YFZ or raptor 700?

[Ecooke21]

I guess this questiopn is for Mark. What do you like better, and why? I am pretty sure I am going to buy a new quad in feb/march..I have narrowed it down to these two.. I assume you have ridden both enough to give a fair review..

BTW, dont say the YFZ because you want me to buy yours..

[GMAN226]

i think Mark has the Raptor now. there don't seem to be a lot of places to legally ride quads. is that not the case??


g-man

[R7]

It all depends on what type of riding you plan on doing? Trails or MX tracks?

The YFZ 450 is a great out of the box quad to have some fun on at your local MX track. It's light and extremely stable for a stock quad making the jumps, burms and whoops almost seem easy
It's also not to bad in the trails, probably still the BEST quad I've ever trail ridden. Again it's lite weight and stability plays a big part in that (i think it's somewhere around 355lbs? ). No reverse kinda sucks on any quad though but unless you get bogged down in a mudhole, you can pretty much just pick the thing up and get out of most situations.
It's designed as a race quad so the gear ratios are not exactly trail friendly, but that's where the clutch and some throttle control come into play

The Raptor 700? It's not exactly what I was expecting but i'm still very happy with it. My first ride was at a friends house and he has a old warn in MX track in his yard. What a way to brake it in? I was impressed at how well it jumps and how stable it was sliding around the burms and corners.... but you can feel the extra 40lbs it has over the YFZ.
Reverse is nice for dead end trail riding where you need to turn around, or even if you get caught on a tree or something. it's also a useable reverse unlike the old 660 raptor, you can simply let the clutch out and off it goes without giving it any gas.
The motor and EFI system is ultra smooth. It's not a high RPM screemer like the YFZ, it just builds power and lots of torque at reasonable RPM's. I'm pretty impressed with the engine performance so far, and I've been good so far and left the stock pipe on it... for now
My only real complaint with the Raptor is the 1st to 2nd gear ratios in the transmission. 1st gear is very low, almost tractor like which is great for tight and slow trails....2nd gear is geared kinda high, it almost seems you skip the real 2nd and go to 3rd? if that makes any sence And it kinda sucks sometimes because a lot of trails I ride are not high speed and at the same time they're not tight and knarly either

If I had to choose... It'd be a tuff choice but I would almost favor the YFZ450. I've always said if the YFZ had reverse, it would be the PERFECT trail/MX quad Plus the thing just has a really cool and agressive look to it.

I've probably averaged 30% MX tracks and 70% trail riding with my YFZ so that's the reason I wanted to give the new Raptor a try. With that 30/70 ratio, I'm thinking I will enjoy the Raptor a lot more for the riding I do (mostly because of reverse)
Flip that ratio to 70% mx and 30% trails, YFZ all the way..

Now that my R1 has sold, I'm not overly concerned about letting the YFZ go, it's not costing me anything to sit there and be ready when the local MX tracks open up again

There's a lot of legal riding but for now, you'll have to do some driving. There is hope that there will be legal riding in RI in the near future as well.
We all have our riding areas that are "tollerated" but not legal, keep them out of public viewing please and use the PM system

[Ecooke21]

Thanks Mark ! That is exactly what i was looking for.

[R7]

Originally posted by Ecooke21
Thanks Mark ! That is exactly what i was looking for.

No problem So what one are you going to buy?

[Ecooke21]

I think I am leaning towards an 02-05 raptor..because they are cheaper...buying ahouse and having a child this year, money is kind of tight..
?..I know the 01 models have tranny problems... whats the deal with the old raptors reverse?.. anything else I should be looking out for?

btw, I think the no reverse thing has me staying away from the yfz. ASi will probably be riding trails 90%, and maybe some mx track (if you let me tag along next time you go )

[R7]

The 01-05 raptor 660 is a totally different bike and non of my comments above apply to that thing. I had a 02 and totally hated it. Great motor but that is it, the rest of it is poo IMO if it's in stock form. It needs $3k worth of suspension to make it hadle like a stock YFZ. They are narrow, short wheel base and they are very top heavy

[damannz]

yeah the first generation rap's are tippy to say the least.Plenty of power but it seemed everytime i went into a corner it would nose dive or grab and try to roll, where as my 250r will take just about any corner with out too much "body roll" if you will. I guess with the right suspension, longer a arms and some good shocks it would handle alot better but then you have to buy the rapty and drop another 1000-2000 into it.With that cash your talking a yfz 450, or trx 450r which in stock trim are just about as good as most hopped up quads.I still like my old 250r just for the handling characteristics and all around fun. I do know where there is a 02 rapty in decent shape for 2500 but they are selling for the same reasons i and r7 pointed out. good luck either way

[x2468]

Originally posted by Ecooke21
I think I am leaning towards an 02-05 raptor..because they are cheaper...buying ahouse and having a child this year, money is kind of tight..
?..I know the 01 models have tranny problems... whats the deal with the old raptors reverse?.. anything else I should be looking out for?

btw, I think the no reverse thing has me staying away from the yfz. ASi will probably be riding trails 90%, and maybe some mx track (if you let me tag along next time you go )

a durablue lowering kit, some ITP off-set rims and durablue graphite spacers will fix-er right up. My cousin has a fully decked 02 or 03 rap. full yoshi, K&N, Works black widow, so much stuff i cant rememebr. i think we added it all up and it came to almost 5k in mods alone. he loves the thing, but it'd be fine with just the spacers, rims and pipe (for the beautiful sound of course). we'll have to see how my Kx250 does against him in the twisties and in a drag. my bet is he'll be dethrowned come summer.

How do you like the new 700? i was really impressed with all the handling tid-bits it got from the yfz, looked very nice. hows the power of the motor?

[damannz]

we'll have to see how my Kx250 does against him in the twisties and in a drag. my bet is he'll be dethrowned come summer.

The raptor should get owned by a 250 2 stroke bike as will most quads......With a good rider on it of course..