400 or 450 sport quad

[magicbananas14]

well i am looking into getting a new quad and the 400 and 450`s are the only kinds i am considering buying. i had a 400ex and loved it but i want more power like ltz400, kfx400 and all 450`s. i know the 450 is more maintenance but how much more i dont want to be buying parts all the time. my riding consists of farms, woods the beach and large hill climbs in the sand my budget is 2700 to 3000 want a 450 but some people have me worried about maintenance.

[CJM]

Your not going to find a nicer 450r for that kinda money. What you will find is someones beatup 04-05 and possibly 06 450r. That or someone who wants one gone for some reason or another and you hope its good. Example: Friend of mine has a 05 that in about 7/10 shape. Plastics are broken on one fender and repaired, bar paint is flaking off, it has crappy nerfs on it. But its been taken care of and rebuilt as well. He said he would give it to me for 2500 and thats being nice, otherwise its easily worth another grand.

The suzuki and kfx are the same quad, weak swingarms in the earlier years, they dont handle all that well and are cheaper b/c they dont hold thier value.

What you can afford is a 400EX. Yes Im biased, but they will run forever pretty much with nothing more than oil and filter changes. If you pick up a used one for 2k, spend the rest of it on a higher compression piston and bore job and it will be plenty faster.

[07honda400ex]

yeah go buy a 400ex if you don't want to have to deal with rebuilding the motor after every 80hrs!! those 450rs are just that !!!race bikes very high maintenance!!! they do have more snot but if you get the right 400ex with a cam, pipe, rev box, and jetted right they run awesome and still last alot longer than any 450 out there!! I think those 450s r a joke on the trails cuz u can't lug them like a 400!! If wanna race buy a 450 If your gonna trail ride buy a 400! and the ltz400 aren't any faster than a 400ex once u open the ex up with some mods. and the exs r way easier to work on!

[quadmanw]

Go with a modded 400ex. Ive rode 450s and a raptor 700 and yes, theyre fun and have so much speed and power but some of that speed and power just isnt 'usable'. I love that you can make the 400ex low end, middle end, top end or all three! they're bulletproof and almost no maintenance! I really enjoy riding a 450 but I love the 400ex. One of Hondas best!

[ish416]

I haven't done any more maintenance on my KFX450 than I do to my EX. Just oil changes and and yearly valve adjustments. So the maintenance issue I don't think is valid if you know where the quad came from.

That being said, most of the used 450's regardless of make have been beat on or neglected. The same could also be said of most 400's.

My KFX450 has 243 hours on it at the moment and is still on the stock piston, rings, cylinder and even the original spark plug. My compression is still at 72 psi (factory specs call for 49 - 82 psi). I would say that is fairly reliable and on par with an EX.

My advise is to keep an open mind and take your time. Look at all the quads you can that are in your price range and narrow it down to a few then ride them and decide.

[07honda400ex]

yeah let him know how much of a pain in the a** it is to adj. the valves on a 450? honda 400s u only need a feeler gauge ?? and it says right in the manual that u should do a rebuild every 80 to 100 hrs! so i'm sure your bike is gonna be ready soon! your just stretching it cuz u do oil changes and maint.to it not like most ppl!

[ish416]

yeah let him know how much of a pain in the a** it is to adj. the valves on a 450? honda 400s u only need a feeler gauge ?? and it says right in the manual that u should do a rebuild every 80 to 100 hrs! so i'm sure your bike is gonna be ready soon! your just stretching it cuz u do oil changes and maint.to it not like most ppl!

To adjust the valves on my KFX450 this is the process.

Remove cylinder head cover and timing inspection cap.
Bring piston to tdc.
Use a thickness gauge to measure the clearence between the cam lobe and valve lifter for each valve.
If they need adjusted
Remove the camshaft caps.
Remove the cams.
Remove the lifters off the out of spec valve.
Remove the shim from the top of the spring retainer.
Measure thickness of shim.
Get new shim to get proper clearence.

Reverse the steps.

Not all that complicated actually. Definately not as easy as an EX but in no way over most peoples head.

As for the manual saying my quad needs a rebuild every 80 - 100 hours, I can't find anywhere in the owners manual or service manual that says anything about that. What page is that listed on?

