Yamaha Raptor

[catmandoes]

The Raptor,

A very famos and popular bike. I know at least one members whos considering buying one so has anyone got any experiances/opinions to share about them.

I sat on on ONCE lol . Seemed a very small bike to me and quite low to the ground. I bet its good on a track but i could imagine it would be difficult for greenlaning as there is very little ground clearance.

[RED PRED]

I have heard they are not great on the track as they are a bit of a battleship (an owners words not mine), but are great green laners .
As you know I wanted one but found the cost of a fully SVA`d and road legal one a bit off putting .

[RED PRED]

Seeing as I have failed to provoke anyone to write a review on a Raptor, I will just ask outright, Raptorman and any other Raptor owners, there must be one more, let me think, lets have some reviews as its a bit Polaris biased on here LOL

[secret solo]

Ahh, ok then, will give you my £1.37 worth.
Its no lower to the ground on the rear than any other sports quad with solid axle.
If whoever does buy the 700 raptor then he wont regret it, that said he probably wouldnt regret getting a pred either.
here is an old shootout (2004) between ds650,kwacker 700,pred and raptor 660. http://atvsport.com/output.cfm?ID=802045
The 700 is 8.8kg,s lighter than pred now and vastly improved over the 660 with better everything.
They are pretty bullet proof (with the exception of malcoms chain) but i would say where the raptor comes into its own is the low rpm torque which others lack. Power slides are "on demand" in any gear, just open the throttle and the wheels start to spin.
On tarmac would say all the 450cc and above would have a similar 0-60 and top speed.
A vortex, pipe and airfilter have these machines knocking out over 50hp at the rear wheels.
According to the web - yamaha owns ohlins so would like to think their shocks are very good because of this....
Another big plus for the raptor is the amount of aftermarket parts that are available for what appears to be one of the best sellings sports quads.

[RED PRED]

thanks for that review, reviews are great because they give useful info to those looking for a quad, i would urge all members to give their views (good and bad points) on their own quads .
Also, its good to post details of any modifications made to our quads or extra goodies added .

Thanks

PS, the Pred also does wheelspins on demand LOL

[RED PRED]

That is a really good and fair review without any leaning towards a particular quad .
I must say that i dont have any transmission problems on mine, i think they improved it on the later models, mine is as good as anything i have ever ridden, the biggest weakness on my quad is the rider :( LOL.

[Raptorman]

I knew secert would help me out i agree with him, i think they are a good all round sports quad and look the part as well, the twin exhaust k&n filter new efi are on my christmas list along with new chain and aa membership.
I would need alot on persueding ( ithink thats wrong) to change but i am open to offers maybe the KTM out next year would be a challenge to the mighty RAPTOR. :fencing:

[DAVEY.H.]

the raptor is a great all round quad just dont buy cheap ebay batterys for them ---- right secret?:(

[Blade-Hog]

Can't give a review at the moment but I'm getting a 350 Raptor, Would be nice to hear what your thoughts are on the 350.
It has been made road legal and I had a test ride on It :scared:
First quad I've ever been on going to take some getting use to :rofl:

[RED PRED]

:DBy all accounts they are a good starter quad, cant go wrong

[Raptorman]

Can't give a review at the moment but I'm getting a 350 Raptor, Would be nice to hear what your thoughts are on the 350.
It has been made road legal and I had a test ride on It :scared:
First quad I've ever been on going to take some getting use to :rofl:

Good choice what made you go for the 350 and not 700 my first quad was the 700 and i am glad i made that choice, you do get used to the speed quite quickly, i nearly went the route of quadzilla because of not having any experience( smaller engine etc) and i might add i think quadzilla are a great starter but people often upgrade within a year, i went for 700 but took really steady on road first until i felt ok before going offroad, and thats another experience, when do you get delivery ? :welcome:

[quadsuk.net]

The Raptor,

A very famos and popular bike. I know at least one members whos considering buying one so has anyone got any experiances/opinions to share about them.

I sat on on ONCE lol . Seemed a very small bike to me and quite low to the ground. I bet its good on a track but i could imagine it would be difficult for greenlaning as there is very little ground clearance.


i have had quite a few raptors ..very good bike new ones are better with the better shocks..
i had bigger tyres on mine to help with ground clearance..
big bearclaws on the back ..
great great bike

[Blade-Hog]

Good choice what made you go for the 350 and not 700 my first quad was the 700 and i am glad i made that choice, you do get used to the speed quite quickly, i nearly went the route of quadzilla because of not having any experience( smaller engine etc) and i might add i think quadzilla are a great starter but people often upgrade within a year, i went for 700 but took really steady on road first until i felt ok before going offroad, and thats another experience, when do you get delivery ? :welcome:

Why as Mate selling It, I do think It maybe on the small side If I goto work On It .
As of got 17 miles to do to get to work, Think the 350 may also be better off road ?
As an ex-motorcross rider smaller bike where better to ride than the big one.
Meaning 125 where a good little bike light and good power, 250 things just happened quicker. 500 over powered and good on straights but would lose out to a 250 because most tracks are small and tight.
I know I'm looking back on the days of two stoke and the world of motorcross has changed now.
Your still probably right and I end up wanting a 700 but I think the 350 will do for now.

