My friend picked up a raptor earlier this week and we went ridin today. Of coarse we were going to race. I raced him on my 400 and my brother took a stab at racing him too. He beat me and my brother out 4th gear (more torque). We did alot of road ridin and he didnt keep going faster then me he stayed pretty well at an even length ahead. my guess is he is running 1 or 2 mph faster then me. I would like to know if it is a 6 or 5 gears? i have heard alot of both. It says 5 on the yamaha web sight and i never counted when i rode it. When i rode it i noticed the front end seemed to light. the suspension was soft and so was the seat. The handling wasnt that bad not as good as me 400EX but not alot worse. Climbing, it had some good power and good tires too. It owuld easily motor up all the hills i thought a little better then my 400EX. He is changing his oil tonite from the "break in oil" to the good stuff. we will be riding tomorrow again and i might post how it goes.