My wife and I (and most of our friends) ride R's everywhere we want to go. Do a lot of desert trail riding here in So. Cal. Jeep trails also. A good skid plate is a must. If you want to crawl, just re-sprocket the thing. Rear sprockets are only $30 for steel, front counter-shaft gear for $15.
The only after market parts needed, a pipe and silencer for less than $300, a skid plate for $70, a K&N air filter for $35. Of course, wheels and tires of your choice. Otherwise, you can leave it stock except for jetting.
Oh yeah, NO PAYMENTS for 36 months! They're paid for and have been for several years.
For us, it's the go anywhere we want to when ever we want to dependable machine.
They're not the fastest thing in the world, most any piped Shee will beat it, Quadzilla will beat it, maybe a Raptor or a DS. Don't know and don't care.
What we have is what we think is the best machine for us and where we ride.

 

Yamaha came close with the Raptor. The fact is, you can find a full on race quad with a custom frame and shocks for the SAME PRICE, that will run circles around the Raptor.

From what ive read in the Yamaha forum, the raptors are'nt so maintenace free either.

 

well i've looked at the raptor and the 250r and currently building a 250r. i would go with the 250r. its power is incrediable. just the other day i saw a 86 250r for 1800 compared to 6700 for the raptor. althought the 250r needed a little work i doubt you would end up spending 6700. usually around where i liveyou can find a 250r for around 3000 modded. this other one for 1800 the guy proably could have sold for 2500

 

Put it this way. . .
Buy an R for $3000.
Put a CT or LRD 330 kit in for $1900.
That's a total of $4900, a lot less than a Raptor or a 400EX. Faster than both. Out corners both. Looks better than anything else. Want to do mods? Won't cost anymore than mods for anything else.
You can make an R as mild or wild as you want. I have even seen 400 kits for them!
The R is lighter than most, it's about 50lbs lighter than a Shee or a 400EX, almost a 100 lighter than a Raptor.
I'm not knocking the Raptor. It's a great machine, it really is.
But for the money, you can have a kickass R for less.

 

Thanx you guys for all the comments. I have decided to go with the R. thanx!!!!!!! p.s Give me some good ideas for pipes,tires,and any other good mods.

 

Thanx you guys for all the comments. I have decided to go with the R. thanx!!!!!!! p.s Give me some good ideas for pipes,tires,and any other good mods.

 

If you listen close to the ground, you will hear that there are many problems with the Yam. Even if they are covered by the dealer, they should not have as many major problems with them as they are having. The gearing is not set up for trail riding in tight woods. You have to change to a 12T in the front and a 42T in the rear for the thing to run good in the woods with out slipping the clutch. Just wait a few months and you will see many of them up for sale, because the rides will be going back to there other quads that they had before. We have had 2 local Hare Scrambles in or state in the pass 3 weeks and the new Raptors have not do very good any of them. Wait till after Yam does some changes to inprove it some next year.

 

Should of went with the Raptor why buy a v10 vyear old bike no matter how nice it is. I personally had a 250r, 400ex and now my first Yamaha Raptor. As hard as it is to say this bike is and will be reigned new king and you have to thank Yamaha for that. Had mine since Sept.5th and no problems. Replaced short axle and new handlebars. This thing has great features if you want a quad with great jumping ability or MX racing go with a modified 250r if you like riding in mountains going on long day rides and flatout haulin a$$ down the trail go with the raptor. It is faster then a 250r on drag in MX racing thats still to be found out. My good old honda is sittin and tell you the truth I don't know the next time I'll ride it. It does need a little work though. I kept my 250r and traded in my 400ex for the Raptor it was worth it.

 

Ya know, it was HIS decision to make. If he had chosen the Raptor, there wouldn't have been any comments about it (at least from me). Besides, he came to a Honda forum (or is this forum turning into the Yamaha forum?) and what would you expect? Honda people saying "buy Yamaha." Not likely.
Besides, faster than what? How you put a machine together for where you ride has a lot to do with how fast it is. I ride dunes mostly, and how well would a machine setup for woods do against me in the dunes? Or vice versa? Drag racing is only one aspect of riding, and gets boring in about 10 minutes.
I'll be in Glamis in a few weeks and I'm sure there will be some out there. I may be impressed, I may not. If it wins some races up Oldsmobile it kinda like, so what? Lets see it DUNE! If they can stay with the Banshees and Rs, I will be impressed only if its a total stocker. Axle mods mean it wasn't right in the first place.

 

Raptors are faster than 250Rs? news to me being most of the halfway decently modified 250R's were beating the Raptors at SL 3 weekends ago.