[warriorrider]

i also used to ride motorcross bikes 150's, 125's which had plenty of power. For my first quad i started off as having a Quadzilla xlc300e. When green laning it had more than enough power to keep up with most of the other quads, but it lacked power on the road, so that's why most people have larger engines. Although for a starter quad, the 350 would be a lot better than what i started with.

[RED PRED]

Hello Warrioirrider you old bugger, how are ya lol .
I too started on a QZ300XLC, quite liked it but going up to a Predator was brilliant, power, handling, build, comfort, everything was much better as you would expect .
The 350 Raptor will be better as a starter quad than a QZ as is much better all round .
Enjoy it

[RED PRED]

Has anyone had any dealings with this company ?

http://www.quadbikesrus.com/QuadBikes/Catagories/DefaultCatagoryDisplay.aspx?CatagoryId=29

[Hutcho]

I am looking to buy a quad over the next few months.
My first experience of quad’in was on my mates QZ 450RS, it was (to me) very fast. I followed him up a dual carriageway for a few miles and it got up to about 80mph.

With me looking to buy I don’t want to make a mistake and buy something that I’m quickly going to grow out off – I.e. something underpowered.
I’m currently looking at the QZ 300XLC due to the price, again being new to quad’in I don’t want to blow a load of money on something I haven’t yet had a great deal of experience in.

I can see that a few of you have had 300XLCs how long was it before you got that hooked that you needed to upgrade?



Thanks

[RED PRED]

Welcome to the site, I sold mine after 6 months, many would advise you not to do any upgrades as you will not recoup the money you spend which could go towards your next quad .
I bought a QZ because I wanted a new quad for the money i had, also I was not a member of any forums so did not have any advice on what to buy .
If you want a cheap and nearly new QZ250 which has extras and wont cost anywhere near the amount of a new quad then Butch has got one for sale, by buying slightly used you will lose a minimal amount of money compared to new .
Send a PM to Butch if interested, its only done 250 odd miles, is black and in good nick .

[RED PRED]

Just looked at `quadbikes r us` site and I dont see any bargains on there, new Raptor 700`s at £6400, they even want £4500 for a 350cc :eek::eek:, in fact I have looked at a few dealers and the prices are still too high .
Unless you are a very good negotiator, I very much doubt anyone will get a new quad at a bagain price unless its an old model or ex-stock .

[Big Jim]

Just looked at `quadbikes r us` site and I dont see any bargains on there, new Raptor 700`s at £6400, they even want £4500 for a 350cc :eek::eek:, in fact I have looked at a few dealers and the prices are still too high .
Unless you are a very good negotiator, I very much doubt anyone will get a new quad at a bagain price unless its an old model or ex-stock .

Wouldn't touch Quadbikesrus with a 10 foot barge pole.

Bought my QZ from them, only interested in selling new bikes, then, any kind of aftersales service or warrenty work - FORGET IT.

Could list quite a few reasons they came up short as a dealer, if you are interested...

[RED PRED]

Thats where Polaris is the best, they dont quibble about anything, go in there with dirty shoes and they even polish them !

[Big Jim]

Thats how it should be

[James]

is the raptor 700 very heavy? ok for jumping quite high without breaking anything? and hows the take-off speed? thank you :)

[RED PRED]

Take off speed, what are you, a bloody pilot ? V1 rotate lol
They are not that heavy, aboput 400 pounds ish .
I have heard of frames breaking on Raptors .

[Big Jim]

yeah, the frames on the nerdy riders milk bottle bottom glasses

[DAVEY.H.]

your right graham i broke my 660 frame at one of tonymoto's tracks days jumping over the big table top, secret has a nice picture of me landing, the under side skid plate is on the floor !:crazy::crazy::crazy:

[RED PRED]

A lot of racers buy `gusset` kits to weld strengthen their frames for racing .
The use of aluminium does raise a few eyebrows regarding race quad frames, I know it can be strong with good engineering box section design but still remains a very soft and inflexible metal compared to steel which can be welded but box section aluminium is a lot trickier .

[secret solo]

its all about using the right tool for the job. 500cc + machines are mainly designed for cross country and in a lower state of tune for durability, not moto-x tracks.
the 450,s are more designed for the race track.
You can do a huge jump on your raptor without incident but if you keep doing it then something may bend/break.

