Pages: 1
Posted by: RoostKing
I dont buy the whole Consent Decree theory. If this truly was the case, then Yamaha and Suzuki (up till 92) would have had to stop production of the Banshee and LT 250R. They did not. We have been abandoned by the manufacturuers, but it looks like that has turned around, so Happy Days are here again...
RoostKIng...
Posted by: SandDraggin
I agree with Yamaholic about being sick of hereing 400EX this and 400 that. Thats all you here in these forums any more. Or its my Warrior will trash your 400Ex, come on first of all a Warrior is only 17hp and the EX is 27hp you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Hey Dusty you say Hondas are so slow that you beat them all well I'll put my "old" 250R up against your new Warrior any day to see which is faster. I do agree that the 400EX is a great machine and I am a loyal Honda owner and I think that Yamaha makes some good machines too (Banshee)! I wish yama would come out with there new quad so we could at least have some thing to argue about other than, the same old stuff. Just my thoughts on the subject
Posted by: Mike Frey
Duster, just think of a 400EX with the mods your Warrior has? I'm pretty sure the tables would be turned. Although you didn't pay for the mods, that is a ton of money in your quad.
I have to agree with Gagnier. In the grand sceme of things, it doesn't matter what kind of quad you ride, or even how many mods you have. What matters is the good times you have riding. How much more enjoyment are you going to get out of owning a $15,000 Banshee than a stock 300EX? I doesn't matter which machine we ride, all of them let us have fun and get away for a while. Yes, having a clapped-out Banshee would be great, but how much more fun are you going to have?
Posted by: rottwolf
I'm not gonna know Yamaha too bad, cause I like em, but how do you reckon Yamaha has been so loyal to the consumer? How long have people complained about the airbox on the warrior/banshee? Has it been fixed? Why, people are still buying it, so they don't care! Honda comes out with the 300ex in 93? Then the 400 in 98? Yamaha comes out with it's three in 88, and then come out with what???? Just at thought. No one is loyal to the consumer, they are loyal to the all mighty dollar!
Jason
Posted by: cstark
The reason all of the manufactures have been sitting on thier asses so long is because the government put a stop to high performance quads in the late 80's after all of the 250 2-stroke and 3 wheeler accidents. After the 10 year bann, Honda was right there with the introduction of the 400EX.
I too am a little sick of reading all of the articles. But hopefully its just fuel to the fire too get some other players into the market.
Come on Yamaha, Kawasaki, Polaris, and (utility only) Suzuki. Let's go..............
Chris 00' race ready 300EX
Posted by: 86atc250r
My EX lands 60+ jumps on a daily basis on [b]stock[/b] suspension. Almost all our landings are "in the flats", on hard pack clay and rocks, regularly bottoming (sometimes hard enough to cause a second "unintended" jump ;)). I haven't broken anything yet, and the only thing I have bent is a set of aluminum bars and some wheels (which happen to be some of the strongest wheels made without going to steel or rings). The EX will also show stress marks (paint flaking) due to the frame being painted vs powdercoated, from what I have found, they are NOT actually cracks.
(take a look at my Sahara link at the bottom of this msg)
Your statement about the swingarm is blown completely out of proportion, I can only assume you have been reading too many magazines on that one. Yes, we have broken one, but that bike was extremely abused, the rider weighed around 220 lbs, and regularly jumped the thing (into the flats) 60'+ and 10'+ height. Honda replaced the swingarm and he hasn't broken one since. How many have you personally seen broken from little jumps by non-overweight riders? @175 lbs I have personally broken 2 steel swingarms on other bikes, point being, anything can be broken when abused.
Oh, and another thing... If the 400EX swingarm is so prone to breaking, explain to me why I have had one for sale now for a couple of months, with [b]no[/b] responses from EX owners wanting replacements? The [b]only[/b] responses I have gotten have been from people wanting to convert their 250R to the EX swingarm.
Don't like replacing steering stems, don't crash. If you are bending them from landing big air, time for aftermarket suspension, you are exceeding the capabilities of the shocks (which happen to be far better than on any other currently produced quad). Actually the stock steering stem is quite strong, ever tried straightening one?
Don't like replacing control arms? Don't reverse your front wheels and try for the big air. Still bending them? Time for aftermarket suspension - I know first hand that they will take some seriously hard landings.
The EX takes a lot more abuse than most any other stock quad out there. Why? Because it is the most capable "out of the box" machine there currently is, period. It makes riders very confident.
As I have said before, the EX is not by any means perfect, and there's a lot that I wish Honda would change, but it's not anything like some of you would have us to believe.
