I live in Pa, about 45 mins from Bedford, and i own a yfz, my brother owns a z. Now, depending on how you ride, weather it be fast/aggresive/hard, or enjoyable/semi-aggresive/semi-fast/hard-at times. those are the strenghts of the two. if you ride easy the yfz's suspension will give you a work out and kick you in the *** from time to time, where the z will not, but at high speeds, the z just can't compair to the yfz. I'd recommend either quad, both are exceptionally great, reliable, and fun to ride. it all depends on how you ride, and the reverse factor doesn't bother me to much, cut the bars, hit the gas and slid the rear end around, if your good enough that is[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

Thats not an option on a 4' wide trail with rocks and stumps. Just do what I do. Put it in reverse, oh that's right. Well then in that case, turn the quad towards the uphill side off the trails edge and ride up it a bit, roll backwards, repeat as needed until your turned around. I do it that way half the time anyway, it's more fun.

I don't see any reason the YFZ wouldn't be an addiquate trail machine.

 

Hey, I'm Yamaha through and through.

But after riding, and racing a YFZ. I'm not about to sit back and listen at people talk about how bad a Raptor is. My Raptor mod's are listed below, and it handles through turns, and up hill just the same as the YFZ I rode. And I already posted the results of the race...I didn't win, but I wasn't blowed off the planet either. Yamaha builds great quads, and each has it's own uses....

The Banshee can be built to a drag monster that will eat amost anything alive......

The YFZ is a built MX'er......it's bred to race MX....

The Raptor is a awesome trail bike......

And as for hill climbing and what not.....I want all the stock suspension YFZ's to follow me and several Raptors around here up some hills.....when we get to the top, few YFZ's will be there, and that's for sure. But hill climbing is more rider then quad anyway, and I know a lot of people that could climb hills on a moped. LOL.

But I'm not trying to slam a YFZ in anyway....hell my next new quad is set to be a YFZ. But after riding a comparing....there is no way that anyone will ever convince me that a YFZ is head and shoulders above a Raptor. Not for where I ride, and the places I go.