The Z REALLY lacks low end power!! The engine needs to be ridden reved out, like a 2-stroke. The handling is superb for trail riding, but the power plant characteristics are not. That is not to say you can't trail ride the Z, it is just a better bike for open country. I'm going to use it exclusively as a desert bike.

The EX on the other hand has great power characteristics for trail riding. On the trails I ride, you never get past 3rd gear. The low end grunt of the EX make it the best choice. So far, I would rate the EX as the best hill climber, again because of its better powerband. You already have the best trail bike there is!! If you are desperate for more power, do a 440 kit.

 

14min. - LOL... Hey, I asked you if you wanted to race, but appenrently those Raps and Bombs just can't handle the water like my frog... uh... I mean Cannondale [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]. I don't think Randy would have even wanted to bother racing me... Gawd... lookin at the video... he sure did look fast. Hell, he must have been to out run everyone out there.

 

<< So far, I would rate the EX as the best hill climber >>

I would rate the EX a poor hill climber. With the light front end and very little wheelspin, the EX is out of it's element on STEEP inclines.
The dyno graph (that everyone has seen) that has the 400 EX, Z400, and Raptor power comparism shows the Z400 has more power even at low rpms over the 400ex.....since we can easily determine torque with a HP and rpm number, the Z400 has more low end torque than the 400ex.

 

Gary-Have you even put in any sadle time on the Z??? The low end is LAME!!! It's not nonexistant, but it sure is going to need a lot of help. The power doesn't come on big until the throtle is about 1/3 open. Then it hits, and spins the tires (kind of like a Banshee does). Hopefully aftermarket mods and tires will remedy all this. But, HANDLING IS EXCELLENT!!!

You obviously misunderstood about the hill climbing. I did not mean that the EX was the best bike of every bike there is, I meant that the EX was THE BEST OF THE TWO BIKES I WAS COMPARING (the Z and the EX). Notice I didn't comment on the other bikes (Raptor and Cannibal) Mao asked about. Unlike you, I don't presume to make hearsay comments about bikes I have never owned!!!

 

The Z400 has great low end for trail rideing. When I start to get tired at the end of a long hot day I can easily put the Z in 3rd gear and just ride. It'll chug to almost a stop, half way through the corner just nail it and off you go. At first, untill you get the feel for the power band it does feel a little soft, but its mostly caused by the vacuum carb on these bikes. Read the trail ahead of you and give the gas a little early and it'll surprise you. The only thing I've done is properly gap the plug, and break in the motor.
I ride with, and sometimes on 400EX's and would not say they have any more bottom end, just a crisper throttle response (at anything above idle)
The Honda guys I ride with see it the same way.
Bottom line, when you punch it, it pulls like a freight train.
But the carb on mine will be replaced next spring, once the aftermarket parts come down in price and become easier to find.

 

hey,
I have had a z for about a mounth and i know personally that a z will pull away from a ex, 1st through 5th, i drag race ex's all the time and raptors, i know that the z has more than a 400ex on bottom end not a lot but more, i run dead even with a stock raptor, a modded one with a jet, filter, and pipe gets me from 3rd gear up easy. but thats just from my experinces (and yes these guys could ride)later

 

moaZ,
I would go with the &quot;RAPTOR&quot; myself. I used to trail ride myself until I dumped a whole bunch of horsepower into it and I could always keep up with the 400exs and 250rs in the trails around here. Good luck with your decision, their all great machines.

 

If you'll mostly be on smoother wide trails, the DS650 or Raptor would probably great quads. If you ride the narrow wooped out tight trails I do you would be a little better off with the lighter, better handling Z400, and keep the extra $800 - $1000 bucks you'd be spending on the other two.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Hmm, I wont argue your opinion but mine is a bit different.

Obviously the 400EX has an initial bang but I would not say the Z400 lacks low end. I take hills with very little take-off on the Z400 in 2nd that the 400EX would take without much take-off room and 2nd to 3rd gear shift before the hill. Translated, I needed momentum to tackle the hill on the 400EX, where I hit the hill on the Z400 with nothing much low end power.

Perhaps something is wrong with your Z400? I am not being crass, I just cant see where you could have such aa conflictling view compared to other Z400 owners. I just came off a 400EX which I enjoyed very much. However, there is really not one advantage the 400EX has over the Z400. Not one.

 

YZguy, you may have a bad jeting setup for your area, or something else wrong. The Z kicks tail on the trails. I lug it around in third gear on the MX track too and am never caught. It out torques my friends modded EX on the low end. Look ath normal dyno curves, the Z makes more mpower. It even beats a Raptor out of the hole.