People frequently post questions about the Z's low end power. This engine likes to rev, and pretty much refuses to lug down! I personally found the bottom end on the stock Z to be quite lame, which makes it not the greatest ride for slow, technical trails. This situation improves however, with a performance pipe and some airbox mods.

What got me thinking about this was looking at the Z's gearing ratios. It has a 40 rear and 14 front (1:2.9), which is quite low. For comparison, the 400EX has a 38 rear and 15 front (1:2.5) which is way higher. Yet, the Honda is famous for its low end grunt. If you put a 40/14 on the Honda, you couldn't even keep the front end on the ground, in any gear. Anyway, that gearing should convince anybody that Suzuki went way out of its way to try to milk some low end out of the Z engine.

On the other hand, it demonstrates what a revver this engine is. Even with that low gearing, it still goes FAST!

 

No doubt! That should say something on the performance of the Z. I love the 400EX on the trails but the Z would be much easier to race. All you do is rev and shift where as the EX kinda has a broad flatspot in the upper Rs and its kinda hard to tell exactly when to shift for the ultimate gain in speed when drag racing. These two machines are a lot alike but as you always stated Ranger, they're a lot different in the motor department................ [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

the internal gearing is not going to be the same on both quads, though...although the external gearing is quite different, you also must consider the gear ratio coming from the tranny...if the internal gearing is the same, then im stupid and act like i didnt say this.

 

i like my 2 zs and my ex on the trails. i think their both excelent trail quads besides the wex lacks reverse!

 

I had no problem with low end while the bike was stock
it enough power for what was needed and now after 1 year of work
I have no problems low or high just staying on the thing