I also want to know why the EX seems to bother some of you non-EX owners so badly that you have to exaggerate and blow problems out of proportion, tired of getting beaten? I was.....
Posted by: 86atc250r
I got another response on my swingarm today, guess what, another 250R owner wanting to do a conversion, still to date, no (that means not even one) 400EX owners banging down my door.... Hmmmm, seems like I see a lot of EX's out there, I sure would think if they were all breaking their "fragile" swingarms, I would have at least a little interest in a practically brand new one at less than half the price of new or aftermarket.
There is nothing wrong with straightening mild steel like what is used on the steering stem, especially if the damage is only minor. Chromoly is a different story.
Landing 60 footers in the flats on a Mojave isn't a good idea I'm sure, but my 400 handles it pretty well actually, as long as my form remains good. And yes you are correct the second bounce is not a good thing, but stuff like that happens sometimes when you are pushing the machine to the extreme and running down 250 class dirtbikes (they may pull me in the straights, but I can eat em up in the tight corners and most don't have much on me in the jumping dept).
I rode at a new track today, a dirtbike track with lots of really large doubles, I was able to clear all of them, which some of the bikes weren't even doing. Many of them getting over 15' of vert air. Came up short a couple of times, overshot a few landings, still no broken parts....
Fact is, I have put my 400 thru the abuse, I have a close buddy that has broken a lot of stuff, I know what they will and won't take, and I can absolutely guarantee you that [b]IF[/b] a Mojave could be ridden at the level I am talking about, it would have substantially more problems. Remember a Mojave is a 300EX class bike, a whole different world (even when modified).
Duster, I would love to ride with you sometime, I have never seen a Warrior do the things you say this one will (not an insult). Too bad we're so far away from each other.....
The fact is, the EX is a great bike for what it was intended for, High performance recreational - if you are going to race it, you have to expect to buy hop up parts. I consider myself very fortunate to not have had to spend thousands on upgrades yet, although I'm sure they are well worth it and would make me substantially faster. It has taken a phenomenal amount of abuse from me without complaining a bit....
I don't know why I am trying to explain all this, it is obvious it is falling upon deaf ears. I guess, just ride your Mojave and be happy you don't have one of these POS EX's and I will do the same....
Posted by: 86atc250r
Just wait, you PWC folks time is coming, you will then know what we have felt for years. The govt and the enviro's are keeping a close eye on you, your days in the sun are numbered.....
Posted by: 86atc250r
First of all, I am old enough to remember all the stuff as it went down. All the media coverage and govt intervention, I was hardcore into my 3-wheelers then.
The Consent Decree is not a theory, it was a factual voluntary agreement between the manufacturers and the CPSC.
Ever notice that there were no new high performance machines made in that 10 year period? The others died out because the ATV market itself was dying, there was little demand compared to the product liability the manufacturers were facing. They did what they felt they need to at the time. Do you really think they enjoyed not producing these machines and the revenues from their sale?
The Banshee survived because it was the last choice. Anyone who wanted a performance machine had to choose a Banshee, sales remained at a descent level or else it would have died too. Honda was hit the hardest and had the most to lose because they were, at the time, the largest by a very substantial margin, they apparently decided it wasn't worth the fight for a dying market segment and focused their attention on other models (especially after going thru the 3-wheeler thing a couple years before, which they lost big on). I can only assume the LT250R and Tecate died due to lack of sales.
Take note of the manufacturer who was right there when the Decree expired....
Posted by: Bigdog
This post originally began with someone saying they were sick of hearing about how great the 400EX is in all the mags. Here is my reasoning as to why you see so much on the 400EX. WHAT ELSE ARE THEY GOING TO WRITE ABOUT! If you ask me the whole high performance ATV industry has been sitting on its ass for years. Being a person who has been in the PWC market for the past 8 years, the ATV industry looks like a 3rd world nation in comparison. If you ask me all the major ATV manufacturers have abandoned their customers. It took a PWC maker like Bombardier to finally get the ball rolling and shake things up. What a shame. Enough said.
