I race the GNCC circuit and I have seen the V-Force 700 in action since it first came out. I saw all the dual pipe setups before they were commonly available, like the Alien pipes in the first week of March(Florida race). The 700 always seemed to finish well, they often took the holeshot, and they sound so ferocious with a dual pipe (I love the Aliens). I have even defended and praised them on the Yami forum page many times, but then I raced one.

I was tuning my Raptor in the driveway (new Edelbrock Quicksilver carb) when a green streak went flying down our country dirt road. He must have seen me because he stopped, turned around, adn pulled up in front of my house. I waived him in and he pulled into my driveway. We got to taking and I found out that he just had his V-Force tuned up a bit. He had a racing cam and dual pipes installed. At least that's all he told me he had. I think the pipes were Pro Circuit. That thing sounded pretty bad. I told him that I was curious as to how that thing would run, and asked him if he wanted to run them up and down the road a couple times. He said sure, so we lined 'em up. The race was probably almost 1/4 mile from start to finish.

I pulled him by about 4 quad lengths off the start. I then continued to gain ground until at the end I was about 8-10 quad lenths ahead of him. And that was with my tires spinning and not hooking up until partway through 3rd gear. I can't imagine how much more ground I could have gained if I had traction.

We turned around and race back the way we came. This time I let him leave first. As soon as he started moving forward I dumped the clutch. Once again I shot ahead of him right at the beginning and continued to gain ground until the end. I stopped to pull into my driveway and he kept on going. I never saw him again.

I guess my days of touting the speed and quickness of the 700 are done until I face off with some better competition.

RR1

ps. for those of you who want to tell me to go back to the Yami forum, don't worry, I posted this event there also. And I will be as Silver Lake the week of the 4th to race any and all challengers.

 

You are right about the V not being the fastest bike out there but it is the best trail bike going. My brother has a kfx 400 and i can only beat him by a bike length in a drag (rolling start no way can it get the jump on the V).

When we run in the trails the V can out run it easy, its more stable and you just feel more confident at high speeds in the trails (not on the pavment) thats why the V does so good in gncc racing.

My brother regrets not getting the V sometimes its just that good for the trails.

Im glad he got the 400 I do like hitting the gears now and then.

On a mx track I bet the 400 would take the V, The 400 suspention is real nice


We are both just the average riders who like to have fun and by no means can race them in anykind of competition

 

Hello,
First off let me say regardless of outcome i enjoy my Vforce.
As to what you said i do agree that you beat him and by the lengths you said as well. i raced a raptor the other day,in the first 100' we were tied and he started to pull away slowly in 3rd and in 4th got him to the top of the hill first. I was impressed to say the least. But we all know that the V is detuned as well,but that is milking a dead cow[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] If you are ever down south in MS let me know i will run against you. Win or lose as long as i have fun. I just enjoy the ride.

03 Raptor-piped (on second tank of gas,still breaking in)rider-experienced
04 Vforce-stock (on 3rd tank of gas,almost broke in)rider-journeyman(not a novice,but not experienced either[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] )

3 races - Raptor wins 3 out of 3
stock tires both machines
start line-flat
traction-good
length- 250 yards total (flat 150 yards hill100 yards)
holeshot-race 1-me ( he misssed a shift)race 2-we both launched good so tie, race 3- his(got cockey lifted the front end up).

All in all i am satisfied with the Vforce. I am willing to race anyone who wants to race. And best of luck to you.You might win but it won't be because i was to worried about being beat. And i will congradulate you if you win and i will give you another go if you lose.
But whatever you chose ,just make sure that fun is the reason you ride not pride.
Ride safe.

 

raptorRacer1-------why post the same coment on this site as the yamahahaha site. you trying to start somthing.i think its your craptor. lol. rotfl.

 

Hey , just checked the points standing for all the classes in the GNCC circuit , there is no (zero) raptors winning any of the classes but kawasaki has the lead in a bunch of the classes including all the utility classes.Guess Yamaha built a good road racer but not a real world machine. Have a good day.

P.S. " I thought the raptor was fast" Guess not !!
my bad , the Raptor is fast on the road .

 

I just love how these Raptor guys will only "drag" race a V force. I didn't buy my V force to drag race. If I wanted to drag race, I would have bought a used Banshee and modded it to the gills and bury your Raptor. The V is made for trails and that is why it does so well in the GNCC circuit. The acceleration from any speed is instant and the automatic takes out much of the rider error, resulting in quicker lap times.

Feel free to get your jolly's drag racing a bike not meant to dragrace if you want, but at the end of the day everyone knows that the Kawasaki V Force is a better all around machine than a Raptor.

And by the way, then the mods start flowing for the V force, you'd better hide that Raptor from your friend lest you be very embarassed to lose a "drag" race to a 550 pound automatic...

P.S. I don't hate the Raptor. I actually respect the bike very much. I just get very tired of this whole "drag" racing crap. I get the same bunk with my BMW. It doesn't "drag" race with a Corvette, but that little car can hang with a Vette on a curvy road and it is a 4 door family car that will last forever.

