both would be really good quads the rapter would be ok if you dont mind shifting ive never owned the yamaha but have not heard anything wrong with reliability i do own a kfx and we race it every weekend and it is holding up real good

 

Forget about looks! Looks are nothing. The Yammy front end is a joke. It has no give to it and it's to tippy. You may like the shaft drive,but then you are stuck with that gear ratio!!! It's power is weak. I'm not bashing Yammys , My own quad is a Yamaha. I like Yammys. But the Rapter 80 is not a very good mini. The engine is good but lacks alot of power. The Suzuki 80 or the new 90 fourstroke is a better mini. They hold their value ant they are very well built machines.




I don't know how old your kid is but if he's big enough for a yammy 80 then a Honda 90 will fit him even better

I can ride Michael's mini all over this Mountain and we live in WV at 3400 feet above sea level. I was never a Honda man. I always hated Hondas. But my best buddy swears by them. His kid also races XC aand they area wicked machine. Heck his kid won 5 out of the 8 GNCC races (8-10) 90 Production class on a Honda and finished in the top 3 overall twice this year on a Honda. He should have won every race in the 90 Production class but he broke a throttle cable on 1 and the other 2 he decided to run his junky $13,000 Cobra 80 and it broke!!!

Like I said you may never race But believe me I've seen every make and model put thru living heck and the HONDA will NEVER let ya down! Ond by the way I've never seen a Yamaha Rapter it ANY National. But over 50% of the mini's are what? HONDA!!!

 

I hope this will help you decide!!! My son has a Rappy 80 and my Godson has a Kawi 80 both 04's Both stock with all res. taken off. In open area's i give the edge to the Kawi and off the line its quicker and the susp. is better. When you get into the woods or tighter trails the Yami is (in my opinion) much better, the thing is a tank!!!!! Yami is more comfy for a bit of a bigger rider, looks wise its rappy all the way. They are very close to eack other at top speed. My boy is 7 and i wish the rappy was a full auto but in a year or so he should be a ton happier with the 3 spped. Both start right up and we never had a prob with either of them. My opinion is to buy 1 thats a year or two older and if you get a great deal on either one then grab it. If there's anything else that might help you let me know.
Thanks Chris

 

yes dont forget about the honda 90. i just bought a new 07 for $2600,00 two months ago. found a 98 fourtrax 90 for $800.00 over the weekend. exact same performance just differant plastic and a push button starter.

 

get the raptor 80! im 16 and i had a raptor 80 3 years ago and i loved it! i dont know what these people are talking about the speed and power but it had a bunch of power and speed! i could climb hills and never got it stuck when i went mudding! the top speed was around 30 mph!! and its very easy to shift even when i was young.

 

My sons has one of the most trick LT80's. You can turn the KFX80 / LT80 into a power house. Check the pics out under the post " some other lt80 pics " if you want me to send a video clip with sound of my 10 year old busting a 10 foot table top let me know.

 

The KFX80 is the better choice for performance.....(a lot of performance stuff out there)...The Raptor seems to be slow from what I have seen


You should check out the DRX50 ($1,999) or DRX90 before making any decisions......Great quad for around $2,200-$2,300 new...you won't need to add anything .....the KFX and Raptor would need significant changes (big $$$) to challenge a DRX90

42" wide (very stable)...dual a arms, 4 whl disk brakes, performance pip and engine stock, nice tire set up.....Made in Taiwan, not China...In March they will be 44" wide)..optional water cooling as well.

DRR has great bikes and even better people!!

http://www.drrinc.com

Here is link to the review of the 06 DRX 50 (has less features than the 07) ...scroll down towards the bottom right to see the video link

http://www.atvscene.com/machines/drr...idetest-06.htm

Good luck!!

 

My daughter has the lt 80 (kfx80) with no problems in 4 years.Isn't the raptor 80 just a dressed up Badger motor?

 

i bought a raptor 80 for my son it was a good bike but like the one guy said i had to spend alot to make it go good. If i had to do it over i go with the suzuki lt 80 theres a ton of parts out there for them and there cheap to hop up!