400EX IS the trail king!!!

Tore up some trails yesterday at an established riding area here in AZ, and just have to say every time I ride the bike impresses me more and more. There was three of us: an experienced rider on his Stage 3 DS650, a so-so experienced rider on his new piped Raptor, and me an also so-so experienced rider on my 400 which has minor mods and tuning. The trails were nice and wet from a good rain, (rare here), and I was just killing the trails. I do have a lot of experience in riding rough terrain from racing Mountain Bikes for about 5 years, but I was right on that DS650's @$$ except when we had room to run them wide open, of course. The guy on the Raptor was a little ways behind but it was his second time on the bike, coming off a Warrior, so I can't really talk to much crap on him, yet! When we got on some real tight stuff, like Dirtbike tight, I was GONE! The DS650 is just too big for that stuff. So Im not so sure I would run out and trade my 400 for a new Honda 600+cc unless it was the same size and weight, which is ALMOST impossible to engineer. The 400EX is just to nicely balanced and incredibly nimble which allows it to beat those big thumpers on the trails. Sure Dunes and Drags would be a different story but I'm a trail rider, that goes to Glamis every now and then for kicks. But really the dunes are so repetitive. And I think quads belong in the dirt/forest if I wanna go real fast in circles or up hills I'll build a rail. Just some useless babble, I was just so impressed, had to spew something here.

[CranMan]

I also tore up some trails this weekend, and the EX was awesome. I'll just add to your praises of the EX by saying how forgiving it is when you screw up. I was hauling A** down a rocky rutted hill racing a friend, when my left foot came off the peg causing me to lurch to the left, then my left hand slid off the grip (muddy). So I'm hanging on for dear life with my only grip on the quad being my right hand which is holding the twist throttle at about 1/2 throttle. Needless to say I was in trouble for about 10 seconds until I regained control. Imagine yourself trying to get back up on a fastly moving quad while hanging off the side. Well I can only credit some luck and a very stable quad to my not breaking many bones. The EX is awesome and I dont care if the Raptor is faster, you can only go SO fast on the trails anyways, and the EX is right there where it needs to be:devil

[trx400ex]

theres a giant place by me , i talked about it before. we only ride there about 5 times a year, it a half a mile away from my house , so it takes us like 14 secs toget there....the only other guys that ride there are on 2 polaris utilitys..any way there a spot in the very back, thta is strange it looks beutiful, with dozens of waterfalls and steep cliffs that eventually lead to steep dirt hills, every time we go back to those hill, its starts raining, strange,,but they are wicked, we just sucker are quads up them and the 400ex climbs them with ut a complaint, i think an are where this machine is overlooked is its mud abil-ity

the only downfall about a 400EX on a trail is the fact that it will get hung up alot on some trails. and there are those times when you see a big ol' mud hole that you could only barely stand a chance at gettin thru with a big burley 4wd..... that went on my list of things NOT to try on a 400EX lol:D

[ridered86]

i also did some trails only this time with my new lonestar +2+1's and had a great time. even if you dont ride mx i would get the arms they are awesome! next weekend(3 day) ill take em to the track for the first time , hope they perform well:o