the 2003 and the 2005/2006 pred's are 2 different machines. seriously, the frames are different, the trannys are different, you have Douglas Rims now, on the 06 LE you can get Razr2's, the LE's come with a White Brothers E-Series exhaust. and all Predators come with Fox Shox now, the Troy Lee's have Fox Podium X shocks however. and there fully adjustable, last night i adjusted my shocks 3 clicks in the front out (softer) and 4 clicks out on the rear and it is extremely more smooth. these shocks are so nice and so well built, that even with 1 click on the shocks you can tell a MAJOR difference.

the 05 Troy Lee Designs version was able to beat the Raptor 660 in all gears includeing reverse by a few seconds (like 1-2). and for some reason, ihave no idea, youd have to talk to Polaris R&D, but the 06 Predator TLD's seem to accept mods ALOT better than the 05's did. putting on a exhuast pipe, Rath raceing header, and a K&N gives you nearly 8 horses to put your 500cc 50 horse motor to 58! thats 51 rear wheel horse power.

i love my pred, american made, jap heart (jap girls are HOT [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]) frigging nice suspention. the Troy Lee gearbox (Close Ratio) is amazing, when you read in magazines how far off the 5th gear is. its BS. you can tell and feel the leap, but if you get to know your tranny and shift when she wants more, you'll never have a a problem.

i drag raced my friends piped 400EX with a custom 6speed gearbox, and a 425 bigbore kit day before yesterday and i smashed him hard. through every gear when we raced on the street it brought the front wheels off the ground (atleast 6 inches) and if you go nuts with first gear, you'll have that thing ontop of you (i reccomend loc-tite ing the bolts on the rear grab bar when you bring it home [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img])

its blaently obvious a 700r will dust a pred with ease stock, but you'll beat him on the trails with those fox shocks, and dont think the pred is so heavy, because in acutality, the wet weight of each is about the same give or take a pound.

good luck with your purchace, you cant go wrong with either buy, i love my pred and i'll be buying the next one that has the KTM 525 motor in it. and ive always been partial to Yamahas dirtbikes so stepping on 660r's is a twinge in my heart. but if your not competative, just want to have fun and ride with your buddies. id say Pred, but if your not competative, want to have fun and ride with your buddies, but dont trust polaris, dont belive fully modded out the polaris is faster than a fully modded out YFZ, id go with a 700R


i looked at both of them when i was looking at buying them, the 700 just seemed inferior, i couldent see myself riding it

 

spyder..........i have lots of problems with your post........first off, my 03 has douglas rims too...........2nd.......the 03's are the fastest ones out there(preds)........some of the 03's were built differently and seem to be quite a bit quicker even in stock form..........mine is one of them.......and it is great. Next, you say a 700 will dust a pred with ease in stock form, I don't konw about that.........I do konw that a 660r won't.........the 660 and the pred are very close to the same in a stock race..........



Oh.........and do believe that a fully modded pred will beat a fully modded yfz.........you better believe it, cuz its true............they are very close to beating a fully modded rappy.......but not quite there yet.......maybe in a few more yrs.........

 

im sorry if you have problems with my post, i was just relateing everythign to live experiences, my friend onthe other side of town who has a 03 pred is severely slower than the 06. atleast we go things straight

 

hmmmm..........I guess that sounds like good info to me........although are you slower when you are on his quad??? Rider can make a heck of a difference, especially on the 03 transmissions. I wouldn't want anything but my 03 tranny, now that I have a modded engine.......I have to shift fast enough as it is.........

 

ive ridden it, but ive never raced it, he never got the transmition fix cuz his never broke, and its a little notchy, but when i road it it felt like there was a large power difference between mine and his, his is stock by the way. he just had the valve clearence checked when he took it in for serviceing, so i dont think theres anything wrong with it

 

well I'm sure it does feel that way........yours has a pipe and other stuff right?? A pipe alone will wake the pred up........in stock form they are pretty doggy........and it doesn't take much to make them really bark and roar........



Hey..........if you ever want a good mod, send your carb off to Doug Nicholas(call him first) and he will do some stuff to it(other than jetting, but it will come jetted to what you have and where you ride)..........and it will make the pred feel more powerful, and much more responsive. If you do get this, he'll suggest you go with a clamp on uni filter........


This is the setup I am running........

 

the only thing on my bike that differs from a TLD is teh Razr2's and the PP pipe, im not running a aftermarket filter so it shoudlent make that much of a difference

 

thanks for the info guys, i found an 06 le about 50 miles south and im going to look saturday might buy it.... did they stretch it out any, im concerned with it feeling like a warrior and me being all cramped up....

james

 

Unless you're a real big guy, I don't think it will feel cramped to you. They did extend the steering stem a couple inches, and changed the seat positioning. Here is a nice review of the '05 vs. the earlier editions, if you haven't seen it yet.

 

im 6 foot 185 pounds, and my brother is 6'2 240 and he says he likes it, and i like it as well. i dont think you'll have much of a problem on it