Posted by: hakmazter
I had a highly modified Warrior and I was so sick of the 400ex that I rode it to see what the hype was and then I bought it. Enough said. Does anyone know why Suzuki and Kawasaki quit making sport quads, Honda tamed theirs, and Yamaha kept theirs the same for the past 10-12 years? Here's why. The CSPC (government agency) put a 10 year ban on sport quad manufacture from 1988 to 1998 and a total ban on three wheeler production. It was illegal to do anything as a manufacturer to make a quad faster (more dangerous) With all the lawsuits going around, each company chose to do what they did. The ban was almost over in 1998 and lo and behold, the only manufacturer to not be resting on their 13 year old laurels was HONDA. 1999 400ex. They looked at the racing scene (250r) and built a quad that would perform similar (within price) but put a 400 motor in it due to the 2 stroke powerband AND the environmentalists crying about owls. Why don't you Yamaha crybabies bitch at your manufacturer to do something? Wasn't there supposed to be a Banshee 400 in 1999 that never happened or in 2000? Oh well, I guess that no one has a time machine to go back in time 15 years to talk to the current Yamaha engineers.
Posted by: Dune_Scooter
Why let it bother you? Lets face it, Honda was the first to come up with the new 4 stroke, so it is going to be talked about alot. It is a damn nice machine. No one else has come out with anything that will compete other than the custom, $30,000 machines we see Tim Farr running. Hopefully this kind of thing is what will open Yamahas eyes. The intro of the Bomb has kinda quieted things down a bit and the cannondale will also get praise once its released. Yamaha has said they are working on something too. It remains to be seen. There are alot of Honda fans out there just like there are Yamaha fans. I happen to be a Yamaha fan myself, but lets face it. Honda fans are riding the new designs and we are still waiting for ours. I happen to enjoy my 12 yr old design machine. Im there to have a good time. Who cares what the brand is. Dont let it bother you, just enjoy what you have.
Posted by: Mojave99
the 400EX is over hyped... i know of a couple of guys that i race with and the only thing good about the quad is the motor... the swingarms are so fragile you break them at a drop off the hat, the steering stem must be made out of rubber.. it bends easy... for the price you pay for the quad you would think that they would be a little more stronger... this past sunday i overshot a 60 foot table top and landed in the flat, even with Works shocks on the front it was a hard landing but i didnt bend or break anything... my Mojave definately can withstand the abuse... my 99 lasted so i bought a 2000 and havent had a problem with either and even if they have been around for 13 years.. they are still good quads
Posted by: Mojave99
the swingarm coments i made are not blown totally out of proportion... they are facts that i have seen with my own eyes and not something i read in a magazine... and anyone trying to straighten a bent steering stem versus replacing it isnt the sharpest tool in the shed anyway!! and landing 60+ jumps in the flats isn't the smartest thing either your 2nd unintentional jump is the suspension botoming and rebounding begging for relief... the 400 is a nice bike except for the problems i mentioned earlier..
Posted by: GJ
I hope Yamaha does come out with a great sport/race bike. It will help keep honda honest! but I would hardly call Yamaha loyal to its customer. Selling 10 year old bikes with new stickers. Not that they are the only ones doing it. Charging customers $19 for an $8 clutch plate has me wondering about thier loyalty to me. If they deliver though I would expect it to be a good one. GJ
Posted by: foreman_s
Hi guys,
I got my 400ex 2 weeks ago, and I wasn't totally situated or broken in with the bike. Just like a new kid on the block, everyone wanted to race me. I beat my experienced freind's 360cc k&n , DG system 300ex, by about 2-3 quad lengths. This is my 1st time ever on a 400ex. As soon as the news spread around the neighborhood, another friend of mine who races, and has a brother with a 500cc wolverine wanted to race me. This kid has a 380cc warrior, with every soup-up imaginable. His quad also was professionally bored at 4 stroke tech. I looked on this forum, and realized that my 400ex was only getting 80% of the air that it craved. This gave my bike more horses on the top end. Turns out that my inexperienced skills beat my friend's 10,000$ + warrior. (the 10,000 only covers the soup-ups).
Duster, or whatever your name is, you may be a great rider, and your stories may be true, but until i see some pics or video's, i believe none of it. Maybe the 440ex wasn't properly bored. On the other hand, Gabe's website provides the facts. Those awesome pics, are amazing, and definatly believeable.
I've also ridden stock, and highly modified warriors. I also ride in a populated ATV area. Every time i go riding, i see at leaast 6-10 other 400ex's. I used to see warriors, but not anymore. Most of the people i talk too that have 400ex's have sold their warriors with replies such as "weak axles" "not enough power" "look at my 400 and compare it to what i used to ride (warrior)".
one of my other friend's also has a warrior, and he has broken axles like toothpicks.
I am not saying that the 400ex has no problems, just (in my opinion) less than the warrior. I would recomend a warrior to a less experienced rider, who isn't going to attempt any jumps or fast trail rides, rather than a 400ex. Remember, the warrior is compared to the 300ex, not the 400ex. A better comparison would be a modified 300ex to a modified warrior. Not a stock 400ex to a modified warrior, when the 400ex pulls away victorious all the time (from my races).
