty nice and has not too bad of ground clearence, its a little pricy though.

 

Just another thought on crapters, my 440 stroker beat a piped crapter up BOXCAR at coosbay.

 

manual a raptor has more low end. if u mean ACCELERATION then the banshee

 

its just something to think about, I don't mean to knock raptors too hard but other than speed and lots of torque I don't really see why people like them so much. When stock they're no faster than my modded 400ex and I can handle MUCH better than them all day long. If you want a nice quick bike that handles great why not consider a Z400? Unless you have more to spend then a 450r or yfz would probably be your best choice.

 

I have spent some time riding my friends (piped) Raptors, and they are a pretty nice ride. The power is great, and it wasn't as wheelie happy as everybody said. But, too narrow and a little tippy and top heavy for my taste. I would have to widen it like +4 for the desert. Being a desert rider, I follow the desert races closely to see which machines are holding up. You would think a bike as fast as a Raptor would do well, but they have not been a factor at all in desert racing. To finish first, you must first finish.