Not trying to start a war as I have owned BOTH Honda AND Yamaha products and really like both, but I was just thinking........

In the high performance ATV market, Yamaha has got the Banshee, Raptor 700, and YFZ450.

Unless I am mistaken, the only Honda in competition with these high performance sport quads is the Honda 450.

Has Honda fallen asleep at the wheel??

What are your thoughts on this???

P.S.
I am also posting this in the Honda forum to get BOTH views on this subject.

 

not really.. honda had some bitchin quads back in the day... (80s) the 250r isn't a bad quad... i'd buy it over that 450r

 

they r stoppin the banshee

 

I dont think yamaha is taking over because the 450r is a huge seller and yamaha has fallen way behind to suzuki in the 350/400 class (honda to for that matter). I do believe that Honda missed a great time to come out with a 650cc + quad. With the popularity of the raptor 660, Honda could of looked at the 660 and some of its weakness's and came out with a huge selling quad. Instead they allowed Yamaha to improve on the 660 and come out with the 700r.

With suzuki's new 450 and kawasaki and Can-am coming out with 450's and Polaris joining up with KTM, I am excited about what we are going to see in the future of sport quads.

 

plus what about the 400ex??? thats a higher level of atv riding...

 

I agree totally with bberck.

Look at Polaris for example. They are fairly new to the sport market but they are not afraid to try new things and make major changes to their existing lines. The 2003 Predator had some issues and Polaris immediately made changes for the 2004 year. The Outlaw is a new bike with what could be called a "radical" idea in the sport market with the IRS. People bash the IRS but I think it will catch on. Remember when 4x4 trucks started coming out with independent suspension up front and everybody said they suck that it will never replace the front solid axle on a 4x4 truck???? (Okay dating myself on that one)

The just introduced the Outlaw and look at the changes/upgrades they are already given that machine.

Yamaha makes awesome machines, but once they have a good machine they leave it relatively unchanged for a long time. The base 700 got what, new drilled brake rotors and colors? Of course the 700 is perferct already right.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

You can never become to complacent. Someone might just hand your a$$ to you as they blow by you.

 

Those are some valid points guys. Also, I was talking more about quads currently in production.
I know the Banshee will be discontinued in the US, but I believe they will still be made in Canada for quite some time??