 

Well,

I just got back from my trip to Silver Lake Sand Dunes yesterday.. My whole family went out there and had a blast. We had there...
My 04 V Force 700
Brothers 89 LT250R
Nephews *my old* 87 LT500R *bored 80 over*
Cousins 87 LT500R *bored 40 over*
Brothers 03 Cannondale Cannibal
Friends 03 Polaris Predator 500


and we had a blast going up the hills.. parking as close to lake michigan as we could.. and drag racing in the wet sand just off the beach next to all the trucks so we'd get traction. Results are my 516# 700 with my 320#, was about even with the LT250R. my brothers cannibal was next, with the 40 over quadzilla next, and then the predator, then quadzilla 80 over. i did get pretty good holeshots, with my holeshots.... but the predator and 80 over quadzilla were fast with those sand tires.. i think gecko's.

but overall riding over all the hills... i had a blast. no shifting, always in the right gear.. nothing broken down.. don't have to adjust anything.. i loved it. kept blowing a oil seal in the 80 over quadzilla, the 40 over quadizlla had carb problems.. the cannibal is still running on original tranny gear oil because my brothers waiting for parts from a bankrupt company, the predator already has different jets, new pipe/silencer, and something else* i forget what he said* but mine is stock, and fun.. and i made it up every hill.. no problem, and with plenty of power left.

drag racing is fun, but since i don't life on silver lake sand dunes, and have to drive 3 hours to get there, i want a more purposeful machine. i love mine in the gladwin trails, and farmland in saginaw at my parents house.. best overall machine for me??? my V-force.. it's still very quick. and it's fun riding wheelies. best drag racer i saw last weekend??? my old quadzilla bored 80 over... he beat a ton of raptors, banshee's and even a couple 250r's that were there. i'm also glad i had the only Vforce out there, so everyone came over and was gawking at it. but doesn't it seem everyone has a raptor or banshee.. i don't want what everyone else has..

laters

 

Go to www.gnccracing.com check and see which bike is coming in 1st. That settles any and all arguments. As for drag racing... everybody wants to race the V !! problem is everybody usually has their quad all modded out because the shees and raptors have been around longer, once mods start coming out on a regular basis for the V then all this drag racing talk will end. I love my V, I love the way it sounds, I love the way it looks, I love the way it feels. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

A couple more comments -

The V-Force is a great machine. It is easy to ride, has lots of power, etc., etc. I am not knocking the 700. Am not saying the Raptor is a better quad. I was just letting everyone know the outcome of our little test. That is what the forum is about. Telling about your experiences and opinions. And I will keep my opinion until someone proves me wrong.

I posted this on the Kawi and Yami forums because there were 2 quads involved, and I thought that owners of both brands might be interested in reading my story.

The best trail bike going is Bill Ballance's $25,000 custom aluminum framed racer. The best STOCK trail bike is completely up to each owner's opinion and taste. Some people like cluches, some don't. Some people like ligher weight, some don't mind. Some people like 2-strokes, some like 4-strokes.

As far as the 700 being atop the GNCC leaderboard, if you look back a little you will notice that most of the top riders that are winning on the V-force this year were also winning on whatever they were riding last year. Whether it was a Kawi650 4x4 or a Z-400 sport quad. Most of the reason they are the leaders is because they are the best riders, irregardless of what type of quad they ride. If you take Scott Kilby and put him on a Raptor modifed for woods racing, I bet he will still do great.

MSUJON71, glad you had a good time at SL. I love that place. I will be there the week of July 4th. Hope to see you there. I also ride at Gladwin quite a bit. Maybe we can meet up for a ride. Have you ever been up north to Bull Gap?

mod vs mod - His was piped, mine was piped. He had an aftermarket cam, I haven't touched my engine. And I did mention that I was in the middle of tuning my brand new carb when we raced, and that it was not adjusted optimally. I can only assume that since he had the work done at a shop that they had his carbs, etc adjusted properly.

drag racing only - "these raptor guys" would love to race a V-force in some other format. But I doubt that I will see one at a TT race. Not too many at the MX track. The fact is that this is the first 700 that I have had the pleasure of lining up against. I look forward to lots more competition in the future. BTW, my Raptor was not built to drag race either. It was built as an all around sport quad. If it was a drag racer I would have a +4 swingarm and a Trinity 727 with NOS.

"the acceleration from any speed is instant" - I am sure it feels that way, but in this case at every speed my Raptor was still accelerating faster.

Thank you all for the great replies, keep them coming. This is what the forum is all about. Friendly discussion and sharing one's opinions and experiences.

RR1

 

I don't think the initial post was overly negative, or slamming the V. Just posting results as many of us have done. He asked the guy on the V if he wanted to drag, the invite was accepted and those were the results. Others have had different. Just 'cuz the V was modded, doesn't mean it was done right, or it was properly tuned afterwards. Personally, I'd love to own a V. Mainly because I love riding my Prairie and it gets ridden like a sport quad. If the V is as much fun I'd pick it over the raptor, as I've ridden a raptor and have more fun my prairie. But I'd take a raptor over a DS. Oh well, done w/my pointless little point.

Although I do need to point out 1 thing to RR1, "irregardless" isn't a word. You've been warned by the spelling police, don't do it again or I'll be forced to look up your high school transcripts and post the results.