Yep, thanks for confirming my story. Of course I dont think anyone should listen to the magazines for this type of info, but if you are going to cite them you should do it accurately.

 

2 strokes are by far the best they have so much power and speed. Imagine if they made a 700 cc raptor 2 stroke the thing would be insane!

 

if your a fast rider then it's fast, if your slow poke **** talker your going to get smoked.!!

 

I had a 87 zilla which was the fastest of the years and mine would go 77 mph flat out on blacktop As far as the quickest NO the 700 raptor will beat it in a drag race but not by much at all I know this because my brother still has my old zilla and it is stock except for a fresh 10 over bore and Hoyt's 700 will beat it every time By the way they are both bone stock except the airbox lid on both I will ask them to race top speed and I will let you know who wins We are also at 600 elevation

 

I had a speedo on mine but it flew off. Oh, well. I did pass a Harley once while riding on mine. Wasn't all that hard to do now that I think about it. That's one for the rice-burners.

 

What ever you say Mad Dog lol

 

For what it's worth...

Everyone who says you can't rely on what magazines print is absolutely correct. For example, not too long ago one of my magazines (I believe it was 4 Wheel ATV Action) had a great article on the old quadracers - both the LT250 and the LT500, and even though it was a good article overall, there where at least a couple typos that I found. 1) It listed the zilla's dry weight at 362 lbs. Every diehard zilla fan knows the claimed dry weight was 392 lbs every year of production. 2) In the body of the article itself, it refers to the LT500 having an "air cooled" 500 cc motor. Even non-diehard fans know that's a mistake. I'm just posting this to show a concrete example of a magazine getting the facts wrong. If someone knows the exact publication and issue that I'm talking about, please list it. (I know it was either 4 Wheel ATV Action or ATV Sport)

That being said, 3&4 Wheel Action did an article in the June '88 issue testing top speed and acceleration that's pretty definitive, and they conducted the test very professionally. They used a radar gun and computer time slips on a professional drag strip. Each quad was ran 4 times to weed out any driver error. They even checked the PSI in the tires and listed the wind conditions and rider weight. It was probably the most objective article they ever wrote comparing sport quads. There wasn't much opinion stated, simply the facts and the outcomes. I guess they could have lied and fabricated the whole story, but they sure went through a lot of trouble to sound believable!

To judge for yourself, here is a link to a reprint of that article: http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Dunes/6243/articles.htm (Click on the link under "Super Speed Shootout".) In the original magazine, there was an additional side bar that listed the times and speeds of all the machines in the test. This article only mentions the top couple in each category. The zilla had the fastest top speed of 79.22 mph and the quickest 1/4 mile. The Banshee had the quickest 60 ft times.

If you read this article, I think it's quite a bit more convincing than the article written in ATV Sport magazine that casually mentions the top speed being 76... especially considering ATV Sport magazine wasn't even around when the Zilla was produced!

Also, just to give everyone something else to think about, this test was done using all '88 models. The '87 model year LT500 had a more powerful engine (mostly due to the much larger intake) and faster internal gearing than the '88-90 zilla's. Had they used an '87 zilla, the top speed could have been a few mph faster. (I say "could" only because they geared the '87 a little slower with sprockets so I'm not sure if they had a faster overall gearing.)

Either way, the top speed of a stock 500 was still only 2-3 mph faster than the Banshee. That's nothing to write home about. But eveyone that's ever driven a "Fresh" LT also knows that it's playing at it's top speed and could pull quite a bit higher gearing in most flat terrain (sand being a noteable exception). "Oh yea, well so could my (insert name of new big bore 4stroke quad here)" Chances are you're wrong. Without decent motor mods, most quads fall on their faces when they're geared up to run 80mph. A few of the new huge bore 4strokes can probably be geared to run a little over 80 with stock motors (the DS650 and new Raptor come to mind), but I'd put money they couldn't pull speeds that a stock LT500 could. I've ridden a few DS650's -- they're not even close. I haven't ridden a 700Raptor but unless it's power is heads and shoulders above the DS650, it wouldn't win either.

For what it's worth...

 

Good points yagerzzz

 

Good points. You put a lot of thought into that post.LOL

 

You also have to consider traction. Thats probably why the Raptor is "winning" the drags. A 500cc 2stroke will spin like crazy. Get some traction and say good bye to Mr. Raptor.