How about a big ATTABOY for Yamaha. If I was seriously racing I'd be waiting for the dealership to open but for a 37 year old play racer and ultra fast trail/woods rider I think the Raptor is still the Hot ticket with the right mods. But if I get blown away by a 450 maybe I'll change my mind. After they make them for a year of course.

 

I took a shotgun,sledgehammer, and beat my 300EX death then set it on fire then I ran it over with a D-9 dozer and to finish it off I gatthered up all the pieces put them in a ziploc bag and threw it in the missippi river. congrats to all yamaha owners. All us honda die-hards are taking theropy for depression at this moment. Please pray for us.

 

Guys,
If they used the WR-450F motor, the May issue of dirtbike has a review on that bike.

They said that the stock exhaust (which may or may not be the same) is very restrictive and that GYTR has an accessory baffle to open it up. They also said that there is a WR specific throttle stop that needs to be replaced with the YZ throttle stop in order to allow it to run at WOT. Also, some people cut the Throttle Postion Sensor wire b/c that advances the timing at low RPM. They also said that the cams are different from the YZ and it has a heavier flywheel and has more controllable powerband than the YZ.

They performed these mods (I know the GYTR baffle but not sure about the throttle stop but I imagine that they did) and it produced 45 HP. The KTM450 EXC dynoed higher at 46.5 or so HP.

If they detuned the motor at all for the quad it will probably put out 38 or so stock, right around a stock Rappy. I doubt very much that it will be 50HP or so stock as some are speculating, but maybe?!?!?! It should be interesting to see, that's for sure but it looks to be a real winner on the MX track.

Good job Yammy!!

 

I knew yamaha was gonna do it. I may have to consider buyin this bike but not until other people have and see if it is recurrence of what the raptors first year was like. I wander if honda was ready for this when they release they new machine in sept.or are they gonna come back and tell us its gonna be another year again cause they just crapped in their pants

 

"...which means its not a YZ motor...

"...If they used the WR-450F motor..."

The website plainly says they used the YZ motor. Isn't that good news?

Finally, a manufacturer gets it. Some people want an ATV they can leave the showroom and go racing with. From what I can tell, all it needs is nerf bars.

That white and red version reminds me so much of the original Fourtrax 250R. They both look good!


"...350 pounds dry weight..."

Some custom race built bikes don't even weigh that little.


"HEAR THAT?!?!?!? That was the sound of all the old Honda 250Rs value bottoming out!!!!! Sell 'em while you can, boys, they've just been made obsolete!!!"

This may actually and finally be true, as far as true racers are concerned. Wow.


Amazing! What Nostradamus predicted so many years ago has now come true. Behold the new leader.

Quatrain 2003-67

A very mighty trembling in the month of June,
Cannondale in bankruptcy, Suzuki and Kawasaki in cahoots:
Polaris finally in competition, Honda in worry,
At that time 250Rs will fall larger than eggs.


Quatrain 2003-78

The year 2003, sixth month,
From the East will come a great King of Terror.
To bring back to life the great King of the Banshees,
Before and after Yamaha to reign by good luck.


I predict this quad will be successful, even legendary. This will be the machine to own. Wonder what Nostradamus knows about Honda?

 

Good points to be sure.

I think this thing will scream. We are all still waiting to see the final answer on what exactly was done, if it is detuned or not, etc.

We are all trying to get the best info. we know about this bike as well.

Yamaha has a good site but if you believe everything on there then:

Raptor Features and Benefits section: Liquid-cooled, 660cc, SOHC, 4-stroke single is the sport industry’s biggest, most powerful engine and the first-ever to use a 5-valve head. Note the "most powerful" comment.

YFZ-450: highest power-to-weight ratio of any four-stroke ATV ever built. You'll see, it all adds up to the lightest, most powerful, best-handling ATV ever produced Note that they also use the "most powerful" comment here. How can there be two "most powerful" ATVs from the same manufacturer.

If I were to believe everything on the Yamaha site, then I'd say that the Rappy has more HP but the YFZ450 is lighter. That would mean that the YFZ is detuned from the bike version. That may be true but from all the talk, it seems that the YFZ will have more HP and be lighter, but if that were the case wouldn't they advertise it that way?

Who knows. We'll all have to wait and see! Good times to be an ATV enthusiast!

 

I think it's an awesome quad!!! GOOD JOB YAMA!! Cept I don't think they would make it to beat the Rappy, maybe on the track but not in speed. The major difference between them is cylinder bore, with the smaller bore you don't get NEARLY the torque and top end grunt of the Raptor. If I didn't own a Rappy I would own this, in fact if my Rappy blows again I'm selling it for this and not digging into the engine and instead soup it up for trail riding/MX! The YZ may have enough tech in it but so does the Rappy and I would of never thought they could detune the Rappy as much as they did but I bet when both get full exhaust kits the Rappy will kill it but stock the Rappy is way to detuned and I don't think the YZ is nearly as detuned as the Rappy.

 

If you go over to sport quad dot com they have a real good write up on this quad and say you can take the electric start off and put a kick start and save another 30 lbs. As far as the being the " most powerful" the Raptor says most powerful engine while the other says most powerful atv because of the power to weight ratio. In the end it all comes down to power to weight, that is the most important thing that everybody tries to achieve. I am a Zilla owner and have to say this new quad looks awesome!

 

this quad is cool but i would be willing to bet my life that with 600 dollors in mods i could make a p650 beat it in a dragg.(CDI) (snorckle)(jets)(pipe) you could pop whieelis at 40 mph and the torque would be unbelievable.

 

I will race it in reverse....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]