Hahaha, hey there Recon99....you're a good man.

Thanks for all the information. I'll keep things posted when I can. Maybe make a thread with some pics about my life on the quad.

Cheers.

 

bamaslamma, the ltr 450 is built by Suzuki and if you are planning on racing that is in my opinion the best flat track racer you can get. And here are some of the reasons why I say that, first off I have a yfz and love it, but my little brother just bought a ltr 450 and I can not hang with him on the track, the supension on that quad are undoubtely leaps and bounds better than the yfz. Now on the rapotor 700 is a bad *** quad, but I haved raced against a 700 on my yfz and ate it alive,(both stockers). My little brothers ltr 450 has had a mild port job on his head but that is it. ( I can barely outrun him on my Banshee and I have about 10,000 grand in the bike).

You should if you can ride all different kinds of bikes before you choose one.

As far as the Hondas I would think hard about not buying one for the simple fact that they are not liquid cooled except for the trx 450. They are wonderful bikes and are about as reliable as any bike on the market.

 

YFZ

 

What you guys are missing though is that he still does some slow trail riding from time to time. Being owners of 450's you probably realize that by the high-revving nature of these beasts, they don't like going slow.

 

Hey Recon99, since you seem to be the gearhead and definitely keep tabs on this thread, let me throw one your way.

I was talking to my cousins husband about my Raptor. He rides sports bikes and tunes them as he pleases, so he had a thing or two to say about me getting more power out of my Raptor. I know that Yamaha offers the GYT-R jet kit for the carburetor but is it THAT good of a jet kit? He suggested that I go and buy a new sprocket, either a front sprocket with one extra tooth on it than it has now or a back sprocket with three less than it has now (38 teeth altogether on the back now). He said that with less teeth in the back or more in the front I can pull more top speed out of it, however, with a large back sprocket I could get more torque.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the Raptor 250 pushes out about 31 HP stock. With all of the GYT-R parts that are available for it but without boring it out, what kind of horsepower can I crank out of this machine? It's built for speed, so I am sure that it can be torqued and modded out for even more, right?

He said after all the add-ons, I could be looking at over 45 HP, maybe 50 HP. Is that true? And for all you guys out there that think that top speed is all there is, think again. I'm not doing this for a higher top speed on a straightaway, but for more speed on the track altogether.

Any suggestions anyone?

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>
First of all I said if you want to mod it out and that meant upgrading the suspension, they wont scare you if you know how to ride it.</end quote></div>

Right I understand man but, you seen what he bike he is coming off of. The 'shee will scare the p out of him.

 

i thought you had already got the 700 which i highly agree with. more versatle- shares components with yfz.. the list goes on. id try to find a 700 GYTR from 07 if i were you. it has the better shocks, gytr pipe, accessories etc already on it... dont know why its not made in 08. i cant find one used around here. some on the boards have found left overs at the dealers though.

anyway i dont think you are going to get 50hp out of the raptor 250 engine just with bolt ons and the like. you'd have to do helluvallot to get close to that unless i just am missing some info about that particualr engine...if that is what you are referreing to upgrading. on the 450 or 700, yes, that is easy to get.

besides engine, you are going to have to do allot to the machine (mainly suspension) to keep up with either on the track, if that is where you ride most. this is mainly 450 teriitory. most 450s will be great for that and while its true they like to rev, i have ridden my 450R slow, in trails, in technical stuff many times without issue. that being said, if i was buying a 450 again it would be the YFZ...06 & up- but 09 is prob going to get EFI (we definitely will know in june).

for overall riding, barring mudding (which i dont think you would even consider a sport bike, i wouldnt), the 700 is the way to go since it has a great engine, suspension parts are shared with the YFZ now... you really cant go too wrong with either but the 700R just offers more versatility/features (right now) for the money based on your 2 choices. im not going to throw other choices here for you since you stated that's not where you want this thread to go.

conclusion: if track is where you are going to ALWAYS be, then get 450, if not get 700.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>
Now, i'm not saying the old 350's are a bad quad or anything, for the longest time the warrior was the best 4 stroke quad on the market. It's just that the rest of the market has moved on to bigger and better things, and yamaha just doesn't want to let go of the yfm350.
</end quote></div>

Right that's exactly what I meant.

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>


I'm not sure what you mean about raptor 700's running hot either, it runs MUCH cooler than any air cooled quad I ever owned.</end quote></div>

Guess I said that wrong. Internally yes it probably runs cooler which is good but, they put off much, much more heat. Never burnt holes in my jeans with the warrior. : ) That 700 (450 also) would light me up and in the trails and make my legs so hot I'd have wear extra protection. I could wear shorts on the warrior and the 400ex and never be bothered.

I do remember the annoying clutch slippage when it gets hot. That happened with the air cooled 400ex as well. That was a problem that annoyed the heck out of me.

 

Anybody heard much about the Raptor 660? Haha, I kind of left that one out of the mix.

What happens when the clutch slips and what causes it?

 

A Raptor 250 is not putting at 31hp. Maybe 16 or 17.