So before you go putting down the 400ex again, throw your warrior off of a cliff. Ohh and, have a nice day! :)
'00 400ex - fixed air mis-adjustment :) hehe
Posted by: Chris4OOEX
I DONT KNOW WHY ALL THESE YAMAHA OWNERS ARE "JEALOUS" OF HONDAS 400EX. IT IS A GREAT BIKE. SURE A BANSHEE WILL BEAT IT IN A DRAG RACE OR DUNING BUT FACE IT THATS ABOUT ALL THE BANSHEE IS GOOD FOR. EVERYTHING ELSE THE HONDA WILL TEAR UP THE BANSHEE AND NO OTHER QUAD WILL COME CLOSE(MOJAVE,WARRIOR,SPORT400,BLASTER). THIS IS HONDAS BIG PRODUCTION AND YAMAHA IS YET TO COME OUT WITH THEIR BIKE WICH WILL BLOW AWAY THE 400EX IM SURE. I PLAN ON BUYING ONE IF IT IS THE YZ426/400 ENGINE BUT THEY BETTER COME OUT WITH A GOOD FRAME AND SUSPENCION WICH THE BANSHEE OR WARRIOR HAS.
99 400EX
96 KODIAK 4X4
86 HONDA ATC 250R
Posted by: gagnier
I have to agree with Dune Scooter, who cares what ur riding on as long as u can still raise some hell when u pin the throttle, UNLESS U RIDE A POLARIS !
Posted by: duster
I make 400EXers sick. heh heh heh!!!!
There faces are as red as there quads when the blue streak flys by them. Boy, they sure get mad and embarassed. HEH HEH HEH!!!
But, on the down side, I'm the 2nd owner if this quad and I would hate to think how much the 1st owner has in these mods. But, who cares, I got a steal in it. I think dollar for dollar total price, the 400EX could never be as fast as my Warrior, drag or track. I put it up against a 440EX kit any day as well.
Posted by: duster
Chris400EX,
If you took a dose or two of my roost you would change your mind I'm sure. You can't beat a sport 400 either unless you are on an MX track. So, get over it and stop bashing other people's rides.
Having the fastest quad out there ain't what's important anyway. Having fun and being happy with what you ride is what it's all about.
Posted by: duster
Sorry all you 400EX riders. I just had to get in on this one. I couldn't resist having a little fun on this post earlier. I too have got sick of 400EX this and 400EX that. That's all we have heard since it came out. It is a good quad. It is just likened to that worn out song that has been played on the radio a million and one times. Enough already!!
Anyways I couldn't resist since I take a lot of joy in being able to EASILY wax modded 400EX's. I didn't mean to make you all mad.
As I said before "I'd put it against a 440EX". Well, I said that because I knew I was getting my chance today (Wednesday) against a $12,000+ 440EX.
I must say I didn't do as well as I thought I would. But, if this thing was a $12,000+ total price quad, that 440 wouldn't stand a chance.
I got beat in the 1st sprint. The 440 kit has tons of low end. The second run, which was longer was a different story. He got out ahead 1st, 2nd & 3rd. But by upper-3rd, I was at his back tire. By end of 4th positions were reversed. When I clicked 5th and pinned it, I pulled away. By the end of 5th, he was falling away. 6th? What a waste of $12,000! But, I guess it could be argued that these two can't be compaired 6spd/5spd. I still won in fifth. But wait the gear ratios are different so its not fair RIGHT! Or better yet, the other guy can't ride. Please spare me. Anyone who gets bored with a 400EX has to be a great rider. Save it!
We did this twice more there on the dirt road with the same results. The guy was a little shocked. He bragged...wait 'til we get to the trails, you'll see who is king of the hills! After that, were ran from the trucks to the trail.
He did make good on the king of the hill statement. He trashed and and I do mean trashed me bad hill shooting. He has a +2 swingarm. That and 440CC's rips up a hill in nothing flat. I am not ashamed to say I lost.
When we got done there, we went on out the trail ripping it up. I soon passed him and left him all alone. He had too much HP to trail blaze. His front end pushed like crazy with all that power and wheelbase. He was no match at all.
When I got to the end of the trail, he was far behind. Too far to even hear. So, I waited...and waited...and waited. After a while, I made up my mind that he got mad and turned back. So, I headed back only to find him being pulled out by his brother on a Magnum 325. He said he broke something in the tranny or tore the clutch completely out trying to keep up.
