450r first gear

[ridered1991]

Alright last thread before I make my decision... pretty much. I'm going to test ride a 450r and a 400 tomorrow.

If anyone rides both how much longer the 1st gear is one a 450 than a 400ex because so many people tell me of the extra clutch work that is involved with the 450.

you go through gears pretty fast on a 450r...they need to be kept in a very high rpm range to keep from stalling...any tight trails, lots of large obstacles, or letting a slower rider lead will cause you to be on the clutch way more than a 400ex. pretty much anything that prevents you from going full throttle will cause the excessive clutch work...you'll need to finesse your way over logs with lots of throttle and a lot of feathering the clutch, unless it is something that you can hit at "race" speed. out in the openm, they are fine, but any kind of technical stuff where you might not be going fast will become tiresome and less fun because it will seem like more work than play...this and the not starting when warm issue caused me to take a loss and trade the 450r for a nice, mostly aftermarket 416ex and some cash. i am much happier with the ex...

[Scro]

It's not that first gear is any longer - it's the fact that these motors just don't like to lug at all. In my opinion, they like to be revved out more like a two-stroke. You can put a 400ex in 2nd, and cruise through all the tight woods all day long without ever touching the clutch.

You can gear the 450 down to where you can lug it much easier. Maybe not as easy as the 400, but it will be alot better.

[JCoop]

Yep like Scro said, you can gear it down. 1 tooth on the counter shaft sprocket should do the trick, or buy a Rekluse.

[BlaineKaiser450]

id jsut gear the front tooth down. I have 18 inch rear tires and 1st gear is good for like, 10 feet

[bama06300ex]

I dropped one tooth on the front sprocket and it made a decent difference. All I ride is trails, and its not that bad. I thought about it like this.. I might spend 10% of my riding time on the clutch, for that 10% I might rather have the EX. For the other 90%, I'm on the gas hard, and when I'm on it, I want as much power as possible. So 90% of the time I'd rather have the 450. The pros definantly outweigh the cons IMO. But to each their own.