im a first year buyer if noone buys the first year production how will the manufacturers know of its shortcomings just buy the extended warranty for sure

 

so far i am getting stung on the predator 90 it is in the shop awaiting a new frame.i wished i would have bought something else it has way too much vibrations literally vibrating the thing apart

 

I bet its going to be ok. I would like to believe they learned from their mistakes, and at the least will honor warranty issues this time.

 

Any first year quad is bound to have problems. There's the testing by them, which is to fix the obvious errors. Then there's the more in depth testing which can only be done by us riders. That's why I don't buy first year quads.

 

first year machines are always sceptical to say the least.but what i can't figure out is ,honda doesn't seem to have problems with their first year quads or bikes. and none of the manufactureres really have problems with any of their mx bikes and they change them up every year.
this fiasco with the 01 raptor is about the only major first year machine i've known to have the many problems it did. not everyone had problems,but the majority did.
if no one is a first year buyer then who will ever know if yamaha nevers sells any the first year.
for those of you looking to buy a the YFZ next year, i would run right out and get one now while you can.the motor is already tried and trued with no reliability issues at all.

 

Try to remember the Raptor trans/motor was a tried and proven unit as well...[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]
but not in a quad

 

I don' tknow id I am truing to talk my self into , or out of it.
Jay, you are right, but they didn't jam reverse in the YFZ450, I think we all know that was the majority of the raptors problems, the MZ had no reverse and worked great.

 

As long as ATVs have been around and people have been modifying them, jumping them, riding them hard, etc..., there is absolutely no excuse for any manufacturer to have first year flaws like has been mentioned here.

All manufacturers know how to make frames that will hold up to hard riding, axles that won't bend on the first hard landing, and transmissions that are all but bullet proof. It's not like any of this is exactly new technology.

Now, if there was much more use of cutting edge technology like carbon fiber load bearing components, then I would be concerned.

But, really, there's nothing so new with the YFZ450 that first year flaws should be a concern.

Now, with that said, some of those cast aluminum components (A-arms, swingarm) I would keep a close eye on. Cast metal (aluminum or iron) components are usually much more brittle and prone to breakage than machined or welded components.

I'm guessing Yamaha has done their homework on this one and I believe it will do very well.

Just my $.02.

 

I checked one out today. I think the plastic seat latch might become a problem. Otherwise I could not see anything that looked like a problem to me. The thing is light, I was impressed. Hard to keep from buying, but wife said no for now.

Bat

 

I'll bet a shinny new penny that Honda will fix the engine braking problem on the Rincon for '04.


Same here. I have a '01 and haven't had any problems out of it. I ride it like a demon through stuff it really shouldn't be going through. When I first bought it I rode with all the confidence in the world, then all these reports about tranny problems came up and I throttled back thinking I would break something. But, after a while I said "screw it" and went about my hammering and it's still ticking.