First of all... Derbyking, "why ask why"??? "if you're worried don't buy one"???? That makes no sense whatsoever! The first thing anyone will tell you when planning to make a major purchase, such as an ATV, you should ask around to find out what they're made of. You should ask owners what they think of theirs. That's only sensible. And as for what Guyraptor said about thousands owning Raptors, but only about 50 complaing about them on this board.... well the thousands that own Raptors aren't all on this board, so you can't really say that only 50 of thousands of bikes are lemons.
Speaking as someone who doesn't own a Raptor, but who visits this board frequently, I've noticed this... when the Raptor first came out, all you heard about was how awsome it was, and how everyone wanted one. As time went on, you started hearing more and more problems with them, such as gearing problems, axles, controll arms bending, carb troubles, suspension leaks, etc. Now it seems many people regret buying theirs, but many still claim to love theirs. Now it could be that these people who claim to love theirs may just be too proud to admit that the bike they shelled out $10000 for, and constantly brag about is junk, or maybe they really do love them, but from what I've seen, there seems to be more problems with Raptors than with most bikes. In all fairness though, someone mentioned earlier that new bikes will have their growing pains, and that's true. The trouble is that Yamaha is notorious for not fixing their growing pains, and they become a permanent problem even in later models.

 

But that's fifty people on this board. The thousands of people that own them all aren't on this forum. I'm sure it would boggle our minds if all of them were, and posted their problems. The Raptor is easily the most trouble prone quad to come out of the box in a long, long, time.

 

Here's my story, I was planning on buying a 400ex, because of all of the bad things I heard on this forum about the raptor, but I still went with the raptor, and I'm really glad I did. I've had it for seven months now and the only problems I had were that my carbs blew off twice after I put and exhaust on it. All my friends ride 400's and warrior's and they wish they had a raptor. All of our quads have problems, we buy them to ride them, not baby them. Ya you might have some problems, but you won't be dissapointed, I'm not.

 

and your all saying that there weren't any problems iwth the 400 EX when it came out. I remember reading stuff about air filters coming off and other things, so honda isn't perfect either. my brother has a raptor. and i'm probably gunna sell my banshee and get one, they are the funnest quad i have ever road, i would recommend one to anyone.

91'Banshee

 

Hi WhatULookinAt,

I have owned my machine for about 8 months now and I can tell you, I haven't had a singl problem yet, *knock-on-wood*... When I ride, I ride in tough trails, go off of jumps, etc. I ride hard, but I also take very good care of the machine at the very same time. Those are my 2 cents.

IronBear

 

Myself and two of my friends have over one thousand miles each on our Raptors and none of us have had ANY problems. I think the guys having a lot of problems are thrashing the s*** out of their Raptors and not maintaining them. #1 rule - change the oil a LOT!!!!!

 

I have had my raptor 7 months the only problem was the carbs blowing off i ground the spacers down a little and it was fine and 3 other pepole i ride with have raptors and havent had any problems

 

I don't even own a Raptor and it kills me to see you people trash them.
It comes down to how people treat them... unless you own one I don't see where you can gripe. Put 660cc on most quads and they will fall apart. Not to mention give that much power to most riders and unless they know what the are doing they are going to think the thing is invincible and probably end up trashing it.

 

I've had mine since October 2000 and I've had no problems. I have about 30 hrs on it and mostly trail ride with a few gravel/sand pits. I'm always looking for jumping opportunities but nothing too radical (mostly side roads, crossing ditches, so far). Everyone I ride with has a 250cc 2-stroke dirtbike and I have no problem keeping up with them (much to their surprise). In fact I think I could out run them if I wanted. This thing corners fantastic.

 

I admit after reading all these posts about the raptor I was scared too But, I did, I raced my banshee for the last five years, So I RUN the machines hard 4 days a week. Now I'm running the raptor 4 days and banshee 2. Hard jumps Extreme drags. My banshee is highly modified and I still pull better times on the track. Raptor runs not far behind do the fact the power hooks up quick to the ground rather than wheel spin.

I'm happy with the raptor.
IT DOES NEED A BETTER SKID PLATE,
I RECOMEND PRO DESIGN AIR KIT AND PIPES.
I RECOMEND AFTERMARKET AXLE

Typical updates that are neccisary in any new machine.