We helped him get his wounded quad back in the truck and I thanked god today wasn't my day to be pulled out, though it will be sooner or later. I felt like the thinner winner since he only beat me half of the time and me and my quad made it out alive!!! I won't be itching for another challange like that for a while. LOL!!!
The moral of the story is...we both have more power than is needed to have fun. So, enjoy whatever you ride, stock or whatever. Speed Demons are not worth the money and sometimes less fun to ride for an every day trail machine.
I KNOCK NO ONE'S QUAD! I JUST FELT THE NEED TO BLOW OFF STEAM WITH MY 1ST REPLY AND COULDN'T RESIST!!!
I go in peace....
Posted by: duster
All I have to say is the 400EX is no-doubt the best looking and one of the fastest stock sport quads out, and yes, it handels well, but it well should be the case considering the price and CC's.
But, it will not out run everything in sight. Not unless you are alone. I am not tearing the quad down. You all just shouldn't build it up to be something it's not and you would realize I'm not dogging it.
I think you would be hard pressed to get any more practical, useable, all around performance on any 4-stroke quad than what I have. Mine is over done. You can only go so far with an ATV. I don't care if you put 1100cc's in one. You can't use it all. I have more than I can use. The extra is there, I just can't benefit from it. So what good is it?
So, who cares, I sure don't. There's more to ATVing than neck-breaking speed. So what if you or I get beat in speed competition, big deal. Having a good all around quad and enjoying it is where it's at!!! As for sport quads, the 400EX is just the ticket for that. So be happy with that. No one needs to overate it or lie about it's performance.
It's real well rounded and that means more to me than anything. That's why I won't keep my Warrior a real long time. I'd much rather have a quad with good performance I can putt around on too without having to run race gas. I'm getting tired of paying big bucks for fuel everytime the ol' lady wants to ride 2 up with me. This thing don't like to putt and she don't like to fly. So, high octange is a must.
I'll probably sell, get an auto, and mod just a little. That way I can cruise 2 up with ease. have reverse and still kick up some dust once and a while when I get the fever!!!
Posted by: 400exalltheway
mojave99 i don't know what your talkin about cause my 400ex has taken so much abuse and nothin has broken. i had three really bad wrecks with it and the wrost thing that happened to it was the handlebars which can be exspected of any quad. any day you wanna take your little 250 aginist my 400 you let me know. plus i'll even give you a 5sec head start and won't go out of 4th
Posted by: 400exalltheway
hey duster whne you wanna race cause whenever your ready i'll blow your warrior away. think about a warrior has 17hp and a 400ex has 27hp it would cost alot of money just to get it to the same speed. so any time your ready you nme the time and place
Posted by: desertds
I have a '99 400ex and have never done anything but routine maintenaince and have not had a single thing break on it and I too have landed on the flat from about 8' to 10' in the air and the EX soaked it up with no problems(landing rear wheels first is the correct way to land this kind of jump). I have rode Mojave's and personally have never rode a Warrior, but I owned a Banshee which has simalar or the same frame geometry and no matter what you spend these machines will never HANDLE with a honda framed performance machine. All aftermarket frames are designed on 250R frame geometry, nobody in the aftermarket builds around a Warrior or a Mohave. Answer me this how many quads have dominated the baja 1000 their first production year? Nobody that won is complaining about the durability of this awesome performance quad. The EX is the best all around performance quad produced right now in my opinion, I'm still getting to know my DS. Daniel
Posted by: Xplor
I have got to admit it guys... I went riding this past weekend on my new Scrambler400 and I watched a 400ex in action. It was awesome...and this coming from a Polaris rider. It seemed to handle great and jumped great, fast too. It seemed even better than the DS650 I saw riding with it. It seems like an amazing ride...If I rode a bit more agressive, I would probably go for the 400ex!
(I still love my Scrambler though...)
Posted by: Yamaholic
Is anyone sick of hearing about how great the 400EX is,Honda abandoned the high performance atv market for 10 years.Then they slam an XR 400 motor into a two piece copy of the 250R frame and next thing you know it's the only thing on the magazine covers for 2 years.....
Yamaha on the other hand never buckled and took their sport machines off the market.They are promissing new models for the first time in a long time.Hopefully ATVers will be as loyal to Yamaha as Yamaha has been to them..
Dave
97 CT Banshee
99 Warrior
89 TRX 250R
Posted by: JAKOOL
Duster I can't comprehend why you keep on braggin about the Alba Warrior. My friend Peter Nolasco has an Alba Warrior that does not want to go to war. His tel. # is 6302 371 3031, give him a call and ask him how my dust taste.
JAKOOL
400EX
PHILIPPINES
