markr
10-24-2004, 09:41 AM
Great board, glad to be a member.
We stopped by the local shop yesterday to check and see if the Raptor we were waiting for had come in. The idea was to by a Raptor 660 for myself and my girlfriend to share. The only requirement was that we bought something she could ride and that I could also ride and not become to bored with at which point it would sit in the garage and collect cob webs. We were kind of leaning toward a Z400 but for whatever reason it always got overlooked by us. Even though for a relative new comer to ATVing a Raptor could be little much, I figured the electric start, reverse and low end toqure would be OK for her to tool around on. It was for these reasons we never looked at TRX/YFZ450R's.
Here is were the plan went south. We walked into the shop and saw the urban camo Raptor, not what we wanted. Then I look across the isle and what do I see. Two 450R's with signs stating:$5699.00 Ready To Go!!!!!!. Needless to say this blew my my mind. How could they be selling this thing for this price when the YFZ was still going for $6799.00. At any rate we could not pass this up so of course the Raptor idea was history and we now have brand new '05 450R.
I am super excited but a bit worried for my girlfriend. No electric start, no reverse, and that tall first gear. She rode it around the house yesterday and did OK. The relative high compression, forward kicker, and brand new tight engine really got the best of her at the beginning. But now it seems now she can get it running in 3 or 4 kicks (on the trail maybe a different story though). I am definitely going to go down to a 13t counter shaft to help her out as much as possible with stalling it. Other than that it will remain stock I imagine until next year. I want to give her a fighting chance!!:D I have a feeling that it will be a while before riding "together" becomes "fun". I guess the fact that I now have a 450R in the garage to go along with the 525 is reason enough for me to have patience and work with her.
We stopped by the local shop yesterday to check and see if the Raptor we were waiting for had come in. The idea was to by a Raptor 660 for myself and my girlfriend to share. The only requirement was that we bought something she could ride and that I could also ride and not become to bored with at which point it would sit in the garage and collect cob webs. We were kind of leaning toward a Z400 but for whatever reason it always got overlooked by us. Even though for a relative new comer to ATVing a Raptor could be little much, I figured the electric start, reverse and low end toqure would be OK for her to tool around on. It was for these reasons we never looked at TRX/YFZ450R's.
Here is were the plan went south. We walked into the shop and saw the urban camo Raptor, not what we wanted. Then I look across the isle and what do I see. Two 450R's with signs stating:$5699.00 Ready To Go!!!!!!. Needless to say this blew my my mind. How could they be selling this thing for this price when the YFZ was still going for $6799.00. At any rate we could not pass this up so of course the Raptor idea was history and we now have brand new '05 450R.
I am super excited but a bit worried for my girlfriend. No electric start, no reverse, and that tall first gear. She rode it around the house yesterday and did OK. The relative high compression, forward kicker, and brand new tight engine really got the best of her at the beginning. But now it seems now she can get it running in 3 or 4 kicks (on the trail maybe a different story though). I am definitely going to go down to a 13t counter shaft to help her out as much as possible with stalling it. Other than that it will remain stock I imagine until next year. I want to give her a fighting chance!!:D I have a feeling that it will be a while before riding "together" becomes "fun". I guess the fact that I now have a 450R in the garage to go along with the 525 is reason enough for me to have patience and work with her.