[corsasri]

mate i started on a quadzilla 250e and after about 4 rides i wanted some thing that would scare me. so i decided that i wanted a raptor and brought a secondhand raptor 700r, this was way faster than my quadzilla and i am still a bit scared of it, but it dose have loads of power.

[RED PRED]

Gary man, you should not be scared of a Raptor, surely not, have you not ridden a fast bike ??
40 to 50 HP will never scare me !!

[Big Jim]

Jesus, none of these quads you are talking about are fast.

If you want to try a fast quad you need a go on Wellzy's Sportsman.

0 to the bottom of Lochdoon in 4.18 seconds!

[corsasri]

Gary man, you should not be scared of a Raptor, surely not, have you not ridden a fast bike ??
40 to 50 HP will never scare me !!

only a bit on the road i would hate to come off the thing on the road doing 80mph

[RED PRED]

Imagine coming off a bike at double that-ouch
The only time quads are scary is when the rear end loses control (fixed axle quads) on road bumps and the rear bounces off line, the power of a quad is not scary, there is not enough of it to be scary .

[secret solo]

Gary man, you should not be scared of a Raptor, surely not, have you not ridden a fast bike ??
40 to 50 HP will never scare me !!

RP, have YOU ridden a fast bike yet??? ;) lol...

[RED PRED]

Yes many but I did not own any of them LOL

[secret solo]

nice answer.. ;)
Try a wr450f off road, that has around 50hp but that will scare you...
Many skilled moto-x riders ride the 250 as they say the 450 is just too much power for laning..

[RED PRED]

I suspect the 450 has a massive power to weight ratio, probably half the weight of a quad so around twice the equivalent power ??

[Big Jim]

Depends how heavy the rider is:p

[RED PRED]

LOL, very true Jim

[RED PRED]

Now I have had my Raptor for 7 months I thought I would update this thread .
The thing that stands out for me with the 700 is the fact that I have not had to do any replacement maintenance on it, not even a chain adjustment, I have done the usual grease/oil etc but nothing else, which must be a testament to its build quality .
Seeing the ridiculous price Raptors are selling for new I will keep this one as long as it goes, it would appear to me that we are being ripped off with new prices, the new price as listed in Quad mag is £6449 but I have read of prices around £8250 OTR, now thats £1800 difference !!

[Raptorman]

I think the se model is £8250.00 looks sweet, and i agree about the maintenance next to nothing

[secret solo]

Basic 2009 raptor new at states cost is £5000.
Se is £5435..
So knocking a grand off for road legalising still leaves 1800... Out of that will come import duty and vat...
Lot of money to be made importing them from the states !

[RED PRED]

I can see it continuing as Yamaha have cornered the market, Honda look to have failed with the TRX700XX which on the face of it looks underpowered in comparison, nice concept but why did they not give it some extra power, Can Am have a powerful 800 V-twin in a quad so I cant see why Honda didnt go that way, it would have dominated many events for a long time .
Roll on the 2011 Raptor with TDM 900 engine and IRS, Yam should capitalise on Honda`s mistake but they wont :confused:

[secret solo]

I see tilton sell all brands of quad- exept honda ! He did tell me he was fed up of road legal hondas as they always go bang !

[RED PRED]

Seems strange considering Honda`s `legendary` build quality, I remember back in the 70s, all the bikers used to say `I would rather eat maggots than ride a Honda` and all went and bought Kwak inline 4s, Honda`s were disregarded by those seeking performance bikes and Kawasaki dominated the big bike scene for a long time and then Suzuki with their GS1000 which was a superb bike in its day, have there ever been bikes as good looking as the old big Zeds, I dont think so :)
I do realise that Honda have made brilliant bikes since those halcyon days of biking :)
Perhaps the Honda quads that go bang have got parts made from recycled CX500s LOL

[Raptorman]

Seriously thinking about changing jacks quad i phoned about the extra insurance cost would be for raptor 700 06 answers on a post card !

:typing::typing:

[RED PRED]

£2000 ????

[johnnyboy]

£1750 thurd party only

[Raptorman]

I paid £400 for the quadzilla all they want is a extra £92.00 for the year
i was shocked to say the least .

[RED PRED]

Thats not bad, how old is he Malc .
The main reason for expensive quad insurance would seem to be the market value of the quad, when I looked at buying a new one for nearly £7K last year the quote was more than double what I eventually paid for a year old quad .
The insurance company told me that the figure at which insurance rockets is £5K and above .

[Raptorman]

I valued the quad at £3000 and jack is 20, thats tpft the reason i did not go for a Raptor in the first place was because i thought the insurance would be sky high
Falcon insurance if you need a quote

[RED PRED]

I have been messing about with my vapor speedo today, could not be bothered before, and found the odometer reading, my quad has done just under 5000 miles which is a surprise, I thought it was about 3000 including the 500 the previous owner did, I have done practically no neccessary maintenance on it, was very disappointed though as I had to do my first chain adjustment, am doing the oil change today .
Quite remarkable reliability considering the way quads are used, must check/adjust the valve tappets soon .

