OK, lots of forum users keep asking for comparisions on 400 & 500 Scramblers. A good source of info is to search the forum for previous posts, this topic has been beat to death. But one thing I keeping seeing is how people say the 400 is faster and has more top end. They say the 2 stroke is faster out of the hole. The more top end thing I can agree with, but for a 200-300 yard run, I have NEVER had a stock 400 Sport or Scrambler keep up with my stock 500 Scrambler. I recently added the FMF Megamax & K&N Jet Kit to my 500 and it really set it on fire. Only have 4 Disks in the muffler, slightly modified the K&N jet settings, and some slight (very slight) clutch mods. The bike is still as tame as the day I bought it & in my opinion the ultimate trail bike. A friend of mine has a new '99 400 Scrambler. He likes to drag race, & after being beat a few times he decided he wanted a 500. I told him that for $500.00 he could make the 400 faster than the 500 EVER could dream of being, but it would come at the sacrifice of compromised trail mannners and many decibals louder. He dropped $500.00 in a pipe, clutch kit and rejetting (all done by the Dealership) and took it back to Poole Road in Raleigh , NC where he likes to ride. He rides with his father and both are God fearing church going Christians so what they tell me I beleive to be true. He said after these few mods he was outrunning everything at Poole Road. Modified 400EXs that once smoked him, other scramblers. His father said after several runs his son motioned for some of the Banshees watching to "come get some" but they wisely declined the offer. All that said to say this. He came back to my trails at home to ride last weekend (since Poole RD has now been offically closed by the City). After trail riding for several hours we come to a stretch of dirt road. I heard the ring-dinging all day in the woods, so when we got to the dirt road I told him to get beside & we would run for 2 lightpoles. I knew I would lose, but wanted to gauge the old 500. (I also know where my quad tops out!) To my astonishment, & his & everyone riding with us, I out gunned him on the start, stayed in front past the first lightpole & at the second lightpole his rear tire was even with my front! Yes I lost, but only by 1 quad length. (3 lightpoles, I would have never see him). We stopped at the River and waited for eveyone to catch up. He and his father said in the same distance, he usually gets the jump on the 400EXs off the line & they steedily fall behind to lose by several quad lengths. They said I should EASILY out run a 400EX...on a heavy, automatic 4 stroke Polaris. Imagine that. I have 2 friends that ride 400EXs & I want to get them in a straight line for about 300 ft, but the problem is they both installed FMF pipes without rejetting and both now have holes in the piston. I don't race much, don't really care for it, but the mods I have made to improve its bottom end and trail manners have really made this bike a screamer. Its a true trail bike, with racks all around, rear rack pouch, and usually 12-24 cold malt beverages on the back. (Its no Bigfoot Scrambler like Steve's ...yet). But I thought this bit of info would make for an interesting post. I LIKE THE 400EX, I AM NOT COMPARING MY BIKE TO IT AT ALL, so please, no posts from EX owners. No bashing intended. Also like the 400 Scramblers, ride my wifes a lot. But I do get that warm & fuzzy feeling knowing I have AWD, automatic, 500 Liquid cooled cc's, torque like a tractor, and enough HP to keep up with Hondas best.

Jerome Coker
'99 500 & 400 Scramblers

 

it is about time someone refrains from insults and bashes! hey i own a 400ex and it fits my riding style like no other, but i must say for an auto those scramblers are one of the most versitile quads on the market. hope to see all forums take the respect like this post. and remember rock on and ride safe!

Jera '00 400ex

 

That sounds awesome, my favorite part was when you said 4 disc! I guess that means it's not too loud, how loud compared to stock, with the 4 disc? Just curious.

Sounds like you have a really nice bike going without spending lots of money, or lots of time tuning.

 

quad_man,

The more you open it up, the louder it gets. More disks equate to more noise. It also equals less backpressure on the engine. This makes it as snappy as a 2 stroke on the bottom with zero resistance, but it terribly hurts the top end. When I installed my quite core, it put more backpressure on the engine & really made it pull hard from zero to 65mph. But it sounded "high strung", no real thump, more of a tight kick to it. With no quite core & all 11 disks, it really sounds good and pulls like a tractor up to 40-45 mph. With 8 disks, I still had the bottom end, and it pulled like a tractor up to 45-50mph. Now, with a only a few disks, it idles like stock, but give a little throttle & you can tell its not. Still more bottom end than stock, & pulls hard up to 50-60mph. With the jet kit it really has some get up & go. I was riding earlier today on good soild ground, & no matter how hard I tried, I could not take-off full throttle (no braking involved) without getting the front end so high I had to crack the throttle for a second and let it down. Trying to get a hold of Steve Thompson so I can ride at his house tommorrow. May ride my trails tonight. Anyway, need to run.

Jerome Coker
'99 500 & 400 Scramblers