Also, I don't change my oil after every ride or even every month. I change my oil about 4 or 5 times a year depending on how much it gets ridden. I typically run 20 - 40 hours or every 3 months between oil changes. That maintenance routine has worked on my EX, KFX450 and WR250R without fail.

If anything, you have just proven my point. If the OP finds a 450 that has been well taken care of he shouldn't worry about it needing rebuilt. The problem is finding one that was taken care of in his price range.

[chronicsmoke]

Number one thing:

KEEP AN OPEN MIND! Don't limit your search to a 400ex.. there are so many quads for saleright now, search for a few weeks before you think about pulling the trigger. Look for ones that are close to stock and look well maintained.

There is also alot of myths floating around that the 450s are obsolete in the woods, I really don't know where that came from.. use your clutch. If the 450s were obsolete in the woods do you really think they would be racing PRO GNCC, XC, or Hairscrambles with them?

Yes, the ex is easy to maintain IF you are going to do it all yourself. Same can be said for any 450, the valves are not that difficult to shim.

If it was me I'd be looking for a 450 or Z/KFX/DVX or 400 (in that order)

[2muchquad]

i own both a yfz and a 426ex.while the yfz is faster in all out power i think the 426 is faster through the woods,makin it the better mount for trails.who said 450s dont require any more upkeep must have one thats beat.shimming the valves is just part of it.you can really expect to get 12 more hp or so and not have increased wear with pretty much the same displacement.it dont work like that.by the time you shim the valves twice,chances are the valves are cupped and need replaced.try and cut corners and youll be needing new seats.see it all the time in quads that will only "bump start".if one cant change a starter in a small block chevy,they have no business gettin a 450..:D

[chronicsmoke]

I dont think it was stated that they need less, or the same amount of maintenance.. Just that the work isn't heads and tails harder to do compared to a 400ex. I replace my top end on my 450 after about 80hrs regardless of condition.. I'd treat my EX the same way if I was bouncing it off the redline for 10 minutes at a time during races. If my 450 was a trail machine and casually beat around the trails, then I'd be able to go 200 hours on a piston.. Couple of buddies are still on their stock pistons (04 450r, 05 YFZ, 06 YFZ) easily above 250 hrs each and have no issues.

What I'm trying to say is a 400ex needs to be cared for too, if you don't want a POS.

I'd ask this question an a NON 400EX forum and see how the biase changes.

[powerbomb400]

There is one thing that haven't been mention about the 400ex 05 and up. Its got a reverse gear. When I bought mine new in 05 that was the one selling point that determined me buying instead of the 450r. When you are racing GNCC,Harescambles and MX its Balls to the Wall and the 450r is the one for the job. But for trail riding and long distance you can't beat the air cooled engine and having reverse. It sucks to have to get off and push a quad backwards thru a deep mudhole.

[magicbananas14]

Chronic smoke was talking about the dvx400 I was looking them up they r arctic cat and I've never really heard of them before I don't know if they are good at all prices r low for them so I dont know what to expect from one I ride very well and jump and hit lots of whoops and do large sand hill climbs often so I want to know if it will hold up and be as fast or faster than the ltz/kfx and have the same or more torque cause I'm 6' 2" and 210 lbs

[CJM]

artic cat dvx is the same thing as the kfx/ltz 400, same quad different plastics. They are all made by suzuki.

400ex has plenty of power for my friend hes like 275+ and 6ft 4in.

[quadmanw]

I'm 6'3 and 250+ and my 400 lugs me around no problem lol

[nick15]

I just wanted to mention something as far as maintenance goes on a 450 my buddy and I both have Honda450s one is a 04 the other is a 05 bought new in 04 and 05 we have raced these bikes hard since the day we got them couldn't even begin to think amount of motos or hrs on them and neither of us have ever had a valve adjustment or even thought of cracking the head open on them in fact they both still even have the original spark plug and they both will start everytime with no more then 5 kicks it really is almost unbeleviable and we are by no means maintenance freaks just oil and tranny oil changes every so often maybe 5 times a yr in fact a week ago was the first time the motor had ever been touched in one and that was just to change the clutch plates which really didn't have to be done