In my one experience racing a Predator we were pretty much side by side. With equal holeshots, I was pretty much staying with him. At the time, I had a K&N, airbox lid on with 3 inch and a half holes in it and a modified stock exhaust.

The Predator definetly runs great and off hand I'd say that it has more power than the Raptor..... Stock for Stock.

Maybe I'm wrong??

 

Oh .. forgot to list this....his bike was stock as far as I know.

He was running taller tires than I was and that seems to be helpful in the sand. Could be as simple as that.

 

yeah, that helps out quit a bit, having the taller tires. not in the lowend area, but it will definately have more topend, and have way better traction all the way around in the sand. Pretty cool of you to share an honest story like that, thanks.

 

i raced him again this weekend and won both times. the first was just a drag and i pulled him by two lengths the whole time. the second was like in too fast too furious where they has to go to then end of the road and turn around and come back. i killed him then too. i stilll have to check that main jet when i get a chance. btw. my quad backfired for the third time when i went to start it yesterday. any idea why or if its normal. it runs smooth as silk when riding it. but a few times when it was parked and i would hit the starter button....bang...it backfires...but then itll start right up when i hit the starter again. whats the deal? thanks

im takin my raptor to a motorcross track.. hopefully the front shocks arent as crappy as i think they are but whatever.

 

the experiences i have had with predators consist of 2. The predator does not have the low end torque the raptor does, HOWEVER the pred rider can compensate by launching a lot harder by upping the rpms. Couple this with the razors on the pred and you can make for some real good holeshots if you know what you are doing.
2nd gear and most of 3rd is owned by a raptor and after that it evens out. All this being said a raptor will beat a predator in a sand drag if the riders are both good. The predator is easier to launch, but harder to upshift etc.... they are really quite easily beaten by a raptor if the riders on the ball on the rappy, practice your holeshots and hit second as soon as you possibly can, unless you already launched in second. works for me.

PS. tire pressures and suspension settings do wonders too...

 

warrior86, Sounds as if you may need to go to a bigger pilot. That is probably causing it to backfire. Does it backfire some when running it hard and letting out of the throttle; this is another sign of needing a bigger pilot. Slim

 

no, it runs perfectly smooth when the engine is actually running. the only time there was a backfire were the three times in the past two weeks when i hit the starter button.

 

could it just be the air was thin or thick that day? cause it doesnt happen any other time except the second i hit the starter button.

i raced him again today and beat him by 2.5 lengths. maybe the first time just wasnt my day or something.

 

last weekend me and my buddy went to florence to do some riding... i ride a shee (jetted piped twin k&n geared) i had it dynoed i put 49 horse to the rear tires... my bike runs very hard... i have never lost a race to a rapterd... my buddy is riding his new predator and he was running me the hard but couldnt take the rapterds... he is new at riding... i got on his bike and bone stock was killing repterds... the predator is a much better bike... i was pulling rapterds with alot done on a bone stock bike... the predator kicks a$$

 

Predators Suck Stock VS Stock with Equal Riders the Raptor would win easy.