So i'm thinking about letting the warrior go and moving up to a 450. What I want to know though, is how well is a 450 going to do in trail riding. Will it feel like home in the rough stuff like my warrior does, or am I going to have to wrestle with it to get it to go where I want it? How about reverse, how much of an inconvenience is it to get off and push when you get in a tight spot? Also, how bad is the gearing going to be when i'm forced to ride slow?

I'm looking for a machine that can do everything fairly well, while still being reliable. I ride mx a few times a year, but mostly do fast trail riding, and from time to time some tight technical rocky trails. Any opinions are welcome, both for the whole 450 category in general, as well as opinions towards specific models.

The main reason I want to change from the warrior is because of the size and weight. I can ride the trails quicker on my brother's 250ex than I can on the warrior because it's so much easier to throw around the little 250, so any big bore machine is out of the question.

 

Any of the 450's has a frame and handling that is light years ahead of your old tired Warrior (I was probably riding a Warrior before you were born!). The thing about the 450's is that they are all rev. They make their power way up in the rpm range (like a 2-stroke), and they don't like to be lugged down. On a technical trail, all that rpm is just wasted and you are going to have to do a whole lot of annoying clutch slipping...just the wrong tool for the job!

I have a 400EX that is (along with its 300EX brother) the best trail quad of all time! I only ride my 450 out in the open desert, where I can pin the throtle all day long. I would never want to take it out on a trail, even though I have it geared down.

 

reconranger is right on about the high-strung nature of the 450's.

For a 4 stroke the YFZ450 reminded me a lot of my old 250R's in rev-thrill, bar pull and many other things.
The way it was set up though, it would lug OK except for way down in the RPM range and at taking off soft.

But still the 450's are a waste in the tight woods with no room to rip.
That and the fact it was set up to MX too (too wide) was some strong considerations in my decision to sell.
A day back on a 300EX sealed the deal for me.

I say stick to lower tech engines with the torque and reliability.... the 300's 400's and big bores.

If you like to be able to sling them and flick them around in the tight woods like I do, I say stick with those too.
The lighter and spunkier they are, the better.

I myself am still looking for a sporty trail quad.
I'll be considering the 250's, 300's, 400's and big bores........ and I might look into that UM MTX-450R to see if it's a trail 450...

 

Recon99, as long as you aren't going to be doing a lot of slow speed riding, a 450 will be fine. Sounds like you mx a bit, I think you would probably make that a bigger part of your riding with a 450. Fast trails are awesome, and even the tighter stuff isn't to bad as long as you stay stock width. You won't have to "wrestle" with it as much because they all weigh less, have more power, and handle much better than a Warrior does. I have ridden some pretty technical, rocky trails in the Adirondacks, which almost completely destroyed my swingarm skid. These trails were more 4x4 stuff(no mud though), but I didn't really have a problem negotiating the rocks and boulders, even at some speed. The one place that is a real problem is "family" riding. Following my son around a local track at less than 10 mph kicks my fan on after a 1/2 lap. By the same token, I can blaze 10 laps and it never turns on. Slow speed cooling is really the achilles heel of the 450's(at least mine.) There are bigger radiators and such out though if that is a big concern. Also stock, the gearing is definately high for slow speed assaults. I follow my son whenever he rides with me, usually at less than 10mph and it gets old quickly on this quad. I do have to say that with the 450's, you don't have to slip the clutch nearly as often or as long like the old 250 2-strokes. Actually, I rarely slip the clutch once underway.

 

Sounds like I have some more thinking to do. Too bad none of the 450's make decent power at the low rpms, because I don't want to have to ride like my cousin did on his old quadracer 250, riding the clutch all the time. Some of these trails just don't give the option of keeping your rpms up, you have to go slow and carefully choose your line, or else i'll result in you going end-over-end back towards where you came from. Another thing I was worried about was the maintenance on a 450, i've heard the valve adjustments and such are real 'fun' to keep up with.

So maybe i'll just stick to my warrior and try to figure out a way to fix the issues with my front suspension. This aftermarket stuff just doesn't work together right, always something binding up. I've already got over $3,000 tied up in the aftermarket stuff on it so i'd be taking a big hit if I had to sell it anyways. I've heard the IMS pegs make a big difference, so maybe i'll invest in a set of those to help with the ergonomics.

Thanks for the opinions guys.

 

Well, I try my best to not say much to take anything away from the warrior.
It's a true warrior of 20 years...
And I still don't understand why Yamaha didn't make a 20th anniversary edition instead of a Raptor 350.

So for all it's not... there is a lot it has been and also a lot it "is" to have been around 20 years.

I've had two and rode several more. The first one I thought was great for a 4 stroke quad.
And I really liked it for an all around quad although the handling wasn't the best.... because it was pretty good all-around with the 6 speed... even regeared.

And until the release of the 400EX, the warrior was at the top of the displacement category for 4 stroke sports.
And the 400EX was still unproven... and it still took a while for people to notice that the Warrior was a time machine.

Anyways recon99... that's the way it was, which brings me on to the second warrior. It was built to the gills. I don't even really remember what all was on it, but trust me, there were a lot of upgrades... a lot! That's the thing of the warrior now. Upgrade power... gotta update the chassis to get any good from it... suspension, axle, a-arms, the works.

Yeah, it would eat 400's up all day long... but DANG!

I mean you have to draw the line somewhere about what is practical.
You can easily get to the point of having a fortune tied up in mods and a machine that needs high octane fuel, etc...

It's way more practical to go with a 400cc class, or 450cc class, or bigbore class machine.
Most of them are better all the way around to start with for less money than you can wind up having invested in a warrior.
Less money, less effort, less hassle.

 

Well we ride trails all the time anywhere from 150 to 200 miles a trip, I ride the new Kawi450r & right out of the box was set up for tight woods riding, I think I could get in 3rd coming out of the shop, ya could lug it in 1/2/3 all day long whitout even touching the clutch so to say that the new 450s all rev high to make their power just is not the case, heck top end was just 55/60 now with a few ez mods it's over 70... With the other 2 new 450s coming their's alot of options for ya....

 

I have to say that of all the 450's I have ridden, the Kawi is more luggable than the others...but compared to something like a 400EX or Warrior...still it's just the wrong tools for the job on a slow technical trail!

 

I know that I will probably get harassed, but what the hell.

But what about a Raptor? I do a lot of tight trail riding, fire breaks, hill climbing and I think it's pretty damn good. I don't think it's really set up for mx.

My only complaint (and everyone knows what a problem it can be) is that it gets wheelie happy, esp when trying to climb a rocky hill.

Weight wise it's about the same was the Warrior. Just a suggestion.

 

Thanks for the ideas guys. At a time I did consider a raptor, but if I got a raptor, it would have to be a 700. I've rode 660's, and they're quick and have tons of torque which I like, but I can't stand how unstable the things are. As was stated, there's just no way to keep the front end down without an extended swingarm. They're also a little tall and tippy for me. The 700's on the other hand are a much more well rounded machine than the 660, but are still out of my price range and larger than i'd like for the riding I do.

I've decided to keep my warrior since I really can't come up with any good reason to get rid of it. Over the winter it's going to be getting a bit of a makeover. I just picked up a pep shock for the rear, put in an order to TCS for some new custom made, 1/2 inch shorter front shocks with reservoirs, which should fix my suspension problems for good. I also ordered a new PRM bumper to replace the weak alba pro-elite I toasted last winter in the snow, and depending on how it goes, a cam and titanium springs may also be added to the list. Hopefully there will be something left over when this is all done so I can get some IMS pegs and heel guards, and ditch my mangled DG nerfs.