im about to buy a new quad the ds have some age i have 2 choice honda and bombardier i add 3 honda and they were realy good bike than i bought a bombardier realy good bike too now it's time to change i was wondering if the 450r is as strong as a 650x reliability and all the stuff i might go for honda same hp less weight but is the motor as bullet proof like the rotax

 

I presume that most of your riding is on trails??? The best trail bikes are the Z400, 400EX, and 300EX.

The DS is NO TRAIL BIKE! It is just to large and heavy. The DS is at its best in the dunes and wide open country. It is just to big and wide to make a trail bike.

The 450R has a great trail chassis and handling, but the motor likes to rev and is geared high. These make it a handfull on a tight trail. Idle in first gear is 15 mph, way to fast for tight trails. Lots of guys make gearing changes to help this.

But, for 06 the R has gotten a different engine and carb, suspension updates, and more important for you, some gearing changes. Hopefully this will all help its trail manners! So, I suggest you WAIT AND SEE WHAT THE 06 IS LIKE, before you make a decision.

 

scratch out the 300ex. the warrior,z400,and 400ex are the best trail quads, because they all have a good ammount of power, and they just rock.. 300ex doesn't have enough power for me i like the warrior and the 400ex the best for the trails

 

You have so many options you have your work cut out for you. Checkout all of the following:

2005 & up Honda 400ex with reverse
Suzuki z400 or upcoming z450
Artic Cat 400 (same as Suzuki 400 except 3 year warranty)
Polaris Outlaw with IRS or Predator
2006 Honda 450r with either kick or electric start
2006 Yamaha YFZ450
2006 Yamaha Raptor

Your message is a little hard to read but I believe you state you are coming off the DS. If so, I would drop the 400ex, z400, Artic Cat from your list since you are used to riding with power.

If you are down to Honda and Bombardier, you only have one choice. I would say 450r with electric start. ReconRanger is right that the DS isn't a trail bike at least not where I ride. You would have to be an idiot to try to keep up. It would only be a matter of hours before you whack a tree and get those bars ripped from your hands - hopefully not ending up in a wrist injury.

I had a bad experience with the 2001 Raptor so it is hard for me to think about spending money with Yamaha but I think you should take a close look at the 2006 Raptor. It has the best ergonomics I have sat on. Unfortunately, I was only sitting on one at the dealership.

Rumor has it the new z450 is going to have a wider a-arms from the factory so it might be setup better for mx than trail riding.

It would be difficult for anyone to bet on what is most reliable. All these bikes have gone through significant upgrades as of late.

 

i never go back whit a 400 i want to upgrade not degrade going to a 400 afther a 650 :s i want power ds as 450 too here we have a lot off riding area i do 50% back country road 40% sand pit 10% trail riding so here the size off the ds dont hurt me
but what i want to know is the 450 will work well whit that type off riding and is this true that you can not ride the 450 wide open in 5 during a long strech you always have to play whit trottle like a 2 stroke

 

The 2004 and 2005 450r have done really well in Baja racing so I wouldn't be too concerned about wide open long distance runs. I don't know about the 2006 with its new gearing.

/Jon

 

I would say if you want to get rid of your ds get a 450r, hrc cam and pipe and those things screem. I havent heard many if any problems or reliability issues with the 450r sounds like a good machine to me. The new one is so high on compression im not sure it will beable to run with 91 octane anymore..... it is 12 something compression after all. What about the new 700 rappy? Sure the first year 01's had problems but this machine looks alright.

 

The ds650 baja x is a very good machine.....long travel high quality shocks, huge top speed, super big and comftorable for long rides and very reliable in all conditions. I ride mostly what you ride, roads, fields, pits, back country etc and there isnt a better machine for me. If i was a smaller guy...which i am not i wouldnt be riding a ds650 prob.

 

I presume that most of your riding is on trails??? The best trail bikes are the Z400, 400EX, and 300EX.

The DS is NO TRAIL BIKE! It is just to large and heavy. The DS is at its best in the dunes and wide open country. It is just to big and wide to make a trail bike.
>>>>>>>>

Why do you presume he rides mostly trails? He never mentions this. He is also a current DS owner so I'm guessing he knows what kind of bike they are, they haven't changed.

I ride my DS on trails ALL the time, the only reason I added the Rincon is to have some variety, my G/F is glued to my Outlander and isn't nearly ready to learn to ride the DS yet, I wanted an extra automatic utility as an option. These are your opinons but hardly factual, it's all about how each individual rider feel on a machine. The DS and 450r are made for different kind of riding.

The only other quad I'd trade the DS for is probably the new Raptor but mostly because of the EFI and reverse, those are really the only two features I'd be interested in.

 

dune rider 650 yamaha never for me yam is crap never never and never

i rethink to this il channge for a 450r or do somme big mods on the curent ds well see