Gentlemen, when the ATV consent decree was signed, all production of 3 wheelers was stopped and each manu had to spend X amount of dollars a year providing free safety corses and deals on safety gear.What happened was alot of @#@@#!! people hurt themselves on ATCs trying to ride the new machines like motorcycles and sued Honda(along with the CPSC) for negligence and Honda lost lots and lots of money and almost went bankrupt.The Lawyers are the ones who made Honda stop production on the 250R and halted any further development of High performance machines.Now that the market has "grown" and is more mature they are coming out with more sport oriented machinery, but that is also why the 400EX skirts the line of Sport/high performance.Hopefully honda is over their scars and ready to make a new high performance machine.the XR650 engine doesn't have more potential than the CR450fs, bigger aint always better,remember that.I probably wouldn't buy a TRX450R, but it would have very good affects on the market and bring new machines, a 650EX would just be another big heavy trail steed.

 

Whatever it is, just get it out here.

 

Honda almost went bankrupt,,,,bahhhaaahhaaahahaha

 

I dont care what honda makes as long as it has more power than a 400ex and handles as well or better. I have been a long time yamaha fan but after owning a raptor it kinda made me see red [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Yeah, whatever. Just another big 'ole thumper quad. Probably too big and too heavy right, Gary? You would never even buy the 450 cuz it would be definately slower, heavier, and handle worse than say, an 86 quadracer, right?

 

hey hey! lets not start a flame war here ok?

 

Yes, like i said in my first post, it was the ATC's that got Honda into trouble with the lawsuits. Have any of you guys ever taken a 250r atc for a spin, if your not a good rider you will hurt yourself and we all know there are a lot of show off's and morons out there. Does anyone else rememeber the tv coverage on this topic some 10 years ago.

 

Yep, you guys are on the right track.

I'm fairly confident that back in 1998, the US Gov. put the brakes on ATC's/3-wheelers, and forced all the manufacturers to stop R&D on sport/performance quads FOR 10 YEARS. Hence, why MOST sport/perf quads either disappeared, or remained COMPLETELY UNCHANGED during the 90's...and even today (Suzi / Kawi).

Yes, Yamaha, who ALWAYS pushes the limits, kept making the BANSHEE--because they saw more money in DOMINATING the high-perf. market for 10 years, than the $$$ they might shell out in law suits against the company...but again, even the Banshee saw little more that graffix changes in the 10 year period.

But Honda, who usually errs on the side of safety & caution (and keeping a reputable name as a manufacturer of MANY products) dropped the 250R, and like all the other manufacturers, stopped their R&D on any new high perf quads for 10 years. I'm fairly confident that WAY back in 1989, we would have seen a Fourtrax 500R to compete (and CRUSH) with the Banshee & Quad Zilla--had the US Gov. not stepped in.
When 1998 rolled around, the 10 years was over, and BOOM, Honda immediately released the 1st NEW performance quad in 10 years. Granted, its not a HIGH-PERFORMANCE quad as far as speed goes, but it has the high-performance handling....which just makes the quad safer.

Bottom line:
Honda KNOWS there's a sh*tload of $$$ to be made in performance quads....BUT....they still don't want to risk getting a black eye from a repeat of the 80's. With the new high-performance quad competition between the manufacturers, they may come out with another new quad to compete, or, they may err on the side of caution once again, and do nothing.

We'll see...(fingers crossed)

 

Ultimately from a business stand point Honda's decision to stop high-end quads in the late 80s and early 90s was smart. Now, I'll tell you why. High performance market is much much smaller than the utility market. Only today, well, only in 1997-1998, was it reborn. The money lost in law suits and poor reputation Honda almost gained would've moved into the utility market because of a media-craved America would dub all ATV's unsafe [thank you very much Ted Turner and Barbara Walters]. Therefore, cutting production of "polluting, dangerous vehicles" saved them money on lost court cases, high-priced attorney costs, poor media coverage, and let's not forget the tiny bit of consciousness [not that I have a conscience for people who die because I'm a heartless cruel bastard]. With the rebirth and ultimately larger number of people who wanted a high performance quad and got it in the 400ex. and the question remains:WHY NOT THE OTHER COMPANIES. Part of it is luck, but other companies did lose. The LT 250r and LT500r were removed. Tecate ended it's production. Yamaha must've had guts or just gotten lucky.

So here we are. We have rumors, rumors that have been circulating since 2000. How old is the 400ex? We're entering the 2002 production line and the 400ex has been out for 3 years, 99. Thats 99, 00, 01, 02. Is it time for a new high-end quad. They redid the utilities, removing the TRX 300 for the Ranchers, which has consistently beaten the Big Bear. The Foreman's beat the Kodiaks. The Grizzly stands at the top alone. Sorry Kawasaki and Bombardier and Arctic Cat, I don't respect you enough to even mention you.

Now, rumors of this new competing with the Raptor, Cannondale, and DS. Well, from prior experience I don't see Honda going for it. Hopefully I'll bite my tongue and be wrong. But they didn't do it before- why would they do it again especially when the 400ex is still selling well! Maybe their new great unveiling is a Green or Orange 400ex [tada - note the sarcasm cuz I'm laying it in pretty thick].

 

Rice burnin, Honda did almost go bankrupt,they lost Billions in sales and law suits.It put in place a very negative connotation for ATVs. Ridzhard, the XR650 bike is only 50 pounds lighter than my LT.Theoretically a big guy on an XR650 would be riding around with more LBS than me on my LT.Yes it would be much heavier than my 86 LT and who the hell knows how it would handle.My old LT making mid 30s HP and weighing so little, would probably be faster than a big XR650 quad in most places except large open areas like the desert.I probably wouldn't buy a CR450F quad, because I would wait to see what effect it would have on the market.A new racer would open the door for machines that would suit me better such as a Kawasaki KXF250,but I guess thats just me and my negativity,right?Starting trouble.