Well here's one for you beloved raptor owners.
my neighbor went and bought a brand new 02 raptor and a brand new z400 together at the same time.he bought the raptor for himself and the Z400 for his wife.well after 3 days of break in on both machines he decided we should go and test them to see just how they compared to each other speed wise.the outcome was quite a surprise to myself.
well on a flat long level blacktop road we set out to run them and see just what the out come would be.we are both very experienced riders and racers.well with myself on the z400 and him riding the raptor,we took off from a dead stop and he pulled out on me right away of course but by the time we hit 5th gear i had cuaght back up and managed to pass him and hold him off on the topend.that was a surprise so we did it 2 more times the outcome the exact same all three times.
we then switched machines and tried the race 3 more times all with the same outcome as we had the first 3 times.the raptor definately wins in the lowend horsepower war but the z400 is by far no slouch on the mid and top.not to mention it is quite a bit lighter.
please remeber that both machines were both still bone stock they way their were when he rolled them out of the dealership and they are only a few days old.so it was a very fair and even race with no certain advantage going to either machine because of hopups.
take this info as you will,it might vary from machine to machine, but thats how these faired.

 

Dyno Results
Tough to agree with since the Raptor has 10 more horsepower at 6000rpms......and over a 1000 more available rpm's. Was these partial throttle drags? Did the Raptor have some sort of tranny trouble (now I would believe that)?

 

nope,please remeber these are both brand new machines new problems with either machine as of yet and the races were wide open throttle.

 

Where you guy's are comeing up with this stuff amazes me and i agree with gary my daughter runs a 440 ex and she blitzes the z400 and while she still beats the raptor and the cannondale its not by much.OH yeah she's on alky too!!

 

Okay, I think I have something I can add to this discussion... I have a similar (actually, exactly the same) situation. Yesterday my wife and I traded our Polaris Magnum 500s in for an '02 Raptor & an '03 Z400. Based on what we experienced in general trail riding on our own property, KILLERKX327 is right on with his descriptions of the two bikes. It's kind of like comparing a new Corvette and a new Porche; The 'Vette has a V8 & seems to just leak power all over the place, while the 4-Cylinder Porche is small, but almost disturbingly fast for it's engine's size.

The Raptor's exhaust has a distinctive 'bark' that the Z400 doesn't have, and it feels just a LITTLE bit heavier, but that and the bigger engine gives it a feeling of "Inevitibility" when hammering the throttle. Like, "I'm gonna run you down if you get in my way!" First gear and reverse feel like they're geared a little taller than the Z400.

The Z400 feels like a slightly smaller (although the wheelbase is the same), more refined version of the Raptor. The exhaust note is a little less intimidating, the engine doesn't vibrate quite as much (easy to figure out why, 400cc as opposed to 660cc), and it feels a LITTLE bit lighter (not much). It's kind of a sleeper.

We haven't had the chance to open them up completely (would like to break them in a little first). My first impression is that the Z400 is quite possibly a faster bike than the Raptor, but not by much. A few mods on each bike and it might be a different story. I'm guessing that the Z400s motor is pretty well souped to the max already. But, time will tell.

Thus far, I have absolutely no complaints about either bike, but I've had them less than 24hours, so that may change. They're both awesome rides. They'll both do the same stuff, at least in stock form. The Z400 is just today's golden boy (well, yellow boy anyway). Next year, someone will come out with something even more awesome that'll trounce the Z400 out of the box (come on, Polaris, get on with it, let's go!!!).

Both bikes are bone stock, and not even completely broken in yet. AND, while I'm an experienced rider, I'm used to heavier utility quads. Also, I don't really have any particular brand loyalty toward either bike. We were going to buy two Z400s, but they had a good deal on the Raptor, so I thought, whatthehell. It'd be nice to have something different. Oh, yeah, I'm having trouble getting my wife to get off of the Z400. No big deal. I like my Raptor just as well.

Just my 3 cents.

 

A Z400 has never been able to hang with me in sand drags, I usually have 3~4 lengths on them in 100 yards.
They don't even come close in the dunes!! They have to work hard to keep me in sight on fast trail rides & blitzing thru the big dunes.
I guess the extra CC's & torque of my Raptor really shine in the sand!

I've never ran with one in the woods (not many around yet I guess) & I Never run on the streets!! That's not a smart thing to do on so many levels!

 

The butt dyno can be deceiving...

If you were to ride my 400EX (modified, of course - but on pump gas) and my Cannondale, you'd swear the Cdale (bone stock) would absolutely walk away from it...

However, in the 1/8 mile drag (on pavement with a real timing system) the CD is only .1 second faster than the 400 in heavy cross country trim. In the 1/4 mile drag that lead only stretches to .2 second. Both quads topping out in the upper 70's. Yet the Cannondale "feels" much more responsive and far quicker.

Both quads have outrun Raptors, both quads have been beaten by Raptors. It heavily depends on both the rider, and the quad's state of tune.

I recently beat what the owner claimed to be a bored, piped, jetted, cammed Raptor (with two different riders) at the drag strip multiple times by over 1/2 second (in the 1/4 mile) on the 400EX.

However, I've also run side by side (with him pulling ever so slightly) by with a stock Raptor with only jetting and airbox mods....

I'm quite certain a stock Z400 won't run with either of my quads or a Raptor. Judging by KillerKX's previous postings, I would imagine he's maybe exaggerating things a bit to stir up Raptor owners.

BTW Gary, the Raptor doesn't have 1000 more RPM available - the magic 4000 f/s mark is met around 7300 RPM - On the Suzuki it is reached at nearly 10,000 RPM. At the Raptor's 9200 RPM limit the piston is moving at over 5000 feet per second - not good if don't like spontaneous self-disassembly...

In contrast, it takes 12,300 RPM to reach the same speeds in the Z400, 12,700 RPM for the Cannondale, and 11,000 RPM on a 400EX.

 

Killer, I believe your story. I will say this though; you should take that Raptor back to the dealer and trade it one one that runs right.

 

<< BTW Gary, the Raptor doesn't have 1000 more RPM available - the magic 4000 f/s mark is met around 7300 RPM - On the Suzuki it is reached at nearly 10,000 RPM >>

Gabe, check my previous post was concerning the Dyno graph (stock machines). The dyno graph reveals actual power and rpm for stock machines.....and clearly shows 1000+ usable rpm's and more power. However, I do agree with your point.

 

I thought that might be what you were referencing, however, that dyno run shows HP vs MPH, not HP vs RPM....

The LTZ peaks at 7500 RPM and tapers down slowly as RPMs climb to 9000
http://www.gtthunder.com/dyno400z1.html

The stock Raptor HP peak is at 6000 RPM and is falling quickly at 7500.