i used to ride a 230 quadsport,,,back in the grade school days

 

I would say try to get a little seat time on the 400 class bikes before making a decision. The Raptor is very hard to beat for all around everything, especially if you're on the larger side. I like my Raptor's ergos better than the Z400's.

 

best thing to do would go to the dealers and ask to ride them each...we can tell you one thing or another, but it is in the end up to you...if you go on the kawi forum they will say the V-force because it is a great all around bike...with lots and lots of torque too [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] but the main thing is to have fun and keep the rubberside down...good luck on your decision

 

make sure you get a quad with reverse, and electric start. You dont want it to be too big for trails. I used a raptor for a long time and loved it.

 

I guess it depends on your size and what's important to you. Do you want reverse? I was between the Raptor and Z400, but I'm only 114 lbs and the Z is plenty of quad for me. Plus the seat is so comfortable. It got great reviews too! Read up in the mags. There are so many shootouts out there.

 

i like the pred. alot of bike for 5,500$ and as far as needing reverse i was up in the mnt. last weekend and the pred turns so sharp and is so easy to throw the back end around you dont need reverse. imo a great all around fast good handling bike.

 

ya, i wish i could just take them for a ride. the dealers around here dont let you. and theres really no place to ride close to hear either, closest place is "hollister hills" and thats about 30 min from here. and reverse is something that i think i want. might as well get it huh? thanks for the help, any further info would be great.

 

I had quit riding sport bike for a couple of years when i bought my Raptor. The sport bike i had before it was a 92 250x (and it was a few years earlier). Needless to say thats a big step up from that little guy. The first few times I drove the Raptor I was a little nervous on it because i had never ridden an ATV with that much power. Once I got used to it, I loved it, They are great bikes and have all the power the average person ( why cant i be average ) would ever need. I will not say anything bad about the z400 though, I had the chance to take one for a spin and it would also be a great bike for getting back into the sport.

 

Join the club brother.

I just started riding again after 12 years out of the game (I still rode a few times a year on borrowed wheels). The last thing I owned was a 1985 Quadsport 230, ugly orange plastic with gold wheels.

Just recently after finally having the money and a place to ride again I bought an 01 Warrior. I'm a big guy too but not tall so size-wise the Warrior fits well. Although a suspension upgrade is in order.

If I were buying new and you like to shift like me, I'd go for the Z400. It is really put together with a lot of though, Suzuki really did their home work on that one.

The Raptor is too tall IMO, although it's plush.

DS650 is HUGE....but supposedly smaller this year.

Also maybe you might consider a Polaris Predator, the new one is a beast and it looks like Polaris worked out the bugs.

 

z 400 and the clones are good for trails good power and reverse and raptors have great power and reverse then ds 650 weights to much and has no reverse and it is also to wide and the predator heavy and no reverse you might want to look into a honda 400ex though they lack reverse but are very good trail quads but out of your choices i would go with the raptor and the z 400 both great quads