I never said it wasn't. READ MY ORIGINAL POST CAREFULLY NEXT TIME. I listed no facts about the 450R being a bad quad. I said I had HEARD it was not all it was cracked up to be. I was hoping this post would bring some positive info about it but apparently all I did was **** people off. I never said the 450R wasn't a good bike. But the fact that I have heard from dozens of threads and articles is that it is not as much of a hard core racer (stock) as everyone expected.

 

Now that you've "heard" that the 450R is "not all it's cracked up to be" it's time for you to get some seat time.
Ture, first gear is geared high, drop to a 13 tooth contershaft sprocket. Skip the HRC kit and rejet and repipe with White Brothers Carbon Fiber unit, remove the airbox lid and add a uniflo filter and it will smoke built YFZ's.
Don't believe all the hype OR critics until you get seat time. I believe it is an awesome quad and will REPLACE the 250R as the king.

 

I may not have ridden one but I did race a few last weekend on a large track in the trails. And on that day in that location with those quads my friend and I on our 250R's and three guys on YFZ's were up front the whole time. There was a guy on a 450R who wasn't far behind but he never charged for the lead. Who knows maybe he had just gotten it and wasn't used to it but all I can say is that on that day we were faster. When I say I jave "heard" things I'm not talking about some guy named Billy-Bob I'm talking about professional and credible magazines and racers. Just take a look on this forumn on other threads....these are real people who are talking about the flaws of the 450R. I'm not denying the 250R or YFZ has it's flaws either. Once again I'm not trying to start a war but why is there only a coulpe of guys racing the Honda in the pros when there are dozens on the YFZ?

 

Gee,I don't know.Could it be that the TRX just came out a few weeks back? Maybe you should quit posting before you embarass yourself further.....

 

Actually smart guy it came out about 2 months ago! Don't be pissed at me because you bought a quad that has failed to meet most peoples expectations!!!!

 

I just found something to make you look even more foolish. Take a look at the December 2003 issue of Dirtwheels Magazine. Read the article "Honda 450R Factory Ride". If you read carefully you will find......"Farr is scheduled to ride the Baja 1000 which runs in late November." The public has only been able to buy the 450R for 2 months but Pro racers have been able to get their hands on one since late 2003 early 2004. We're almost in May now................................

 

I do own a 450R, it is all stock. I have noticed that it does come up if you want it to. I do notice all the deficits you guys are talking about. It needs to have a sprocket change and could use a longer swingarm. As for staight line speed goes?, I am 250lbs and didn't have much of a problem trading wins with piped YFZ's in the sand drags. I do totally agree with the things you state the 450R lacks, but I just keep saying that a fix here and a fix here, this bike will be perfect. Just my opinion. Also, after owning this 450R for about 2 weeks I went in and sat on the YFZ, nope, just didn't feel right.

 

i ride with some of the fastest quads around....a 370 piped/jetted banshee, a yfz450, and a piped/jetted raptor. my 450r pulls on the banshee untill he hits 6th gear, then he walks away.....but the yfz is consistantly 1-2 quadlengths behind me in a field. granted his machine is stock, but he is nowhere to be found in the trails...and neither is the banshee or the raptor. my 450r is not the fastest machine out there, but it certainly jumps best and handles best. the weighting in this machine is nearly perfect....only thing that it needs is about a 2 inch wider front end...because it does tend to lift the inside front tire up when cornering real hard. thats one thing i like about the yami. the yamahas power just doesent feel as hard as the 450rs, even though its very close. everyone else ive been riding with has been riding for many more years than i have, and for me to jump on a machine and be able to lead them often really says something about the machine. maybe its not the best in the dunes, dont know, never been....but for around here, as long as i dont try to trailblaze with it...its awesome....
so now youve heard some good about it....

 

I am completely satisfied with my 450R! I don't feel that the 450R has fallen short at all for a few reasons. 1st every stock YFZ that I have raced stock for stock have been close races where I have won and lost equally. further more I have raced my brothers 310R and won which was witnessed by all of my buddies most of which belong to "The Compound" which I give my brother credit his bike wasn't set up right for the conditioned we raced on but none the less he said the HRC 450R ran extremely well!!!! And lastly, every article I have read does give the advantage to the YFZ 450 but never does it say the YFZ is head over heals better than the 450R....If you really look closely at these two machines you will notice that the stock Honda 450R is unbelievably constricted! When I installed my HRC kit first thing I noticed was the difference in the cam sizes and I don't mean on paper! Visually you can see a distinct difference in lift and duration--it's not even close. Then they increased the air intake snorkel which is massively bigger than stock! The end cap on the muffler was removed and a competiton end cap was installed this was the most visually noticeable bolt on. The air box lid that came with the kit was open completely it's like running no air box lid which i do anyways because I run K&N filter with outerware. All this created a machine with an incredible appetite for air and fuel. The HRC Honda main jet went from a 118 to a wopping 185!!! I know that the HRC Honda is faster than a stock YFZ and equally powerful to a piped YFZ because i raced many YFZ's. The only 250R I raced was my brothers ESR310R and like I said I beat him, we will race again soon and this time he will be set up perfect I will make sure of that! I have had no problems with the front end coming up in drag races you just have to give it hell of the start to brake the tires then hang on and shift like hell! Most people are a little timid to bring the revs up that high off the start but trust me if you lean forward and bring the revs completely to the top off the start you wont weelie!!!! Yamaha YFZ is priced higher than the Honda as well about the cost of the HRC Kit. Dollar for Dollar the HRC Honda and stock YFZ are the same price range and the Honda is faster Dollar for Dollar..... Honda has a great machine and I am glad that I have friends that ride different bikes I live for my family and the ride!!!!! not because I own Honda over Yamaha[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

 

Thanks LILTHUMPER and ODYSSEYJUNK, all I did was ask a simple question and all I was looking for was other peoples opinion. It seems like you can't even ask a question on these forumns without people getting defensive. I'm glad you guys posted wiothout thinking I was trying to bash the 450R.