Sandman....I don't want to get into a who's is bigger fight, but if you beat a Z or Kfx it was because you were a better rider. No doubt a good rider on a 400ex can rip on a newbie even on a Raptor 660. In the end a Z has proven in all the tests to be a better machine. Not by a huge margin, but if you are getting a new machine the Z makes more sense. Yes.....riders the same, the z and the ex will be close, but the Z will win every time...Sorry

Not only that the Z has much more potentional for upgrades.....

 

I am a big fan of Honda. Everything they make is a quality product. Suzuki hasnt exactly proven themselves as industry leaders yet, but personally I would buy the newer machine . I am a fan of liquid cooled motors. I used to have a blaster, and I had to beat on it to keep up with evryone. Ripping around 100 degree weather isnt exactly ideal for atv with air cooled motors. Anyway being 10 miles from camp and have a atv overheat isnt my idea of fun, i was always worried when the blaster started to smell and smoke from hard riding. THier are advantages to having both I guess. 2- strokes are far superior to both of these though, think about getting one .

 

you are probably right, it could have been rider. the point i was getting at. is he said he is looking for a used machine, there are plenty of hondas. and as you said there isn't a big difference, and at the dunes i'm not seeing it. i watched for as long as the suzuki has been out, the hondas hang right in there and if you go for all out performance it seems honda is a long ways out front. i like the suzuki, was planning on getting one but when the honda came along it just was to good to pass up. i know some day the suzuki will pass the honda at most levels but it still seems very good, and most important is it is fun!!!!

 

sorry if it sounded like a was dissing on the 400ex power because i wasnt meaning to but heres my story and were i got that the Z has more ballz ... At banshee hill at winchester bay there was a crowd of people at the bottom and almost every kind of bike going up and making it or having to back down, and from what i witnessed a STOCK z400 with haulers made it up with no problems what so ever. However after that a STOCK 400ex with same paddles tried it and barely made it to the turn. Maybe the z400 has more nutz down low in the RPM range because of the higher compression making it able for it to keep pulling to make it to the top??? Just my observations. By the way Sandman i agree the 400ex is a better jumper from what i have done with each. They're both fun quads

 

i think banshee hill is as much rider as it is machine, you need to know that corner and where to be in the power at. i'd try it on the 400 it might be different this summer when the sand is a lot dryer

 

what you said about riders on that hill is very true. For instance a piped rappy with a sh*tty rider on it couldnt make it if the world depended on it, then about 5 min later a guy on a stock rappy made it will ease. By the way that 400ex and z400 banshee hill thing was last august and the sand was VERY dry and soft.
PS - Did you ever go riding last week or weekend ? the sand was awesome! thin layer of soft dry sand and wet sand underneath, really good hook-up, but once torn up very powdery. Banshee hill was a BITC* sometimes to make it up. We spend a morning at florence tuesday and went on one ride and no one was there and it started to rain so we said screw it and went back to winchester and had alot more fun. Overall it was an awesome week there

 

yeah i made it to florence the last two weekends but i'm done for a while, seems saturday and sunday is the best days for florence. there was a lot of people there on saturday, not many 4 strokes and some of the fastest banshees i've seen in a while, didn't get many wins on the ds that day. well i wasw riding with the guy that had the kfx and when his brake broke from the jump it was eye opening we were doing the same on the honda and the ds, and i've seen raptor do the same, guy goes i do a lot more pounding on the banshee and it takes it fine. it looked like it destroyed the rear axle carrier. well made me a lot happyier with the honda. well maybe there will be a time to hook up in florence, there are a lot of great trails to explore there plus some good races at comp and jetty hill.

 

sounds like you guys had a better time then us at florence. That jump sounds pretty knarly if it did that to a new kfx or did he just land wrong? when are you guys planning you next trip to florence? we go quite a bit and stay at the money saver. That would be fun to meet up and race some. whats done to your DS ? what were the fastest 4strokes there?

 

this last weekend the fast ones were me and bigbubba but there wasn't that many, we were getting pounded by banshees, and most raptors and honda's were stock. so they weren't much of a race my wife is the one you would want to race, she is astock ds with a pipe and cdi and gearing for the dunes. mine is stage two woods, but can't decide what to do next. may get alarger bore maybe as big as 105mm, but let me know when your here next, you have a crew of 400's and my boy would like that, and you have the raptor and my wife and i enjoy running with them and talking about mods. oh the jump wasn't big at all maybe 5feet high and that would be pushing to be a fish tale, by maybe 12 feet the guy was shocked said he rides his banshee much harder and he was right. either it was a defect from the factory or it is a poor design.

 

right on sounds good. I wish I was fast enough for you guys to race but not yet .... I guarantee someday i will be though. I will have my friends race your son if we ever meet up sometime down there and he ll kill them (stock 400exs) so maybe that ll make him feel good about his quad and its a good laugh for me. Id like to race your wife, never raced a modded DS, only a stock one and beat him fairly easy. Hell i ll even race you and bubba just for fun. Its always about winning to me, its about havin fun while Im there. Who wins between you and bubba? what hill did you race up? comp hill or staging area hill? About that jump - that sucks for that guy, maybe its still under warrenty. I really have no idea when i will be there next, probably whenever my dad can take off work.