I take it you saw my title and said, there isn't anything wrong with the glorious raptor! Well here it goes

The thumper as I like to call it has weak upper a-arms and as you know they are aluminum. Now it is to my understanding that yamaha has had to fix alot of these falty a-arms. They could even have some law suits on there hands. Now with the a-arms it makes you wonder, What else did they not do enough r&d work on and is going to break? The thing is not reliable at all. There are guys in this very forum that have had problems after there fourth or fifth tank of gas! That right there is pathetic. Best quad ever? Not by a long shot yamaha. The last of my major flaws is the suspension is ridicuously to soft. It is plush at slow speeds and high for that matter, but jumping is limited. Especially if you weigh over 190lbs.To have the best quad ever you might as well directly copy the honda 250r. You might say, well it is competitive against a ds650. The ds gets the nod for all out top speed. It is also wider and more stable in the whoops.

So in conclusion, do we need another big bore four stroke? No, and I hope honda and kawi do not follow in yamaha's footsteps. I did not do this to start a fight, but merly inform future rator owners of SOME, not all of the flaws in the yamaha raptor 660r.

 

I forgot to mention that the swing arm is also made of alumin. It won't be long before we start to see these crack, just as on the 400ex. Remember the a-arms didn't take long at all to show there weakness. I don't think they put much thought into the a-arms or the swing arm.

 

well i got my raptor 09-19-00
nothing broke so far.
it is a nice machine but not perfect.
all quads have falts.
ride on

 

You want Ride control to fix the suspention so that it is perfect at all speeds?....GO BUY A CADILLAC!!! Just because you are jealous and don't have one...problably never even ridden one...doesn't mean you can go around flapping your trap about something you know absolutly NOTHING about!!!You ride a Yamaha yourself...can't you at least be happy that it is made by the same company?

 

hi austinL911
you are right.
he sounds jealous or mad he can not get one.
hope you get yours soon.
ride hard ride safe.

 

 

What do you mean by the jumping being limited? I live to catch air. The Raptor is one of the most fun, best handling jumpers I've ever ridden, and I've been riding various bikes for 25 years. I've severely abused the thing, and have yet to have a problem.
Perhaps you should leave the reviews to people who have actually ridden the machine in question extensively, eh?

 

First of all I wouldn't buy a rator if it was $3,000. If I was given one and couldn't sell it I would jump it into a local lake. The only reason I have a blaster is because I diddn't think I could handle a 250r(now I can) and sport fourstrokes are so slow.This is the only cool fast two stroke sport. I can smoke my neighbor when he had his 300ex with mods.

Now no I don't want fixed suspension. I just want suspension that is good for jumping and not so good on trails. Sorta like on a banshee. I would rather shell out $400 more for a faster machine and for a foot of suspension. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about I am talking about a ds650.

At the famous red bud track and wabash the ds will consistantle beat the raptors. And don't say Well they were not as good as me, Trust me they were.

 

You draw lots of conlusions without providing any basis for those conclusions, hotfmfblaster.

Without evidence, for example, you say: "Those aluminum parts are weak." Perhaps you should inform Boeing Aircraft they should replace aluminum structural members of their airplane with steel components.

Your self-serving boasting about your own Blaster's superior performance bears no relevance to your trashing of the Raptor, not does your account of your Blaster's blinding speed qualify your conclusions in any way.

(I AM curious: How did you develop the absolute figure of "190 pounds" as the absolute gross rider weight permissible on a Raptor?)

While I'm sure prospective Raptor purchasers appreciate your concern for their welfare and the warning you so generously provide, you would serve them better with more first-hand direct evidence and experience involving actual Raptor observation and performance, rather than your superficial impressions and ourright hearsay you offer as the basis of your convictions.

Diogenes

 

We all know people are having problems with: Breaking a-arms, Bending or BREAKING axle's, break rotor bendings (I think thats what i read), Carb's shooting off on hard landings or fast acc., Carb's cutting out when you get into riding a wheelie. And in about another half year people will start to complain about the swingarm cracking, just as the 400ex riders had a slight problem with. Sound's like when you buy that raptor you will be putting 500$ in aarms, 400$ into an axle, 500$ into a swingarm...and whatever else breaks. Sounds like for less price, you could buy a DS! Yes you could have the dealer fix those broken things, but why in the hell would you want more stock parts that will break again!?!? I Havnt had a single problem with my ds's chassie in 3 month's of abuse, and 3 bad rollovers. The Ds is built to go to war, and come back unphazed!