Hello everyone, I'm new here. I'm trying to decide between the 450r and 700. I'm mostly going to use it for trail riding. From what I've read so far the 700 appeals to me because of the reverse, and being an all around machine, but being a Honda man, it's hard to be disloyal. Is the 450 more for racing? Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

well, those are two totally different machines and by that I mean if you're looking for trail riding and such I will definetly say the Honda. I just barely bought an '06 450r and I can believe how light and nimble it is. Like I've heard before, some quads have too much engine and overpower the chasis when you get it in tight situations. Oh and by the way, my buddies hrc cammed/ sparks pipe beat a new 700 raptor by a respectable amount last weekend at the dunes. I wasn't impressed at all with the 700. Wish I had a video!

 

I've never heard of a quad having too much engine!?!?!?!? LoL!
No such thing as too much horsepower, a girl too pretty, too much money in my pocket, too much whiskey... (Well, okay... mebbe I have found that threshold)

 

I agree with you all the way but I think it's more of a power to weight ratio. There will never be a quad too fast!

 

When or is Honda going to build a big bore quad to compete directly with the Raptor?

 

I have a 06 raptor and I love it. I haven't done anything to it performance wise yet but I can easily hang with my boyfriend's 05 honda 450r who has a yoshi pipe, sprocket, rev box, and a lot of other things I can't remember. He did go out and get a hot cam because he could not stand the thought of getting beat by his girlfriend. I would get the Raptor. All I do is trail ride and the Raptor does great.....

 

hey, there are lots of different things people can say. best thing is to make sure that fit and feel sitting on it is good and comfortable and you can move your weight side to side to accomodate the kind of riding you want. and as far as 450r vs rap 700....the gearing on the rap is really short through 1st and 2nd, but once in third ti becomes an awesome trail machine, and you do not do alot of shifting at all. the power stays very linear and controllable, while on the 450r, you have to keep on the throttle, and it does not like to be lugged going through a corner in a gear to high, and with the fuel injected rap, you can lug it a little more through corners (in my expeirence anyway) better. suspension set up on the rap will be alot more forgiving as well for rec riding and some minor track laps, and if tracks are where you want to spend your time, there are plenty of upgrades for the rap, but the 450 comes with that set up from the factory already. good luck man.