There are 12,783 registered members in this forum. I speculate that Yamaha is in here getting feedback from us on all their machines but especially the raptor...what do you guys think? Sooooo keep up the most excellent and honest reports, I will do the same when mine finally gets here. PS...Yamaha it is a little perverted to watch and not comment once in a while but that is your choice...isn't the internet a wonderful source of information!

 

If Yamaha is looking at this I'd like to know why they put such a tall reverse gear? My Warrior had a nice low gear in reverse and was excellent for pulling out of sticky situations. I can't hardly back up without spinning the tires or killing it!

I was riding through an area of water which I thought was shallow but I hit a spot where I was in water to the top of the tires. To be on the safe side I decided to back out but when I tried I dug a hole in the soft rock bottom. It was in so deep that I could not get out in forward or reverse so I had to get off and pull it out the old fashioned way.

Other than that I love the bike. With safety being a concern with the maunfacturers I don't understand why they would want anyone going warp speed backwards.

 

If Yamaha is reading this all I have to say is keep up the good work and keep on building awsome machines!!!!I am a proud owner of a 2000 GP1200R waverunner that eats Sea Doos for lunch and soon to own a Raptor that will chow Hondas for dinner!!Gotta love the toys>I hope its not true what they say about when you have kids you loose all your toys,cause I got one on the way 04\02\2001

 

All i have to say is that is also what a clutch is for. If u know how to use it, alot of the times u can go in mud not spinning but just slipping the clutch still u get going, if it starts to spin then having a low reverse wouldnt have helped.

 

I'm 34 years old and have been around high performance cars and motorcycles all my life so I know what a clutch is. As a matter of fact in my possession there is a 69 Roadrunner, 70 Super Bee, Honda Goldwing, 350x, two Warriors, and a Raptor!
What I was getting at is there is no reason to have that high of a reverse gear! Low gears are made for pulling and starting off. Thats why cars that drag race or trucks in pulling contests have low gears.
That way you can be in the powerband without having to slip the clutch which loses power to the wheels and not have the tires spinning.

 

Well, at least any yamaha Big brothers out there should feel better than the Bombardier guys when the DS was released!

I'm not being hard on the DS650, really, it just suffered from a poor start, and disappointed customers coupled with bitter dealers, didn't help it out. I'm pulling for Bombardier to keep improving, and follow Polaris out of a similar situation.

 

If Yamaha is watching (and i hope they are )
the demand for Raptors are quite high and they knew it would be. Then why am I and very many others still waiting for there machine. The dealers should of got more than 1 in each.


I WANT MY RAPTOR........my dealer got 1 in on monday and i am 2nd on the list. Ihave a funny feeling i wont see mine untill the end of october.
I have made plans to go to the Bad lanbs on Oct. 6th. Isure hope it is in by then....



ex400ex

 

If Yamaha is watching (and i hope they are )
the demand for Raptors are quite high and they knew it would be. Then why am I and very many others still waiting for there machine. The dealers should of got more than 1 in each.


I WANT MY RAPTOR........my dealer got 1 in on monday and i am 2nd on the list. Ihave a funny feeling i wont see mine untill the end of october.
I have made plans to go to the Bad lands on Oct. 6th. Isure hope it is in by then....



ex400ex

 

If Yamaha is watching (and i hope they are )
the demand for Raptors are quite high and they knew it would be. Then why am I and very many others still waiting for there machine. The dealers should of got more than 1 in each.


I WANT MY RAPTOR........my dealer got 1 in on monday and i am 2nd on the list. Ihave a funny feeling i wont see mine untill the end of october.
I have made plans to go to the Bad lands on Oct. 6th. I sure hope it is in by then....



ex400ex

 

The reverse gear in the Raptor gearbox was an added afterthought. The reverse is geared somewhere between first and second, at aprox. 1.74 to 1, way too tall. Without having a Shop Manual or a Raptor sitting in front of me, I think that there may be a "space-in-the-case" problem that prevents a larger driven gear from being installed. With a larger gear, the reverse would be slower. I do not understand why a "sport" quad has a reverse gear anyway, and Yamaha admits that the reverse gear modification added 5 whole pounds to the overall weight of the Raptor.

Actually, I hope Yamaha IS watching, and would step up to the plate with some Raptor Answers.
Ya gotta admit that there are some engineering
"oddities" concerning the Raptor, that make you want to ask: Why'd they do THAT?

Knobby: Are you watching??

Flyin' Ryan