crf450r motor makes 55hp at the crank. The motor is supposed to be extremely light and they claim some insane weight like 60lbs or something. I'm not sure of the real weight numbers but I'm sure the 450 motor is decently lighter than the 650.

 

well then the CRF450 motor is the way to go! Then Honda would be top dog of the sport quads,55hp will beat every stock quad that is out now. The predator makes 42hp and it beats the raptor! The only quad that still comes close to 55hp is the DS650.
Someone post all the horsepower numbers so we can take a look and get an idea of how bad this CRF450 quad will be! (raptor/DS650/z400/predator/etc.)

 

Ok, I'm tired of you guys griping cause Honda has nothing new in thier lineup and hasn't changed the 400ex over the years. Thats because they got it right the first time. I don't see the 400ex having any transmission problems do you? (Raptor maybe?) I don't see the 400ex overheating and siezing up all the time so it doesnt need liquid cooling, thats just more wieght. Honda knows that, so they didn't do it. Liquid cooling would be retarded. Why fix something if its not broke? Why change the 400ex if nothing ever goes wrong with it? Have you ever noticed when someone has a list of all the things done to thier Raptor it always includes something like "2000 Raptor, pipe, filter, jet, and 2002 transmission". Hey, if you add up all the money you spent to buy the thing and then had to replace the tranny, you spent way more than I did and I'll see you at Little Sahara and show you the back half of my quad (with no brake light) thats if you can see with all that sand in your eyes. Ride Hard. Ride Fast. Ride HONDA.

 

Then leave the thread alone if you don't want to hear us gripe. There are a lot of guys who are Honda loyal that want more from their manufacturer and don't want to leave Honda. The other quad manufacturers are giving there customers more for their money and we are still waiting. Liquid cooling is not retarded it lets you run the engine to tighter specs which improves performance a lot and air cooled engines fade in the hp department when they get really hot and liquid cooled engines don't. Many Honda riders jumped ship long ago and Honda should be greatful for those of us who have still waited while everyone else is riding their Raptors, DS650s, Z400s, KFX400s, Cannondales, Predators, Gas Gas etc. We all have our opinions of what we want from Honda and it's up to them to deliver or watch everyone bail out. We are all just speculating and stating our expectations in this thread and last time I checked we were allowed to.
Peace, Diggler

 

this is what I hear. Honda will make a better 400ex(maybe a 450 or 500), don't count on an "r" (lawyers). Dont count on a 650 either, Honda has never been the company that buys into the bigger is better theory. And don't count on seeing it any time before those big inventories of 2002/2003 400 ex's are gone. Honda has always been good to dealers. They will either give a big rebate to the dealers on 400ex's (so they can sell them for less) or wait until they are gone. So until you see the dealers blowing out 400exs don't get too excited. But, be patient. Most everyone will agree that a 450ex or whatever it might be, would be the best available quad for the sport market.

 

sandneck,
I agree with you. I also think the "r" stigma sux. The Raptor660r seems to be doing fine. I know people are law suit happy but in this county you should be able to buy whatever you want and it should be you responsibility to keep it rubber side down. Hell maybe they should make you sign a liability clause when you buy a high performance quad that says you understand it's fast and if you an idiot and crash it and break you d!ck off in the dirt it's your own problem. I'm done with my rant.

 

also even if the crf450 motor did make it into a quad I bet we don't get the 55hp version. The XR400 motor was detuned and loss 9hp from the bike to the quad and I'll bet the crf would loose a lot more than that.

 

I would like to say one thing about the tranny in the 400ex. i was the first person to own the 400 in SAC in 99 and i do ride kinda hard but dont race and my clutch is pretty much toast now. Pinned in 1st and 2nd slips real bad. i read somewhere a while back that they had a small problem with the cluth is you were an experienced rider who liked to ride hard. DOES ANYONE HAVE SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT TO GET FOR A GOOD RACE CLUTCH?

 

the carbon fiber clutch from barntte is great...i udes the 3 stock springs and 3 of the springs that came with the kit..if you use all the springs that comes with the kit ..the clutch is really hard to pull in..but to each his own........

 

I came to a pretty awesome revelation! The new Honda quad will have a twin spar aluminum chassis!
They are using this in all the new dirt bike's and even the XR650 has an aluminum frame so I bet anything they will put one on it.
So how's this sound:
CRF450 engine with liquid cooling in a twin spar aluminum frame with at least 9 inches of travel up front and 10 in the rear, it would also be the lightest sport quad ever and have an insane power to weight ratio making it the fastest quad ever!
Am I just dreaming? I truly believe that Honda will shock the industry when they release their next sport quad, and I think they have already been working on it for over a year in secret so maybe (hopefully) it will be announced soon.