I live in the country and tonight some of my freinds were having a party with a bonfire. He lives about 10 miles away. Which means traveling on gravel and paved roads. Round trip over twenty miles. The Raptor was nothing less then amazing. This thing flys with a smooth handling and rider comfort. The lights hits the road perfect and kept me near full throttle in fifth with my 12 tooth front sprocket. Your talking 70mph. Thats flying at night. I love it when you wheelie in the dark and the lights shoot to the stars. The Raptor is still faster then my White Bros. 400 ex. I am way glad I went with the Raptor it is truly a higher step in the pursuit of performance perfection and I got A reverse gear back. Way to go Yamaha! Team blue is now even making aftermarket accesories for the Raptor. So far I haved over 50 hrs on my Raptor which I picked up Sept. 5th with the first shipments. And absolutely no problems except for bent handlebars and grabbar which were my fault. I am 27 previously owned a trx125, 350Warrior, 250r, 400ex, and now the Raptor. The Raptor is by far the best. Yes I said Best better then the 400 ex, DS 650, and Banshee. Eat your heart out Honda.

Good post.
Riding at night is awesome. A whole 'nother game.
So much to to watch, mainly racoons & oppossoms!
I even came close to a deer one night. Kinda scary, they are to big to hit on a quad! Plus that cool night air seems to make the quad just a little faster, know what I mean?

I totally agree with you but dont even try telling it to the THICK HEADED honda riders.To them their 400ex is the best thing ever invented.I used to have a lot of different quads and the last was a 2000 400ex and the raptor is 100% better than the honda.Oh well better luck next time honda.

I was out night riding last night and it was fun!!I came an inch from hitting a deer.



99 warrior

The best time to ride!

Yes, I agree riding at night is fun. But it's a pretty stupid to ride at 70 MPH down gravel or paved roads at night. Even just a short length of time.

If you were to hit a deer, (please refer to Kid_Warrior previous post)you'd be dead or a vegetable if wearing a helmet. It's very easy to trade in your Raptor for an electric wheel chair. Then you can ride to your friends place at a blazing 3-4 MPH.

If you still had use of your arms you wouldn't need an electric chair. You could get one of those race chairs and you could still wheelie.

Now that's fun. Please keep it safe…

Why aren't there any banshee night riders??
I know, they can't get those headlights to work properly...well...they do work properly, but I can't clean them unless I take them apart...so I don't see much at night... :(

zorro, cut those plastic screens off your lights and you'll be able to clean them!!!!!

Okay, one question.....why? Explain to use thick headed honda guys. Cuz I'm not totally convinced here. I rode one this past weekend. Yes, it is a great quad. Excellent riding position, great power, and killer looks. I didn't like the narrow bars and sorta weird acting suspension. Which i know, both can be corrected. The kid was only about 130 lbs versus me at 265, i would have to play with the suspension. But anyway, this subject is getting old. Both are great quads, they can't even be compared. Honda underpowered, yamaha alittle less predictable handling. Like i've said before, other than reverse, I can make my 400ex preform like a Raptor for less money than the MSRP of the Raptor plus the added money for the hanlding characteristics. The Raptor is a great machine. Is it better than the 400ex? In my OPINION no. I like my quad, THAT IS ALL THAT MATTERS. ME, I bought the damn thing, cuz it fits me. So, to me, my 400ex is better for me. Put this damn topic to death!
Grow up or go race Bigbore440ex and kiss his tailight.

It's so simple.
I should have thought about it.
gravel and dirt protection won't be very good but I dont't care since I'm always in front :)

Thanks