i was wondering whether honda is goin to change thier 400EX. i think if they do they will either put in the new 450 or 650. i think the 650 would be he best motor because it has a little more power with a little more torque.honda may choose to stay with 400 engine it has proven to be a great engine.
if honda keeps the 400 engine i belive they will come out with another sport quad, with either one of the other two engines in it.
but if honda does change engines that will be the only thing they will have to change. because both the 450 and the 650 will fit perfect down in the 400EX frame.

 

i think that honda will put the 650 in the 400EX frame. it give more power than the 400EX. the 450 puts out 55 horsepower but the 650 has more torque which is very important.

if honda stays with the 400EX i think they will come out with a new 650EX. if honda keeps the 400EX it will be only because yamaha will probley be placing the YZ426F engine in a new sport quad or a updated WARRIOR. the 650 will make honda more competitive with the raptor on top speeds.

 

Would you rather have a Raptor with a 660 engine or a yzf426? The yzf426 will smoke the 660 and the crf450 will smoke the xr650.

 

Well I would rather have the CRF450 motor instead of the huge 650 motor just my thoughts. I doubt Honda will go with the 650, but will give us a WAY tuned down 450 with more torque.

 

Word from the inside has it that Honda elected to use the 450 engine in the 400ex frame for their Sport ATV. Seems they think there is a bigger market to corner than the big 600cc Sport group. They also plan to shoot for the much anticipated factory frame class in atv racing to compete with CrackNFails and the anticipated 426 from Yamaha. Oh well, I guess it will still be the Raptor as Mr. Big.

 

In the new ATV Action there is an article saying the R & D guys from Honda called who ever is in charge of making rule changes and wanted to know why the cc limit wasn't raised from 441 to 450. The guy basically said they would change the rule if it needed to be but that they wouldn't changed it based on rumors or possibilities of future quads. The writer of the article said that it either shows honda is developing a 450 quad or planning on making the 450 engine available for pro racers to put into aftermarket frames.

Personally I think if Honda put the new 450 engine in an aluminum frame it would be unstopable a modern day 250r with four stroke reliability and tourque and two stroke high end characteristics. I'm not a believer in huge bore engines when I go to the local MX tracks the bigger bore motors don't rev as high or as fast the smaller ones. I think a high reving 400 to 500 cc engine with a lot of horsepower is the way to go. IMO

 

i think honda will be coming out with a new EX. i heard that next year in certain MX clases weren't goin to to allow any one to run any engine that didn't come out as a factory atv. so i think honda will be on the move with a new bike with either engine. i think yamaha will be doin the same with the YZ426F.

 

yea i think that the cr450 motor would be a more sucessful motor considering the weight factor and it is claimed to have 50 hp bone stock.