modquad, why not have the shootout now on paper? i heard about predators killing raptors 6 months before they came out. besides, all the specs are on the webiste with this one. no popping in high rpm's either. lol

 

Don't let me stop you. I'm just having fun reading it all. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Looks like yamaha hit a homerun with this 450. I am not buying one but if i was in the market for a 500cc or smaller quad it would be at the top of the list.

 

About the 450 being slower or faster than a Raptor: If Yamaha made it faster, alot of the Raptor guys will want to buy a 2004 450, if they make it slower they won't. So you can look at it two ways. Do they want to sell more Rpators or 450's? I would say 450's, so they can promote the new racing program, I am sure they are about ready to announce. Next year the upgrade the Raptor, and get all those guys to buy 2005 Raptors.
They got us by the ***** and I like it!

 

Yamaha tends to make great quads, then just keep changing the color of the plastic for the next 15 years with absolutely no improvements what so ever.
In stock form, the Raptor only has a slight performance edge over a Z.
My guess is that Yamaha will have the new 450 doing circles around a Raptor. The Raptor will still be sold 15 years from now with bold new graphics, and still be popular with the duners that have money to blow on there one trick ponies.
This will be one hell of a quad if they left the motor alone. Probably had to bump up the torque a little, which will lose a couple horse on top, but still be amazing. Can’t wait to try one of these animals on for size.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

looks like they shortened the stroke from the bikes motor (439cc in the quad) and made the gears wider than the bike also to handle the added strain a quad put's on the motors/transmissions. The motor is actually derived from the WR450, not the YZF450.

Either way, I think this machine will tear up the tracks like no one's business. They also used a high tensile small diameter tubing for the frame. I just hope they don't share the Suzuki woe's with the frames being so light.

As far as Honda, I can see them putting their 450 into an aluminum chassis and either shrinking the bore or shortening the stroke to put it at the 440cc limit for racing.

it's a great time being to be a Sport Rider.

 

I'll take minor popping issues for a first year glitch over grenading trannies anyday [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Is this a two-wheeler or an atv? I haven't heard anything about it. Where can I read about it?

 

Its yamahas new sport atv.

 

actually, i'm starting to hear of grenading trannies on predators too. and lets not beat a dead horse anymore. if the pred was really tested for years before being released, that definitely should have been caught. for that matter, i have an 02.. no trans problems here. still waitin' for the one way to go too. maybe i'm just lucky.