[Raptorman]

have been searching around and found this one cant quite believe how much they want for it i think this model is 2007

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150411908535&_trksid=p2759.l1259

Plus i noticed that the tax disc in the photo shows Sept 09 so not even recent photo could be in totally different condition now

[Raptorman]

I have been messing about with my vapor speedo today, could not be bothered before, and found the odometer reading, my quad has done just under 5000 miles which is a surprise, I thought it was about 3000 including the 500 the previous owner did, I have done practically no neccessary maintenance on it, was very disappointed though as I had to do my first chain adjustment, am doing the oil change today .
Quite remarkable reliability considering the way quads are used, must check/adjust the valve tappets soon .

I have had 2 vapor speedos and both have got water in, just dried out and reset looks all ok.
My mot due soon i have done just over a 1000 miles in a year not much really so based on that and a 06 quad maybe done 4 to 5 k in total and with no major issues

[RED PRED]

i have done just over a 1000 miles in a year

You need to get out more Malcolm ;):D

That ebay Raptor is going for more money than when it was new, the recent Yamaha price rise has driven up used prices, if it carries on like this I could wait a year or two and do a straight swap for a new Renegade or whatever LOL

[Raptorman]

There are 2 more same as only going for £4995 and £5200 not sure how he came up with that price yes i do need to get out more not much at all.

[zuko]

hey malc my mate still fot his outlaw up for sale, think its got 48 miles on the clock might be worth a look for jack let me know if your interestd .

[Raptorman]

Thanks Ade but pretty much decided its a raptor or nothing i know people (jonnyboy lol) say we are sheeps but as he says he has looked at about everything else i dont think you can beat it and i am sure most people come to the same conclusion, if there was something else people would be buying them.
I did consider the Suzuki ltz, but only like the latest one and they are out of my budget. (is yours going cheap) :p

I think we are all waiting to see Garys Honda i have been close on two raptors
but they do hold there value and always a million miles away

[johnnyboy]

I think when you look long and hard at the limited choice we have the raptor would appear to stand head and shoulders above all the rest, but on riding Frans Lt I am well impressed with the thing, it will go and do anything a stock raptor will do, performance wise theres nothing in it, there not heavy can be bought resonably priced spares are abundant, does want a sprocket change though , None of them hold a light to the faithfull QZ on the road though, infact I find the handling quite unnerving compared to the QZ on the road Trig shares my views and thinks a few trips to A&E are on the cards, looked at my max speed on the vapour it shows 71 mph and Trig did that Im to scared to go that fast on it in case a corner comes along lol seering damper will cure that flighty feeling

[zuko]

i will keep my eyes open for you malc,gunna speak to the boys down at exeter quads next week il ask paul if h,es got anything coming in keep you posted

[Bugrider]

They all like a Raptor!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGGjSF1JNYU&NR=1

[warriorrider]

good to see that :cheer2:**** big jim on here

[Big Jim]

good to see that :cheer2:**** big jim on here

:hug::hug::hug:

[Raptorman]

Not sure if this has been posted on here before raptor 2011 se, maybe £9000 just a guess

http://www.yamaha-motor.com/sport/products/modelimagelib/543/1/1/0/image.aspx

a beauty me thinks

[RED PRED]

Yet another revamp, probably a price rise too .
I want a newer design not a flash set of stickers .

[james04]

and whats new for 2011 that make the £9000 worth it.

"New inner rolled wheel’s reduce weight while maintaining strength"


i really think its time that as standard those bikes with a high price should come with.

nerf bars.
big style front bumper not a plastic one.
branded handlebars with hand guards.
twist grip throttle.

[RED PRED]

:agree::amen:Quite right Dean, some new design would not go amiss, how about a nice new twin cylinder engine, IRS, differently styled bodywork to update the look completely, and a bit of homologation to improve the road conversion quality, at present some of the dealers that convert quads do a shoddy job and cut corners with cheap crap components and workmanship, obviously not all dealers but there are some in my experience .

[Raptorman]

If you look at the front nudge bar /heel guards they are different
plus the wheels and stickers but not on the uk yamaha site as far as i could see, found on US site at $8,999 , Sterling £5999 off road price.

[Raptorman]

I am not sure you would ever recoup the cost of this Quad you must get to a point where it is just too much

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/YAMAHA-700-SPECIAL-EDITION-RAPTOR-/130421260461?pt=UK_Motorcycles

[RED PRED]

IMHO that Raptor looks hideous, sometimes you can take a nice looking quad and ruin it with too much tacky bling and an awful graphics kit !

[Raptorman]

Not sure if i have read this right £8500 plus on the road costs ?

http://www.quadbikesrus.com/roadlegalquads/yamaha/yfm700rse2011.htm