Who here trail rides their EX?

[Blodg]

Those hills look fun. That's the kind of stuff I like, nice steep, long or short hill climbs. I can tell by the way he's leaning over the front that those are pretty steep. That's the stuff that separates the men from the boys.

Stickman and exrida, since both you guys have 450's and 400EX's I want to ask your opinion. Do you think it is obvious that a 450 is better for aggressive hill climbing? I am thinking of going to a 450 next year mainly for attacking steep hills with short runs. The guys I ride with keep their motors near stock and last weekend I rode my buddies '05 450R and it didn't pull much harder than my built 416EX in 1st and 2nd gear. And since all climbing is done in 1st or 2nd gear I am now questioning if it really is worth it.

[2001400exrida]

i don't mean to sound like a trader here Blodg, but the best hill climber in my garage is my yfz with stock chassis. That thing will climb the best hills as long as you can get it cranking by the time you hit the hill. On flat ground or regular woods riding it tends to skate around in the rear too much, but on the hills ya can't beat the yfz in my opinion.

A stock 05 450r is a dog, your 416 will most likely be faster. The gen 1 450's really need to be uncorked before they start to put down power. 400's have plenty of power to climb, and if setup right all of these machines can climb. 06+ have a slightly longer swingarm which will help with keeping the front down during hillclimbs. This is why i like my yfz so much in the woods and on hills, because it's got a longer stance and will keep the front wheels down much better than my 400 or my 450r.

[Blodg]

Thanks for the input. One of the "expert" hill climbers does ride an '08 YFZ450 with just a pipe and he loves it. He and the TRX450R guy are always getting on each other about which quad is better and who climbs more/bigger hills. He wanted me to try riding his YFZ after I rode the 450r but I didn't take him up on it. He also claimed he has to mess with his valves way less than his buddy on the 450R. Both guys motors just have gearing and exhaust and these guys climb insane hills that usually only bikes with extended swingarms go up. But of course like most aspects of riding they are extremely skilled which is more important than which quad they are on.

[Stickman400]

Mine's an '06, but it's also got a Walsh Savior swinger, so it sits a little lower and I think it's a tad longer than a stock '06 swinger. It's also got a pipe and filter. If the hills are very steep with a short run in, the 450 is the machine you want. But other than that I prefer my 400, but if hills start getting long and fairly steep, you HAVE to have the 400 built, or it won't pull the gearing, it'll start losing steam and you'll be stranded half way up the hill. I've never seen a hill on my 400 and thought "Man, if I had just brought my 450 I'd try that" I always just go for it and have more than enough power to make it, just gotta be crazy enough on some of the hills I've done.

[Drifterboy3]

If I could chime in I have a 400 with high comp piston geared 16/38 on 22s I have never had a hill climb problem. IMO the 400 is a dam near a tractor I hit most hills in second gear and I have yet to find a hill I couldn't do in first. My cousin has a trx and he's had problems on hills with a 16t front. They just don't have the low end.

[DragonGunner]

The steepest hill I ever climbed was with a 400EX...think it was a 416 with 1.5" longer swinger. I liked the 14 tooth front and 39 rear for hill climbing, usually 3rd gear....alot is with the gearing. At the badlands I have been very impressed with guys riding YFZ, however one long nighmare hill I will never climb, I saw a guy on a 450R go up.

[HondaRacing83]

Im familiar with sam and luke from youtube ive watched multiple videos of them at wellsville and hillsville not far from me. I love hitting hills but they scare me. Especially since yesterday i rolled my quad down a crazy hill. Rolled 5 times somehow i got in front of it then it slammed on me and continue rolling. Pretty crazy wreck

[Blodg]

Im familiar with sam and luke from youtube ive watched multiple videos of them at wellsville and hillsville not far from me. I love hitting hills but they scare me. Especially since yesterday i rolled my quad down a crazy hill. Rolled 5 times somehow i got in front of it then it slammed on me and continue rolling. Pretty crazy wreck

Damn dude, I take it you're all right? Is quad OK? Yes climbing big or steep hills is scary, when I rode with Luke and Sam I did the mediocre stuff and watched them do the insane stuff. But it does get the adrenaline pumping and is fun to climb although I still like to blitz the trails where a lot of the serious climbers don't trail ride hardly at all. So you are close to Wellsville? Over 3 hours for me to get there, I wish it was closer so I could go more often to learn my way around.

[2001400exrida]

At the badlands I have been very impressed with guys riding YFZ, however one long nighmare hill I will never climb, I saw a guy on a 450R go up.

on the backside of the dunes? i know the one you're talking about it's gnarly, look worse from the bottom though, i went up to the top of it and then came down and got a good feel for the hill, not as bad as it looks. The best hills out there are the ones in the dune area that go up steep and then at the top it's about a 10ft straight wall so you have to get a real good run before you hit the wall.....then after you clean the wall you literally drop right off onto the dirt road. It's tricky you can either catch huge air going over the top lip and land funky, or you can just pull the clutch in at the wall and coast over that thing, a very awesome and scary feeling when you cut the power right at the steepest part of the hill to avoid catching akward air over the lip.

[Blodg]

rida, I know exactly what you mean. I usually err on the safe side and launch it. I have seen many hill climb fail videos on YouTube where the guy simply let off the gas too soon and stalled before the lip. When I rode with the expert climbers for the first time a few weekends ago they all went up a short, steep hill and were waiting for me. I pinned it and got about 4 or 5 feet above the lip and came down to a stop on all fours at the top. They all started cheering and hooping it up and I realized they thought I did that on purpose! All I was trying to do was make damn sure that I made it LMAO.