Will i be able to hang with them?

[Crazy lil punk]

well ive been riding for a while now, and im actually half decent, but im not a veterian or anything, lol, well now that everyone has 450s and i still have a 400ex i feel a little unprepared when i get to the track, my question is will it be worth it to pipe and filter and finish the suspension on my 400? and will i be able to hang with the 450s? or do i bite the bullet and buy a 450r?
any advice, and pictures are greatly appreciated. thanks

[Honda4lyphe]

I say keep the 400ex, the 450r's performance is very nice but also their reliability has changed (or so ive seen) go ahead and pipe it and get suspension..then later on get your engine bored to a 426 or even 440 (not sure if 426 can keep up but from what i heard they do just fine) eventually to make sure you can blow their arse outta water. Also get it jetted of course, if you do all that you have a slight chance to keep up but i doubt it until you get it bored, it depends on the rider you race.

[Wheelie]

Ultimately it comes down to how you feel. With some mods a 400ex will have no problem beating a 450R in the power department. Ride a 450, see how it feels and take it from there.

Personally, I decided to keep my 400ex, because of reliability, I feel very comfortable on the machine and it's paid for.

I rode a 450 before I decided to build my engine and feel I made the right choice.

[Crazy lil punk]

ive only ridden modded 450s, never a stock one yet, but i just dont know because i feel the 400 has plenty of power, but i dont want to drop a boat load of money into my 400 and then still get walked on by 450s because some guys blow past me, others i blow past, it also depends on the track im riding at too. So, im trying to make some sense out of this, but nothing is comming, reliability is also a biggie.

[Honda4lyphe]

if reliability isnt a big issue and your prepaired for the worst, get the 450r. its kinda like classic muscle cars..the classics were legends, and very powerful but lacked some things on the new ones. the new ones have all the whistles and bells, but people prefer the legends, say the 400 is the classic and the 450r is the newer, you can do alot of things to get that classic muscle to beat that newer car to the ground. in my perspective the 400ex has alot more oppturnities in power, if your gonna sell your 400 your gonna get around $3000 the cheapest 400r you'll find in good condition is around $4000..im not good on prices but i think you can bore yours out to a 440 for around that, i truely think you should stick the with the 400 it isnt past its prime yet!

[mstrav1]

all these responses are from people with 400's. I disagree sell that 400 and use the money from the sell of the 400 and the money you were gonna spend on it and buy a 450. out of the box they are not even close. as far as reliability,lets see 04' still on stock piston. You do the math!!!!

[Honda4lyphe]

Originally posted by mstrav1
all these responses are from people with 400's. I disagree sell that 400 and use the money from the sell of the 400 and the money you were gonna spend on it and buy a 450. out of the box they are not even close. as far as reliability,lets see 04' still on stock piston. You do the math!!!!

Hey on the 450r's reliability im not completly sure but what ive read was paticularly with the 05 haveing valve problems and i even saw a few posts where they blew their engines, dont get my wrong the 450r's performance is great ive ridden a few of my friends and damn they amaze me everytime.

Like i said, with a 400 there more oppturnities than a 450r power wise, alot of people i know say they spank modded 450r's with a 440ex fairly modded, and ive even seen a few do it at our local track.

Just think about it and get what ya feel best with man i hope it all works out to your standards.

[ridfastorbelast]

kept the ex an put money in it, 450r arent that fast for the price u pay, yes i need to agree the great quad. with a pipe and k&N youll beat them that for sure... would smoke the with a slip on an a 16t sproket on top end

Kept the ex man

[Def-e-nition]

Originally posted by Honda4lyphe
if reliability isnt a big issue and your prepaired for the worst, get the 450r. its kinda like classic muscle cars..the classics were legends, and very powerful but lacked some things on the new ones. the new ones have all the whistles and bells, but people prefer the legends, say the 400 is the classic and the 450r is the newer, you can do alot of things to get that classic muscle to beat that newer car to the ground. in my perspective the 400ex has alot more oppturnities in power, if your gonna sell your 400 your gonna get around $3000 the cheapest 400r you'll find in good condition is around $4000..im not good on prices but i think you can bore yours out to a 440 for around that, i truely think you should stick the with the 400 it isnt past its prime yet!

I AGree , I Drove a Mk II Golf For Yonks Simply Because it was a classic , and It held its own alongside other more expensive vehicles for Attention .
The T-rex with its Virtually indestructable Motor , has to be one of the Most Rugged and Desireable QUads of all time .
Lucky for me , My first Quad just happened to be that Bike .
i Love the thing . And Saturday I proved it was tough by finishing Only 8 Minutes behind the 450 Class , On a 4 hour Long Enduro . I'm still waiting to find someone reliable to Bore , and then I'll probably go bore , or whatever , but its one tough quad with a Big following .

[CHEVYZ]

Originally posted by Honda4lyphe
Hey on the 450r's reliability im not completly sure but what ive read was paticularly with the 05 haveing valve problems and i even saw a few posts where they blew their engines, dont get my wrong the 450r's performance is great ive ridden a few of my friends and damn they amaze me everytime.

Like i said, with a 400 there more oppturnities than a 450r power wise, alot of people i know say they spank modded 450r's with a 440ex fairly modded, and ive even seen a few do it at our local track.

