I hate to say this but.....

[whipit1k]

....the Honda 400EX is a beginner machine in stock form. Period. The suspension, chassis, and build quality is great.....but the motor is pathetic. I had a piped and jetted Raptor last winter (I buy a quad for the winter most years and sell it in spring) and it spoiled me. Now I have a stock 400EX and man, it cant get out of its own way. it is truly pathetic, and I am not sure what to do with this thing....it is so damn slow....maybe i can trade it for a banshee or something. Does anyone know how to make this thing run without doing the whole motor up??
It is so underpowered , it is almost boring to ride

[hotrodhonda400]

so go buy another raptor:rolleyes: I still like mine (400) and I am hardly a beginner..

[whipit1k]

yeah i guess i will.......I like everything about the 400EX but man the motor is a slug

[Maryland 400EX]

Ditto Whipit1k! I feel the same way but I'm stuck with this sled now and I'm gonna make something of it... The only reason I got this was to help a high schooler in my neighborhood who needed the loot to get his car fixed for the Winter. Little did I know that this thing was lethargic. I'm getting a Raptor to add to the stable by the Spring but for now I'm gonna make do with this ancient POS...

[2qk4u]

yeh there whip sounds like you need to go to the yamaha forum if you hate the 400 so much. of course theraptors gonna have more torque look at the cc's:huh looks like you better sell her soon before you get any more upset with it.

[433rd]

Go find one of your local trails about 5 or 10 miles long. Find your best riding buddy with a Raptor and race him. You'll find out that your little ol' EX will smoke him.

If you want to go straight and drag race only, buy a Banshee, otherwise, keep the EX, you'll never be sorry you did.

:cool:

[whipit1k]

Well I dont want to seem like I am badmouthing the 400EX , because im not. it is an awesome quad in every way other than the power.

[panteramatt]

I cant agree with you any more whipit, it was great in 99 but its 4 years later and its extremely outdated. I love hondas and all, I own 3 of them, but Im seriously debating on a z400!

[Ex'r Marlin]

I feel the 400 is still "fast", especially fast for a beginner, in stock form.

Yeah, there are faster machines out there, but I would not recommend those machines to a "beginner".

As for "waking the machine up", what do you want, quickness or top end speed?

[Trickster78]

every one has there own preference, which bike is faster , rider , experience, mods, i say if your happy cool, if your not get what you want but dont dog on the 400 , alot of guys would say otherwise to your opinions but like i said everyone has there own preference:devil " RIDE HARD LIVE LIVE SHORT::devil

[Fleshwound]

you obviously bought the bike for the wrong reason.

[Ricky g]

Originally posted by whipit1k
....the Honda 400EX is a beginner machine in stock form. Period. The suspension, chassis, and build quality is great.....but the motor is pathetic. I had a piped and jetted Raptor last winter (I buy a quad for the winter most years and sell it in spring) and it spoiled me. Now I have a stock 400EX and man, it cant get out of its own way. it is truly pathetic, and I am not sure what to do with this thing....it is so damn slow....maybe i can trade it for a banshee or something. Does anyone know how to make this thing run without doing the whole motor up??
It is so underpowered , it is almost boring to ride

That 400ex is the BEST quad on the market, once you put some $$$ and mods into it, it's not a sissy quad, because your gonna have to mod it to make hp, and modding it is not that hard to do, this forum will help you tremendously, I wouldn't trade my 400 for anything out there, but i put $5,000-$6,000 in modds....worth every penny too.

sell it, some other dude will buy it cheap from you and mod it and have a killer machine.

RG

[honda400exrider]

do u seriously think its the best? i was pretty sure sum1 would have disagreed by saying that the cannondales are better. i was thinking of getting a cannondale, but know that u said that,,, i have to think it over again! lol

[01TRX300EX]

The 400EX is good, but not the best out there.

