Is the 400ex a great bike? Yep. But no way is it the unbeatable king of the quads. It doesn't take a second mortgage to afford Warrior mods to beat the 400ex.
The Warrior has 13 years of PROVEN dependability under it's belt, and a few mods isn't going to change that. The 400ex may be a better race machine, fresh off the showroom floor. But I'd take a Warrior over a 400ex for long term reliability and lotsa trail-riding, anyday.

 

Me and my girlfriend own a Warrior (actually the Warrior is hers and the Banshee is mine) we had an Alba 400 stroker kit installed (White Bros. pipe, White Bros carb kit, Alba race cam, titanium valves, hi-comp. piston, stroker crankshaft, and KnN filter) it runs great and will keep up with a 400 e with pipe and carb (if that matters) so far has been very reliable with no problems, we ride 4-5 times a week and 1-2 times on the weekends, the kit has been on for 1 year now. it definitly makes the Warrior a lot more fun to ride and a much more capable machine but for the amount of money it cost Im not really sure if it was worth it, I think it would have been smarter to get another bike (which we ended up doing a few weeks ago), but thats just my
opinion.

 

Sorry to get off the main subject but, my warrior is modified with a Webb cam, K&N filter, DG exhaust, Wiseco piston and porting and polishing head work. I got one of only two warriors around here and all other 15-20 bikes is 300 and 400EXs with mods. The only one I can't beat got a 440 kit along with cam and everything else including rev kit. But I still take him top-end. I got a 15t front sprocket.


So now we got that cleared up, stick with your warrior and laugh like I do when they got to get off them 400s and push'em backward while I just push a lever. So modify your warrior and don't waste your money on a EX. Going with the smaller tires is great for handling, but I would go with a 15t over a 14t.