Just think about it and get what ya feel best with man i hope it all works out to your standards. Valve problems? You sure that wasn't on the CRF and not the TRX? CRFs are the ones who had valve problems.

[Crazy lil punk]

well, if i do get a 450r I would be keeping my ex, so thts out of the question, but my question is, does a 450r really have tht much power then a 400 with a slip on and filter?

[CHEVYZ]

Yup. An HRC 06 450r will outrun highly modded 400s. About 2 weekends ago I outran a 440EX on alky.

[Honda4lyphe]

Originally posted by CHEVYZ
Valve problems? You sure that wasn't on the CRF and not the TRX? CRFs are the ones who had valve problems.

im not sure on the crf probably the same, the 450r's valves are made with very light and weakish metal makeing them break easy yet it added better performance, i read about it in dirtwheels and if you go like 8 pages back in the 450r fourm you'll see some posts about engines blowing and valve probs, in 2008 honda is improveing the 450r highly also fixing this problem and fixing little defects here and there dont get me wrong the 450r is amazing.

[jordan_m6]

here's a little more info on the 450r. my buddy has one, well kinda, and he got his about 6 months before i got my 400. He has rebuilt it once already, and now it looks like one of those "from the groung up projects.'' He was one of the guys that changed his oil and plug every 5 rides.

and about the valves you have to know what you are doing cause they are the shims type, another plus for the 400ex. the wrong shims can make for a bad day.

[tar]

I have ridden a completely stock 450r and it beats a 400ex in every catgory. You would spend more money on the 400ex just tryin to keep up than you would on the 450r. You can get a left over 06 for $5000.

[yellowzo3]

time for riders on 400's to face the facts. (i ride a 400 too so no offense to anyone)...if you want to get serious with racing your eventually going to have to get some kind of 450. plain and simple they are a better platform to start from. and a stock 450 will be more reliable than a built 400 motor. sometimes things break on quads so of course some people will complain that 450's arent reliable. others will claim their 400 wasnt. your going to get a ton of different answers. if you just race once in a while and mostly ride trails, then the 400 is fine. but if you want to do serious mx, you going to have to spend the money on a 450 at some time. i know people are going to say their 400 can keep up with any 450, but for the money they spent on their motor work, they could have saved that money, sold the 400, and bought a 450. now you have a reliable 450 and you can worry about suspension and things like that.

[CHEVYZ]

Originally posted by Honda4lyphe
im not sure on the crf probably the same, the 450r's valves are made with very light and weakish metal makeing them break easy yet it added better performance, i read about it in dirtwheels and if you go like 8 pages back in the 450r fourm you'll see some posts about engines blowing and valve probs, in 2008 honda is improveing the 450r highly also fixing this problem and fixing little defects here and there dont get me wrong the 450r is amazing. Hmm.. I looked it up and the older model Rs did have some problems with the intake valves. Seems like it was already fixed for 06, though.

[Crazy lil punk]

well i dont think ill ever really get into "hard core racing" but i have the disease where I do what ever i have to do, so when i ride people say "dam tht kid is crazy fast" i think my disease is called "jackassism" some times.....lol

[Honda4lyphe]

Originally posted by CHEVYZ
Hmm.. I looked it up and the older model Rs did have some problems with the intake valves. Seems like it was already fixed for 06, though.

Oh they fixed it? damn well maybe they did all i read was a improvement for the 450r in 2008 and i thought it would be included there. also im hearing honda has decided to improve the 400ex, that would be a dream come true lmao

Well..if they fixed it id say go for it, your gonna spend alot of money buying it and getting it modded but it will be worth it, like i said their ride is amazing

[mstrav1]

bottom line is they are not even close!!!! The 400 is ok the 450 is way better!!! I dont hate the 400, if its got 4wheels its ok in my book!!!

[Def-e-nition]

Originally posted by Honda4lyphe
Oh they fixed it? damn well maybe they did all i read was a improvement for the 450r in 2008 and i thought it would be included there. also im hearing honda has decided to improve the 400ex, that would be a dream come true lmao

Well..if they fixed it id say go for it, your gonna spend alot of money buying it and getting it modded but it will be worth it, like i said their ride is amazing


Are There Seriously Plans Afoot To Improve the 400 ?
WOnder WHich Engine they Plan On Using ? i Know Its still Fixed same for 07 , - '08 then ??

[†2005 400ex†]

i would really like to see honda put some better front shocks with rezzies on the 400ex, and mess around with the performance of a stock one, it would be really cool to have a new revamped 400ex for 08

[PismoLocal]

Originally posted by †2005 400ex†
i would really like to see honda put some better front shocks with rezzies on the 400ex, and mess around with the performance of a stock one, it would be really cool to have a new revamped 400ex for 08

X2, I think it would be nice if honda went to a higher comp piston maybe a 10:1 instead of 9:1 with some 450r style shocks.

Why not just run the 04 yfz 450 in your signature? I know a 400ex is better then a yfz because its a honda but still.

[Crazy lil punk]

Originally posted by RoadRidin450r
Why not just run the 04 yfz 450 in your signature? I know a 400ex is better then a yfz because its a honda but still.

this post is like a year old man, since then I bought a yfz, lol