[Ricky g]

Originally posted by honda400exrider
do u seriously think its the best? i was pretty sure sum1 would have disagreed by saying that the cannondales are better. i was thinking of getting a cannondale, but know that u said that,,, i have to think it over again! lol


$2,000 lets see, 440 kit with a cam w/l, going to be around $500-$600, header and pipe another $500, 39mm or 41mm FCRcarb $500, K&N filter, pingrys oil tank $300, you could put a dent in the cost, but it really needs a 4mm or 6mm stroker and port work with oversized valves to wake it completly up, $3000-$4000 to do the motor and another $1500 for tires, wheels, handle bars, works triple rates shockes, etc. you'll never sell that 400 once you know what the rest of us who have modded it know. smoooooth badass power, not pingy whinning power like a two stroke

RG

[Ricky g]

Originally posted by 01TRX300EX
The 400EX is good, but not the best out there.

That's debateable, the 250R may be better on the mx track, but there're old and hard to get a hold of.

RG

[honda400exrider]

ricky g, read his statement again,,

The 400EX is good, but not the best out there.

key word ,, NOT

but i think that its a honda, and thats all that matters... hahaha jk

[whipit1k]

I wish Honda would do a quad around the XR650R motor. I have an 02 CRF450 that I ride moto on....that would make a decent quad motor but it is really maintainance intensive. Honda rules as far as I am concerned but they are really making me wait way too long for a new sport quad. oh well, the 400 isnt bad, just slow. I even opened the airbox up a little, jetted it up a hair, and modded the stock muffler and it still has trouble getting around,

[Ricky g]

Originally posted by whipit1k
I wish Honda would do a quad around the XR650R motor. I have an 02 CRF450 that I ride moto on....that would make a decent quad motor but it is really maintainance intensive. Honda rules as far as I am concerned but they are really making me wait way too long for a new sport quad. oh well, the 400 isnt bad, just slow. I even opened the airbox up a little, jetted it up a hair, and modded the stock muffler and it still has trouble getting around,

A 14 tooth front sproket will give it more torque, I hear you, there is no eaisy way to make hp with that motor, you can thank all the law suits over the 250R for Honda being concervative like they are, they didn't make a quad for ten years, they got hammered with law suits because the 250R was and still is an ***** ripper.

RG

[AndrewRRR]

Either get a R (cheap to make fast and handles as well as a EX) or get out your checkbook. It costs a lot to mod a EX, or just take that $2000 and look for a CRF450 or YZ426 motor for your quad. Service honda sells them.
Dont go back to a craptor!

[Evan]

lol I would hope the raptor "feels" like it has more power, to start off, it has 260 more ccs, a bottom end cam, low gearing, and a 1 inch shorter swingarm than the 400ex. Can you imagine how the EX would feel if you reversed that, in other words, shorten the swimgarm an inch, put a nice bottom end cam, throw 260ccs at it, liquid cool it, drop a gear or two, then ride that beast, you would be be saying the raptor was a dog lol good luck going in a straight line ahah

[jaspurx]

since just the engine is the problem , get a crf450r motor and stick it in there. that will be cheaper than having someone pump to the gills that little 400! and would be way more than enough to eat for breakfast that raptor! i am never satisfied with my 400`s output , but if i was that hard up for a thrill that is what i would do. ( or if i could aford it! ) or sell it and get a cannondale moto440! lets see you complain about its performance!horse power is only as useful as the riders brain! when i get tired of my 400`s performance i just look behind me and think of how tired of trying to catch me the guys back there are! when you go down to second gear and make a 90 degree turn and get t-boned by a banshee trying to catch up , then you can quit complaining , or start!!!! p.s. when that happens , try to hang on!!!! trust me!!!

Well! You can put the same or less money in a Z400 and get a total leap in between a Z and the 400EX in performance! Just look in the december issue of DIRT WHEELS!

[whipit1k]

I hate to break this to you but there is no such thing as a 1993 230 quadsport!
good point on the LT400vs 400ex though. Everywhere i am hearing that it is not easy to get more power from the EX motor....that sucks. last year i just put and E-series, filter and jet kit on my raptor and it went from OK to berzerk!