We all know toilets don't clean themselves.

 

We don't claim him. You can have him.

 

LMFAO. =]

 

For what it's worth; I currently have an 05' Scrambler 500 4x4. Mods to the quad are only a TEAM roller clutch and related springs and fly weights, HSP box mod ( Just because it looks better than the other box mods I've seen) and a E SERIES slipon and related jetting. There are several other mods, but none that would change speed and performance. Anyway, I just recently got rid of my 400EX that I had for a few years, but it was like new as I seldom ever rode it. I hated how tall the gears were (Especially second) from the factory. Changing sprockets obviously would have helped some, but I just never got around to it. I've also had three 350 Warriors in the past, and I have to say that all were much better hill quads than the 400EX ever was! The 400 sucked using my normal second gear powering up a hill...if I didn't keep it pinned that lousy thing would find me headed backwards down the hill! It just flat does not have the right ***** to gear ratio! My younger brother had the exact same year 400EX, and it suffered from the exact same lame torque.
That said, even before adding the limited mods to my Scrambler, my Scram would take mine and my brothers 400EX, from bottom all the way through the top. We ride about three miles on our county roads to get to WhiteRiver here in Indy, and have done the particular drag race more times than I can count! For those who say one " SMOKES" the other, I will only say that's just not so...it's fairly close, but the Scram wins every time, from take-off to top-out.
However, my buddy has a DVX 400 ( LTZ 400, KFX400 ) and from the take-off and until he gets fourth gear we're pretty much side by side, but then the DVX finds it's legs and wind and pretty much spanks me. And so then I request to go home and get my brand new 450R that now sits were my lame 400EX used to, and run again, and he always declines!
Guys, the Scrambler never was intended to be a "SPORT RACER" Can anyone here say " APPLES and ORANGES"? Of course it's not going to do MX. What it will do, better than ANY other quad on the planet, is SPORT 4x4. And the fact that it can run with a hand-full of mid-range Sport Quads in certain situations, says so much for it. And it certainly does one heck of a better job at multi-sport than the lame 400 EX does at ANYTHING! I've loved Honda for years, but they had their heads up their butt when they engineered the 400EX. The 450 R is a whole other story, and one that makes-up for the 400EX blunder, and so I had to have one. Now, I'm climbing anything and everything! And if it snows, or I want fast rocks and mud and logs ( And Deer...TeeeHeee) I climb-on the Scram.
The 300EX...Yup, my daughter has one, and she's bored with it! :-)


PS I guess maybe I should have kept the 400EX for my daughter, but I wouldn't want her to get passed by the PIMP'S blistering 300EX...someone get me some oxygen - I'm dying over here!

 

Oh, and not to go-on about the 300EX, but I also have a 2000, big, lumbering, racked-out, and sporting a WARN 2.5ci winch, Sportsman that I use only to Deer hunt and deep mud with. Mods to that quad are only HSP Exhaust (Junk...Has blown apart on me three times now. The entire can is now being held together with no less than twenty sheetmetal screws!!!. The bends in the head-pipe were not even close to being correct. The danged thing leaked at the spring joint like crazy. I finally cut the pipe and re-shaped and tigged it, and now it at least doesn't leak anymore!), HSP box mod, and white spring. That sportsman, that will only wheelie if you jerk your brains out on the bars, or if you put it in low range, will out-run my daughters 300EX that is in near brand new condition!...Oh My!!!

 

The 400ex can be fast enough to get up any hill with riding skills and can be modified to be fast enough to have fun on by anyone unless your a big boy. It will never compare to a 450r but its not a bad quad at all. People have raced that quad succesfully for years. The fact is though stock for stock a scrambler has more HP and will win in a drag.

 

Hoopie: I agree that with skills and mods a 400EX is an able machine. I have over twenty years worth of ATV skills. My first quad was the first production ATV( 4 Wheel )... 84' Suzuki. My second quad was a 86' Fourtrax 250r...eventually tricked. My next quad was a radical Suzuki 250R, and to date is/was still the most nasty quad I've ever set my butt on. The mods to that quad were every single race mod out at the time, including a Duncan/Turner signature engine. I lost that quad and a good friend of mine one day when he wanted to run it out across a rested bean field...a coyote came out of the woodline and in an attempt to miss it he lost control at what was probably in excess of 80 mph...I'll spare you the details. My next quad was the last of the 250R fourtrax...89'. Only, it was 93' when I aquired it, and wasted no time about tricking that one too. All the while I had kept a Warrior around because of the fact that it was so reliable, and had the perfect mix of torque and gearing, which allowed for stable powering up a hill without the need to stay in the top of the powerband. A well designed and balanced four-stroke thumper will allow you to do that, all of which the 400EX was not. Yes, if you wanted to always have to keep the RPM's up like you were on a two-stroke, you can make a 400 EX respond and climb about anything, but then, does this not defeat the concept of a four-stroker? As far as mods, well, you can mod an EATON and make it do things better, but then this thread was stock for stock. Yes, the 400EX has been a contender for a number of years, but considering how long it was basically the only quad in it's class, this isn't so impressive. When the other manufacturers finally got around to also putting out 400s ( Which basically are all a SUZUKI ) the 400 EX get's nothing but bloodied noses...every picture tells a story.

 

I'm sorry folks, but that 400 EX was a sore-spot for me. Not so much because of the money I wasted on it, as I made most of it back when I sold it, but because Honda let me down with that one. They were so worried about the law suites they endured with the 250R, they produced and marketed a sub-par quad, and we all know they have the technology to produce the very meanest machine on the planet. Even with the 450R I believe they are still holding back a great deal, but at least it's in there. I'll spare you all any further rants, but with 100% certainy the Scram will pull away from the 400 EX...been there and done that too many times. Grab about any other 400 Pure Sport and everything changes.

 

carbonfist, You have a nice taste in quads. i use to have a 86 250r and at one time a suzuki 250r also. I always love 2 strokes but I sold both of my two strokes over the last year 86 250r and 2000 scramber 400 to get new 4 strokes. i think i still have a pic in my pictures of it. I admit im not a honda fan but at least they had the ***** to create a sportquad after the 250r to replace it and stock for stock they had the same hp as a 250r. I still think the honda 400ex is one of the best basic trail quads out there. all the new ones are made only to be driven fast. You can even let out the clutch unless your going 8 mph until gearing changes.
That what makes the scram and honda great trail quads that are sporty enough to have fun on is that you can still ride slow on them and have fun and dont have to rebuild them every 100 to 200hrs like the 450's.

 

Hoopie: Thanks, but I can only take so much credit for my choice in machines, as someone else makes them...I just buy them. I do agree with most of you opinions, and obviously a bunch of people share your opinion of the 400EX, as Honda only sold a couple kazzillion of them! I guess everyone has their own things they can appreciate in a particular product...that quad just didn't do it for me.
I've now also gotten rid of all my twostrokes except a CR250 that I keep around for when someone wants to go riding 2-wheelers. Two-strokes are quickly becoming a thing of the past due to the EPA and local government regulations. Just about have be on private property to use them anymore, and one day that will be the ONLY way we're able to ride them. I will miss that intense break-neck powerband!