intro

[thejeepdude]

Hey all... just thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself. I've spent the past 2 weeks or so doing nothing but reading threads here on exriders and I have you guys to thank for the wealth of information I've gleaned about my new quad. I finally broke down and bought one... it's a yellow '02 400EX bone stock. It won't even arrive for a couple of weeks and I'm so friggin anxious!!! I'm mulling over the options and figuring out what I'm going to buy first, which I think will be some paddles for the sand trips... I'm thinkin Geckos on douglas .190's, but still not quite sure. I don't want to have to buy dedicated sand fronts... I'm in northern CA, but regular trips to pismo, oregon dunes, and sand mountain are for sure. I have an acre backyard, so we're going to put a small MX practice track back there too. My buddies are riding Z400's but hopefully with some riding time I won't have a problem hangin with those guys. So far we're all pretty much bone stock except for a couple guys with nerfs and pipes. Speaking of nerfs, I saw the deal for the $149 set shipped... are those decent? The few times I've ridden, I always had a tendancy to put my foot down when things got hairy (bike background) and ran over my foot... lol... hopefully these would help with that. So anyways, just wanted to say HI to the crowd, thanks in advance for the advice, and hopefully I'll run into some of you out on the trails...

Josh

[Ben]

Let me be the first to welcome you to the site! You are going to love your 400ex, they are one great quad! Do you have any pictures of it yet? Post them if so :D Also - those Arens nerfs are top of the line. Arens is, in the opinion of many in the ATV world, the top manufacturer of aftermarket quad parts. You won't find a better crafted set of nerf bars anywhere :cool:

Ben

[thejeepdude]

Thanks! I'm definately going to consider those arens nerfs... as for a pic of my new toy... should be attached if it works... I hope the trucker haulin that thing from SC hurries up! :D

[Ben]

Sweet :D Did you buy it off of someone on here?

[exriderdude]

yea man those arens nerfs are a heck of deal, nerfs should be one of the first things you should get, that and handle bars;)


cool s/n by the way:macho

[thejeepdude]

Nope, actually I found it on ebay... from a dealership in SC. Just seemed like too good of a deal to pass up... 3500... tires are pretty shot, but just that it's on the originals makes it pretty low hours... it seems all the deals are on the east coast... couldn't find anything close to that price on a 400ex out here in CA...

[thejeepdude]

by the way... i'm going to order those arens nerfs during lunch today... they'll probably get here before the quad does, so they'll be reeeeeeeeaally shiny by the time I get to use them, i'm sure. lol.. :)

[Ben]

Originally posted by thejeepdude
by the way... i'm going to order those arens nerfs during lunch today... they'll probably get here before the quad does, so they'll be reeeeeeeeaally shiny by the time I get to use them, i'm sure. lol.. :)

Well you will most likely be the first person on the planet to be running these trick nerfs - congrats! I am envious :D Be sure to take pictures of them when they come. They will already be very shiny when they get to your door! :cool:

[Silverfox@C&DRacing]

Congrats on the new quad.. I would say get some nerfs and a brake block off get rid of the parking brake, maybe some handle bars, then when you recoup after the inital purchase get some suspension..:blah

Hope that you enjoy your new toy, I know that I do when I get to ride :D

[thejeepdude]

A brake block? I'll have to do some searches and figure out exactly what this is/does. Thanks for the advice tho! :)

[CHAUNCY]

Originally posted by thejeepdude
A brake block? I'll have to do some searches and figure out exactly what this is/does. Thanks for the advice tho! :)


A parking brake block of is so you can eliminate the parking brake. I had one on mine and liked it:)

[Davids440ex]

were are you in california?

[thejeepdude]

I'm in the Sacramento area...

[Davids440ex]

yea i live like 12 miles south of san jose

[thejeepdude]

Well, it seems like it's been forever! I finally got my quad yesterday, but unfortunately only had 10 minutes to ride it before I had to leave for prior obligations.... what friggin timing! :mad: Well, I just got back from lunch... screw food, I went home and rode around in my backyard instead! All I can say is YYEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAWWW! :D :D My first full day of quad ownership and I'm already starting to feel comfortable putzin around in the yard. I don't have any sort of track built yet, and it's fairly small (1 acre), but I spent some time trying to get my 1st gear wheelies down. Tons of fun!! I tried it so many times I think my arms are gonna be killin tomorrow! I wasn't able to find the balance point yet and ride forever, but I didn't expect to the first hour on my quad. However, I did get there a few times and ride maybe 50 feet at the 'sweet spot'. My thoughts on the first day (hour) of 400EX ownership:

