Okay guys, we have all heard how GREAT, and what kind of GREAT things this raptor will have. Now lets hear some of the not so great things. What do you dislike about the raptor? i am interested to hear some opinions.

I myself think the raptor will be a great machine, but i just hope if yamaha wants to hit the big one, they better have a good suspension setup !!

 

There are no bad things about the RAPTOR,I rode one June 6 at LAS VEGAS it handles,its fast,the reason it took so long for it to be released was that YAMAHA wanted it to be perfect.I manage a YAMAHA dealership and we already have 14 deposits and it is the ULTIMATE SPORT ATV.

 

The headlights are UNDERNEATH the fenders! And what do those fenders get hit with? Rocks, mud, sand, etc. Hence, the headlights are also subjected to the same abuse. I guess it's just not a perfect world.

 

I am not thrilled about the Raptor. I ride a Banshee and a Blaster. I made both machines wider and I like the Blaster better longer. I also added Works shocks to both. I use the single carb on the Banshee. I have busted up two Blaster and two Banshee frames, and five swingarms. This is not from abuse just riding hard. I see the same problems with the Raptor.
The Raptor may have a very good engine. But with its narrow width and possibly just average shocks you won't be able to use the power. The shock travel to me is a big disapointment. I don't feel a mild steel tube frame will withstand the punishment the extra weight and the faster speeds people will want from a 660.
If I have to deal with two carbs I want at least two cylinders. Give me fuel injection. Speaking of fuel capacity, I put a 5.5 gal. tank on the
Banshee. The 3.1 on the Raptor doesn't get me as far as I want to go.
Lights underneath the fenders cannot be a good idea. Can't expect much from Dunlap tires.
Final thought, the Raptor will be a good dune ride but a big disappointment for motocross without modifications. I would have prefered a 990, about six inches wider, twelve inches of shock travel all around, fuel injection with a street legal kit so I could ride it anywhere. I am glad to have another choice.

 

not expecting much are we???

 

I am not thrilled with the maintainence of the air filter and chain adjustment. Those are clearly not an improvement. If I am wrong, then the photos are awfully decieving. Also, the exact same suspension figures as the Banshee with the same(apparantly) shocks is a dissappointment. I agree that it is probably a great motor, and it may handle well, but I doubt it is a motocrosser and ease of maintaince should be engineered into the machine, not reverse engineered by the aftermarket.

 

This may be a silly response, but how can you ask about the bad things when the quad hasn't been released to the public yet?

Everything good OR bad is just speculation at this point.

However I do anticipate that the Raptor will put Yamaha back on top of the sport quad category!

 

snowshark
I ment what you know, if you knwo anything, and i said YOU" as in your opinion..sorry man

 

There are a few bad things about the Raptor. One is the alloy upper A-arms. After the shocks wear out to the point that it bottoms out, then those arms will bend like pretzels. Another problem with it's motorcycle cousin is over-cooling. I've heard that people have had to block off 75% of their radiators just to get it hot enough to run. Then when it gets hot outside it stalls. Also the redline of this thing is 5250 rpm's. Yamaha says "it revvs to the moon!" Umm 5250? not exactly the moon. You won't hear 9000 rpms from the Raptor, you hear it all the time from the Banshees. The raptor is also very narrow for MX racers. The best the road racer motorcycle would do was 118mph at WFO. Not too impressive. The new aluminum swing-arm looks good but is prone to crack just like the Hondas.

 

Icepack,

About the over-cooling, I would much rather restrict radiator flow in some what than to be forced to buy a COOLHEAD or some other device to try to keep it from burning up.

I'm pretty sure that when yamaha say's it revs well, they are still talking about the Raptor and not the motor on the bike. In fact, if you continued to read, you'd see that the engine RPM is artificially limited to somewhere around 9,000RsPM. Believe me, I have a Banshee with a 2-into-1 pipe and know how well a 9,000 rpm can sound, especially out of a twin cylinder.

I'm not here to say that the Raptor is going to be the "be all, do all" of atv'ing. Most single cylinder 4-strokes will never be able to hang with highly modded, overbored 2 cylinder 2-strokes or turbo/supercharged big bore 4-strokes. However, if it lives up to its design, it should be excellent for the average guy who not only likes a fast quad, but wants it to be useable on trails and other things than flat out hauling butt through the dunes.

I could be biased since I already have a Banshee and make all kinds of excuses as to why the Raptor will suck, but that's a little premature considering it isn't even released yet. Instead, I'll just get in line in order to buy a Raptor and see for myself.