Honda was to show or announce they're new quad.. but because they're are so many 400EX's left in the warehouses that the upper management decided to wait till 400EX numbers were down.. I think Honda needs to get off they're A$$ and let us see the new quad... alot of us are waiting on it for years now... what do you all think?

 

I think that there are pieces of this dead horse strewn all over the forums... it is time to move on...

 

I dont feel Honda needs to come out with a 450. Honda sets the standard and others follow. Suz has to add flashy things to their competitor like DOHC, Liquid cooling and reverse yet only yield an couple extra horses.
If Honda were to lighten the flywheel and bump up the compression to the Suz specs, then it would make more power than the Suz...

 

ModdedX, liquid cooling, reverse and DOHC valvetrains aren't exactly what I would call "flashy". Modern, up-to-date, essential, higher performacne, better, this century, what the buyer wants, necessary, etc... would more accurate adjectives. Fashy.... That's funny.

 

The reason I used the term "Flashy", is because the engine (according to 4wheel Action) only makes 1-2 hp more. I would think the quad would have more HP with those things added. Also the Z has higher compression. SO if you brought the EX up to the Z's compression you would have more HP than the Z.

Sorry, I should have explained why I used that term in the first post. Agreed, those additions are more modern, but I would have expected more HP.

 

HP = the sum of all the engine components. The Z400 comes from the factory greatly detuned (like many sport quads). The difference between the 400ex and the Z400 is the potential. Once you replace the power-sucking components of the Z motor(air filter, carb, cam, cdi) It then will have the power you would expect from a modern design. Even a Raptor isn't amazing in stock form - pipe and jet it and you have a real carnivor.

MX

 

And so is the 400ex. It has low compression and a heavy flywheel from the factory. If you look at the engine specs on the EX you will see that it is not as tuned up as the Z from the factory! The Z has 11.0:1 compression and the EX has 9.0:1..... Get the Ex up to the Z compression specs and then compare them, The EX will probably feel to have more power and show more ppower than the Z on a Dyno!

 

It is still air cooled though and SOHC. It just does not have the same potential. Don't get me wrong - the 400ex is a great bike but it is outdated and needs to be at least freshened up.

MX

 

Take a look back in the days when in 4 strokes it was the 250X and the Mojave. The Mojave had DOHC and liquid cooling and the 250X still reigned! The DOHC and Liquid cooling got the Mojave no where. It didn't have more potential because of these things and didn't build anymore power!

 

I've seen some pretty darn fast mojave 250's.... The DOHC engine in the mojave isn't what one would consider true DOHC. THe mojave engine, despite havin DOHC's, still uses rocker arms between the cam lobe and the valve. This is a relatively poor design. It works well, don't get me wrong, but the reason for using two overhead cams is to have the cam DIRECTLY influence the valve....one cam for the intake valve(s) and one cam for the exhaust valve(s). The Zuki is a "true" DOHC motor, which gives it a very broad power range. THere is much more tweaking that can be done with a DOHC setup, with regard to engine valve timing. The honda motor is awesome, but the DRZ engine, from what I have seen reacts much better to mods such as exhaust and intake mods.....just my perspective. I'm sure that the air cooling will help immensly with the big bore kits. I'm not sure how effective honda's motor is in dissipating heat when a bore kit is installed, but I'm sure that the water cooling on the Zuki works much better than straight air cooling.

I used to ride at Pismo every week (used to go to Cal Poly SLO). Anyway, I never saw a stock 400 beat a piped/modded Shee in a drag.
I did see a Honda 465 on alcohol blow away piped raps/shee's/and zilla's though. It was darn impressive.

Please don't take this as a flame on the Honda. I think Honda has been ahead of the pack for a while in the quad department. Their 250R is still dominant in almost every aspect. The problem is that now, there are more company's throwing in their entry's into the sport ATV market. I still have talked many friends into buying honda's though. The 400ex is a great all-around ride. If I didn't ride a Cannondale, I would definately be riding a Honda 400EX. My roomate in college has had his since it came out and has yet to have a single problem......