That's right in the April 2001 issue of ATV Sport the 400ex beat the Raptor, DS650, and Scrambler in a shootout of four-strokes. The riders were able to post consistently faster wooded track and mx track times on the Honda than any of the others. They said that even though the Honda was a little underpowered compared to the Raptor and DS650 it's superior handling characteristics more than made up for it. Just goes to prove all those extra cc's aren't helping in my neck of the woods where tight trails are the norm. In the flat out speed drags the winner was the DS650 at 68 mph followed closely by the Raptor at 67mph, then the 400ex at 60 mph, and the Scrambler at 58 mph. The 400 was 6-9 seconds faster in the woods laps than it's next closest the Raptor. On the mx track the Raptor closed considerably closer to a 2-3 second advantage for the 400ex.
I know it matters about the rider but they used the same two for all the machines and times. And
I don't care about who supposedly has more ads in
the mag or whatever else. I just thought you guys might like to know the outcome of this shootout. Oh yeah the DS650 won the best jumper award too.

 

of-course... what did you expect???

I'd buy a 400EX tomorrow if it had reverse...

And I've gained a great respect for the DS650 since it's been winning endurance races all over the world this year; what's it up to 4 now?

Raptor can't beat the EX in MX or in the woods, and can't beat the DS out in the open...

shame, shame... guess the Raptor is a good all-around quad though... well, that's what they designed it for, right?

 

Ahhhhh another magazine article. What you need to do is take your new knowledge and propose a woods race for all nearby Raptor owners. You are gonna really show-em!

 

Hey don't blame me just because you don't like the results, I was just passing along the info. I'm sure had the Raptor won it would have been posted in the Yamaha forum, tell me I'm wrong. And actually I have already invited a Raptor owner to go riding at the track once it gets a little nicer but not to test our testosterone against one another but to have fun and bust each other and enjoy our rides.

 

Thanks for the info 400Freak. Don't listen to these people who whine beacuse their quad wasn't picked the best.....it's expected. Good info. Also, was the Scrambler a 2X4 or 4X4?? Thanks.

 

If people are to weak to get off there bike and push it back a few feet dont need to be riding any way what do they do to get the thing off the truck let there girlfriend do it while they hold there skirt down so when they blow a gasket there skirt wont fly up come on get real what did people do before they had reverse oh gues raptors are for people who havent been riding long and need the big cc's as an advantage where if we had more experience going forward we wouldnt get in those situations to even need reverse or we could just like the raptors do and let girlfriends push HA HA!!!!!! get real how important is reverse remember what we did before they had cell phones.

 

How did the DS win best jumper. Yeah it has alot of suspension but is well over 400 lbs. Just curious because my 400EX jumps great.

 

The Scrambler was the two wheel drive version which got good remarks for pleasure riding and as a "do-all machine" meaning rocks, snow , mud etc.
And then went on to say about the DS650 that "the width and overall comfort of the DS650 makes it perhaps the best jumper in the group. Perhaps?" It went on to mention they had problems with it bogging on jumps even with the carburetor upgrades added.

 

 

2000Mojave
First off I did not call anyone a "whining Raptor owner" nor did I say anything about "trying to keep up" so please don't try to put words in my mouth.I can speak for myself thank you.
Secondly I live about 2 hours northeast of Harrisburg. You are welcome to come ride with us anytime, but first know I ride a heavily modified quad as do the guys I ride with. We ride for fun and we bust on each other unmercifully about each others ride.So leave the excuses, ego, and crying towel at home. I never stated I am the fastest man in the world nor am I stating that here, I can be beat just like everyone else here.
About your little magazine conspiracy theory I think you have that all wrong also. First off they placed the same riders on the same mchines on the same tracks and because of BETTER USABLE POWER the admittedly underpowered 400ex spanked em. Here's where it gets interesting so make sure you pull on your aluminum foil hat so the govt. can't intercept your brain waves. You see I think it's all a communist plot lead by Fidel and his henchman Saddam to destroy our great country. But they are actually genetically altered laboratory mice running human robots. Thier real names are Pinky and the Brain.They started all these Honda rumors to undermine society, you see the 250r isn't actually the winningest quad in ATVing history because of it's superior handling characteristics in fact it doesn't even exist. All those pictures in the mags are hollywood fakes meant to distract us, and now they have the 400ex beating other quads because of it's superior handling characteristics. Are you following me here?
Sound ridiculous to you? It should, so please come up with something original ok. The 400ex won learn to live with it please.