I'm pretty sure that they have had the liquid cooled version out for awhile, but i'm not positive. I just know that they are two whole different engines.

 

Hmm-- the XR650 is water cooled- excellent! guess I hadn't been around the dirt bike scene since the height of the Scott Summers era on his XR600. Would be a wonderful thing, a 650ex. Just that Honda is back in the ring with the 450R and won the Baja 1000 makes me feel about 20 years younger when the likes of Marty Hart, Curtis Sparks and Mark Wax Weixledorfer were racing Baja. I sure idolized the 350x. Kick Starting and sporty suspension. Well-- here goes, we're all waiting, HONDA-- a 650cc sport quad, Kick start 5-speed and reverse. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]
Thank you.

 

Wow! This is really cool, I was just comming to the Honda forums to see if anyone has put a XR650 in a quad frame yet and I come across this topic being hammered allready. For you guys who are asking if it will happen from Honda? I am pretty sure you will see it. I have two prodjects going right now, one being another Raptor with a 753 in it and the other a Honda XR650.
I am hoping to see this catch on and give Honda an idea because I think it will be a great quad setup.
I am starting from scratch but I know it will work great and from stock the XR650 runs at about 85 ponies.
I am hoping to have both prodjects done for the Indianapolis Dealer Expo in Febuary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

temecula motorsports ran a 400ex frame with a xr650 in it and it got beat by the new 450 in the baja 1000. if you guys are doubting the 450 it took the win in the 1000 so it must be a good bike. i doubt honda would want to mess around with a production 650

 

There's no doubt avout the effectiveness of the 450R- it's a killer, and a might too aggressive for the recreational rider. So take the 400ex one might say- yes the 400ex is great, but we'd like to see something like the 400ex only more so- kinda like the ZR-1 vs L-98 back in the day. Reverse would be good too. And if must be, electric start, need to have a back up recoil or kick, preferrably kick...

 

The XR650 doesn't put out anywhere near 85 horses. You may be able to get 85 horses out of it, but deffinately not in stock trim. It is a good solid 650cc, liquid cooled, single cylinder engine. So is the DS 650. The Raptor too, with a few more cc's. I would even say that the DS's Rotax engine is BETER than the Honda. Even when these motors are uncorked, they don't approach 50hp much less 85. They usually stop around 46hp and then you need to start on the enternals. I have seen a dyno chart and a torque chart for the XR650. It puts out around 47hp and I can't remember the torque numbers but I remember they were considerably more than the two hot 450's. I used to follow the dirtbike seen pretty well and as I recall, either of the 450's would beat it in a drag race until top speed when the 650 would walk on buy. I don't think you will be very impressed with the XR650's engine since you already have a very hot Raptor.
JP

 

They need to just take the 400 EX platform and adapt the XR 650 engine to it, maybe go a tad wider and longer, but keep it simple and get it on the market at decent prices. They have their racer, now just send us power junkies a well-handling big block.

 

85 does sound mighty high. My Honda street bike with an 1100 cc motor only puts out about 64 ponies (gobs of tourque though). Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if that were the case and I'm not saying that it isn't I just have a hard time believing it

 

I think stuffing a 650 into the 400ex chassis would be a bit much. There was another post out there that some fellow tried in in the Baja 100 and didn't finish. A beefed up chassis and brakes are what will be necesarry. But all in all- it's great to see Honda in the ring again after all this time. The lawyers really had a feild day with ATC's. A sad chapter in our history now closed. Or is the CPSC up to something again? God knows we can't take care of ourselves....

 

The decision for me is whether to go big and heavier (650EX) or light (450R). In desert racing the light little 250R's has been beating the pants off of bigger bikes like the DS650 and Raptors for years. So, it seems to me that the light little 450R should be the bike of choice. And, Honda is calling the 450 the replacement for the 250R! Still, that XR650 engine has got to be the most reliable thing out there. Maybe I'll have to get both if I can't make up my mind!!