12:00PM - Wow, i can't believe it's mine!!
12:01PM - Torque!! Woohoo! Who could ever need more power than stock?
12:10 - Wow it's easy to wheelie this thing.
12:13 - Wow it's easy to REALLY wheelie this thing. :p
12:15 - OOooh... THAT's what the grab bar is really for! :eek:
12:21 - Man I need tires (stock at 20-30% tread :()
12:23 - But doing bald tire donuts on grass it cool!
12:30 - Wait, you mean I don't have to give it back in an hour? :D (no mo' rentals!)
12:40 - A 15" Sewer pipe is barely a speedbump! :devil
12:44 - I should really wait for my helmet to get here before I jump this thing
12:50 - Man I need some grips...
12:51 - This stock air filter has to go...
12:52 - WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! :D
12:53 - Hmmm... maybe a pipe would be cool afterall!
12:54 - ... and jets of course...
12:56 - Wow... I bet with some Elkas on here it'd be sweet...
12:58 - I bet this thing would go right over that crappy pickup truck...
12:59 - helmet first... helmet first... helmet!
1:00 - Going back to work is so much fun after going riding... I know what I'm doing for lunch the next 20 YEARS... :D

And so that pretty much sums it up... this thing is so crazy fun, and yet I know it's going to be such a MONEY PIT! lol... oh well, the Jeep will just have to sit and collect dust for a little while.

[MOFO]

LMAO, looks like you have figured out what we all have in a matter of 1 hour.... mod's....more power....mod's....MORE power... LOL!



Welcome to the site...

[anywhereEx]

If you do it right and listen to people on this site it will not be near the money pit that you would think. You'd be suprised what 2k could do to that thing....

[thejeepdude]

Yeah, I definitely appreciate all the great info on this site!! I dunno about it saving me money though... there's so many people pointing out cool thing that I want to buy that I would have never thought of otherwise! :D

[RideRed04]

Is it just the picture, or is that frame black? It looks sweet like that! If honda is blingin' from the factory now, I'm gonna get mad! I have one of the first 2k2's off the line, and lemme tell ya, its been a great ride. I know just how you feel with the quad vs. Jeep thing, its hard! I usually try to split it evenly, or it goes to the jeep (the jeep usually gets jealous and pukes out something needed)

[MOFO]

if I had a stock quad to start with all over again, I would start with the suspension first...then tires, then powerplant.

[KASCHAK]

hurry hurry get them nerfs i want to see what they look like on a quad!!

[thejeepdude]

Good question! I wondered the same thing when they sent me the pics. It's not black, but like a dark gray metallic... it looks pretty good! The thing is, I can see a few places where the stock paint was chipped and it's been repainted... so my first thought was that they painted it darker... but then I looked in the 'hidden' places and it was the same color... and the original stickers don't have any overspray on them, or gaps where they would have been masked off, so I'm not quite sure (can you buy those identification stickers that have the year and stuff from Honda?). I did notice the 03's at the local shop were the lighter silver color... but I don't see how this thing could have gotten a complete frame-off paint job when it's an '02 and it was sitting on the lot since early March '03... so the original owner didn't have it that long... and there's no other mods at all... either way, I'm already thinking next winter I'm going to tear it all apart and have everything powder coated... those candy metallic colors look sooooo sweeet! :D

[thejeepdude]

Yeah, well I ordered my nerfs but still no sign of them... I assure you when they get here I will take some pics ASAP! :)

[lil400exman]

check your swingamr pivot bolt! put the quad up so the rear wheels are off the ground and pull the bolt out near your footpaegs that bolts onto the frame. do this 1/month and grease it. It is a vital link in ur quad. It will seive up bad if ur not careful.................;) go to steering and suspesnion and type in swingarm bolt..........you will see its worth the 20 minutes 1 time a month......:p

[thejeepdude]

Yeah, I read about that! I plan on checking that out this weekend... before I go to sand mountain next week, for sure. I'm hoping it isn't all seized like some of them I've read about... but hopefully since it's an '02 it hasn't had enough time to get toooo bad. :ermm:

[Glow Plug]

man that is sweet i can't wait ot get mine if my parents will help :rolleyes: and let me :rolleyes: :rolleyes: but yeah make sure you get some good bars soon, some better meats (but if youwant a good racingtire don't plan on doing to much rding on the street) bars are a must renthals or tags are the best and then work on your suspension man i'm so jelous right now hahaha

[thejeepdude]

So why are bars so important? I planned on keeping the stock bars until I bend them... but if there's a good enough reason... :confused2

[400exBro]

ya i agree, i would do suspension all over again before i did any engine mods...

i find that renthals and tag metal bars with different bends make it easier to turn, well i am 6'3" so i got some cr highs, so the bars sat taller and easier for me to reach, plus they are a lot stonger then the stockers!!!!!!!!!

[Glow Plug]

bar's are important becuase there alot stonger than stock ones but if you start to do some jumping your going to bend them easily and your going over the bars

[thejeepdude]

OK... so in other words, being that I'm just starting and there's no way I'm going to jump high enough to bend my bars anytime soon, the stock ones are fine. I'm sure as I gradually gain confidence and ability bars will be in order, but at this point they're still ranked below tires, nerfs, pipe, etc...

[MOFO]

I replaced my stock bars when I bent them. After doing some crazy hill climbs, I had an excuse to buy new bars. :eek2: I'm currently using Renthal 400ex bars..