Does any one here use a raptor to hill climb? If so how dose it do on hills 75% and steeper? I went ridding yesterday with frank willson (the national hill climbing champ) and he was ridding a stock 250R and all I can say is WOW. those sport quads will out climb any 4x4 as long as the hill isent to muddy or rutted but as long as its smooth it will climb a hill that a 4x4 of any kind will flip on. So now I'm on the verge of buying a sport quad and was consedering a raptor but wanted to know how it climbs. I aslo want to know if it has the torque to pop the front end over a mud hole without haveing to slowdown to 2end gear?
pleas reply, and good ridding.

 

I don't know if the raptor would be my first choice for steep hill climb competitions. I myself would look at the shee if hill climbing will be the majority of what you do. You need big time wheel spin for steep climbs and the Shee is better suited for that. We have a place here called the "wall", it's about 75' tall with a 12/12 pitch and the 4-strokes tend to want to hook up and dump you off( too much low end) and the 2-strokes with their punchy power band break loose and keep the front end down. JMO! Good luck with your choice.

 

I agree with velocity, stay away from a 4 stroke if you are just going to use it for hill climbs.

I have seen the wall on the Huevos videos, looks like it could hurt. Have you ever conqured it?

 

I agree that the 2 strokes have more wheel spin but wont they be outlawed in a few years? also hills will be a big part of my fun but most of my ridding will be on trails. I think a shee woul just spin when I pop the cluch or gas it to hop the front through a mud hole.
p.s where can I see these videos of the wall?

 

Outlawed, that is a hard question to answer. I don't personally think that they will ban them altogether but that is just my opinon. You have hard choice to make. To be competitive in Hillclimbs you really need to have a purpose built machine. There is NO WAY you could take a hill climber trail riding. If possible get a used banshee for the climbs and a new Raptor for everything else you want to do.

If it is the same wall it is on Huevos 3 or 4 I can't remember.

 

I would say go with a Banshee 100%. Just last night, I climbed up this HUGE sandhill that I never thought possible. I just got my shee this summer and have just been getting the ***** to do crazy things on it. I hit the bottom of hill in 2nd gear mid powerband, it was in the tipy top of the powerband the whole way and never hesitated. It even has big ole 22 inch stock tires on it, lol. I bought it from a retired national ice race champion, Joe Plochel. He told me that it would beat most everything, and so far he was right. If you get a shee, you will have made the right choice, IMO.



-nick

 

87Banshee250sx,
I have to ask. How many Raptors have you ridden and it what type of terrain have you ridden them? I ask because it seems you do alot of reffering to the Shee for everything when it comes to questions about the Raps ability. Yes, I have ridden many shee's, from stock to bored -n- stroked - n- ported.


tommyboy84,
If you have an idea you want a Rap and need a quad that will do well in both trail and hill climbs, go ahead with the Rap. Something I might suggest though. To get the best of both worlds, you would want to pipe it and install a +2 swingarm. Pipe for more power and torque and the +2 to allow you to spin the wheels a little better on the hills. Just going with a +2 swingarm without the pipe will make doing wheelies over your mud holes at more then 2 nd gear near impossible.

Good luck with your decision.

 

http://www.digitaliway.com/hillclimb/Default.htm This is where one of the hill climb shots from the huevos video was shot (I was told???). I was there for the last run for this year, they run about three events a year. It's alot of fun, I don't climb myself but its fun just to watch everyone else try it. The hill is alot steeper than the pics make it look. The raptors and banshees seem to climb about the same for this hill. Its all in riding style. I watched a kid on his first ever try make it and alot of vetren hill climbers not. Good luck in your adventure it sure looks fun but I personaly would'nt want a new Quad to try this I'd have to agree with them and buy a beater for this and the new quad for regular riding JMO

 

Don't know about the Shee too much but on a sand hill I spanked a shee when I had my Honda 400EX. Now it is named Honda Hill. The shee appeared to be stock as mine was. After a few attempts I made it and he, well, just never could(maybe another shee rider could but haven't seen it done yet.) I can do it "easily" on my Raptor now and the Bombadier Baja can if you keep up enough speed, kinda heavy. My last attempt two weekends ago I couldn't make it on the 400EX (slightly modded now) but have every time on the Raptor. I don't know the pitch of steepness and what kind of sand (more like powdery dirt than West Coast sand from our beaches) but a lot of two stoke bikes don't try it unless they can get enough speed four stroke bikes seem to make it fine. So my vote is for the Raptor. The more I ride "tippy" the more it is tamed and the better rider I become. Try the longer swingarm like someone else suggested cause it likes to wheelie if your weight tranfer isn't good. Riding mtn bikes helps with the weight transfer for traction. Too forward you spin out and too far back you wheelie.

Raptor my vote!

 

I have ridden both the Banshee and the Raptor on the sand dunes in Namibia, South West Africa. Some pretty steep stuff. We were filming for Huevos 5 with Keith Little and Tavis Cain. Even they where nervous on some of the dunes. Tavis went up on the banshee....got to the top, fell off.....and the bike came tumble down. Spectacular wipeout footage. We also had DS's with us. The banshees and the raptors were the most competant ie. nothing stopped them. The Banshee is the originaL dune king, but there is nothing it can do that the raptor cant.

Soft sand, big steep dunes......I'll take the raptor, but thats what Im used to.

If you are going to attempt a big hill like that with hard pack dirt, a 4 stroke will be a little scary, but not if you are well experienced and know your machine. Hill climbing comes down to riding ability fullstop.