Hehe, i thought my last post was quite complementary of the predator. I dont understand the anger. I said i like the predator and i am probably going to buy one as my second quad. It is a great bike for the money, a hard bargain to beat. You are kinda unrealistic in thinking that the predator will beat a raptor in a drag with the same mods and both having optimal jetting. But what you want to believe is fine. Raptors are harder to tweak in the jetting department because of the dual carbs.

I have dragged and ridden with 3 predators to date and they were both beaten pretty convincingly. A lot of it is rider skill I am sure but when we have our throttles pegged and i am walking away, it is obvious which is faster. Displacement shows up much more at high speeds, whereas at low speed the rider skill is more important. Also, the tire is a HUGE factor. Predators come with razrs which are much better than the garbage dunlops that come on the Raptor. (yet another plus for the Predator, good extras)

So to be clear... I LOVE THE PREDATOR, relax. I have ridden one and ridden with 3. Best of all, it is AMERICAN MADE!!! I am buying one for my next quad.

 

Wy do you think I am upset, I am used to the raptor faithful being misinformed. I have drag raced several Raptor's when I was stock, and none could out run me. If you read most of the post in here you will find that's the case most of the time. We spend alot of time at the drag strip, traction never comes into play. I do agree rider ability does have an effect, but i have out run people who can ride alot better than me. wrong jetting, is just an excuse for losing. Anyone can make a reason for getting outrun. I do it all the time. Technology comes into play in the mod game, Raptor has a inferior head design. That why the Predator is making better power with less cc's. If they design a new head for the Raptor's as rumor has they are doing, then things may change. But out of the box the Predator has alot more to work with, superior flow characteristics in the head, double overhead cams. And Superbike shop has a fix for the shifting problem. Full throttle shifts without the clutch are no problem any more. After you have your Predator for a while you will have a different outlook.

 

hey sp700racer, what is the mod that allows you to shift at high speede? truthfully, i have had no problems while shifting but was just wondering what the add on is.

 

hey raptorrulez.............you said that you didnt care about strait line racing, so why are you talking about drag racing predators? you know that they smoked you....just admit it. and if you dont like dragging, the predator will beat a raptor on the track any day. the predator is light years ahead of the raptor in simple technology (steering, no bump steer, anti dive, etc.). it just took an american company to bring it into use.

 

Futurepredator, there are two things you can do for this. first change to motul 5w30 oil in your Predator, this will help shifting alot. for racing, Superbike shop will cross drill the gear in the transmission. This will allow full throttle shifts with no clutch. The problem is with pressure building up behind the gear. The new CDI box's that are in development will kill the spark during the shift will also help this concern.

 

Folks....please pay attention!

The popping is NOT due to a Rev Limiter!

You are not hitting 9000 rpm when it begins popping!

Don't believe me? Think about this...The Raptor Rev Limiter is also set for 9000 rpm. Take one for a ride and see if you can ever hit it. Almost impossible!

Also, put the Raptor in reverse and accelerate hard. The engine will not begin "popping," but simply cut out like you are turning the key on and off. That is what a Rev Limiter sounds like. Not "popping."

My advice, take your Predators back to your dealer immediately and try to return them before it is too late. If you keep it too long or ride it too much, they will never allow you a decent trade.

I tried everything to get my Predators to quit popping. I invested well over $1000.00 and tried every mod out there. I also took it back to the dealer several times and they couldn't fix it.

Fortunately for me, I didn't wait too long, kept all of my receipts, and made a very convincing case to my dealer. Result: They gave me all of my money back.

Considering I returned two Predators without any arguements from the dealer, there is no way they would have done that if they didn't know something bad is happening!

 

Did yours pop with the stock exhuast or with aftermarket exhuasts on. I beieve it is all in the carb with you start messing with more air in and out. I believe the Ds's run the same carb and alot of them went to a FCR setup I believe. Just curious what you did to make them start popping or if they were that way stock.

 

Very good question!

I first noticed it popping when I put the Pure Polaris WB Silencer on. I thought it was related to the aftermarket silencer, so I removed it and put the stock silencer back on. Well guess what, it also popped with the stock silencer on. The only difference is the WB Silencer is much louder, making the popping much more noticeable as opposed to the stock silencer.

The stock silencer is much quieter making the popping much more difficult to hear. It also takes considerably longer to get to the popping versus the WB Silencer. In fact, with the stock silencer, the popping almost sounds like a Rev Limiter. For these reasons, I am sure many people are writing this popping off to the Rev Limiter.

Again folks...think what you want. All I can say is I have the $14k back in my pocket for my two Predators. The dealer never even balked. Do the math. I believe there is something very wrong with the Predator engine.

 

Ok Rob, now you've got me wondering...I have never felt the rev limiter as it is described, ie engine cuts out almost like the key got shut off for a second. Instead, the engine gets to a high rpm and just doesn't go any higher, but still has continuous power. I have stock exhaust and I don't hear anything too strange. I have a Tiny tach installed and have seen my rpms reach 7900 something while riding, but any faster and I haven't been able to notice the rpms. I have opened her up in neutral, and encountered the same thing, engine revs and gets to a point and stays there, but unfortunately I didn't think to check the Tiny Tach to see what it was reading. I am a little hesitant to just open it up and hold it there while in neutral long enough for the tach to catch up. I will try it tonight when I get home and see what it says. My question I guess is what does the popping sound like with the stock exhaust? Like backfires? Is it really fast, or intermittent? Thanks, just wondering if I am experiencing the same phenomena as you did.

 

With the stock silencer on, the popping is very subtle, but is definately there. The stock silencer really makes this problem subtle and difficult to detect. However, it is there!

In fact, it is very difficult to hear over the engine noise.

Put a aftermarket silencer on, then go up two jet sizes like you would with any engine with a modified silencer.

You will hear the popping without any question. In fact, everyone around you will hear it. It sounds like backfiring. Take it a step better. Do this at night with your lights shut off and you will actually see white flames out the silencer.

If you are thinking it is a "lean condition" due to the silencer, forget it. I tried every single jet size up to 190. It never changed.

Again, there is a problem! Don't let folks tell you it is the Rev Limiter!