went to go look at a raptor 350 today.

[PikledBeats]

why do you keep asking what everyone thinks its what you want you want a 4 stroke get one if you cant handle riding a 2 stroke then get rid of it anyone can go fast on a 4 stroke not everyone can on a 2 stroke

I agree, not trying to be a total dick but it sounds like a four stroke would be better for you. It really isn't a lowend issue as a blaster is a trail quad and can easily be set up for low-end power. My guess is a four-poke is easier for you because the gears are more forgiveable and wider for poking you around the trails. "hardly get out of second", sounds like a little practice shifting and putting the stock pipe back on would be the best suggestion for ya.

Oh, and IMO I would get a fuel injected Z400 before a 400ex anyday. I don't think a 250r would be a good choice for you if you have problems riding a blaster. And I'd have to agree the bigger raptors are heavy......You gotta learn how to slide that blaster around the corners while feathering clutch so you don't loose speed in the corners while riding those tight trails.....lol. That's what makes it sweet, how light it is, plus it is easier and cheaper than any four poke to work on

 

[ivanb1]

Get a raptor 700 climb everything, can go slow on high gears and is 4 Stroke a little pussy but is good.

Good luck !

 

[05blasterkid]

all im wondering is what are your opinions on what quad i should go to instead of the blaster. i want a trail friendly quad and yea blasters can be set up that way but mine isnt so im not putting anymore money into it when i can just find something to trade it for and get what i want out of the blaster. my dads friend has a 400ex and its a 99 and its never been rebuilt, so they are pretty reliable. his is far from stock too. blasters when they get far from stock they start having problems, atleast the ones that i know of and people have to start replacing topends. yea 4 strokes cost way more to rebuild but they last longer in general and in the end you will spend just as much money rebuilding a 2 stroke as you will a 4 stroke cause IN GENERAL!! they blow up much easier and after rebuilding them a few times you could have only blown a 4 stroke up once and they would cost the same in the end.

 

[PGH PA 2 STROKE]

all im wondering is what are your opinions on what quad i should go to instead of the blaster. i want a trail friendly quad and yea blasters can be set up that way but mine isnt so im not putting anymore money into it when i can just find something to trade it for and get what i want out of the blaster. my dads friend has a 400ex and its a 99 and its never been rebuilt, so they are pretty reliable. his is far from stock too. blasters when they get far from stock they start having problems, atleast the ones that i know of and people have to start replacing topends. yea 4 strokes cost way more to rebuild but they last longer in general and in the end you will spend just as much money rebuilding a 2 stroke as you will a 4 stroke cause IN GENERAL!! they blow up much easier and after rebuilding them a few times you could have only blown a 4 stroke up once and they would cost the same in the end.

thats true four strokes do last longer IF THEY ARE TAKEN CARE OFF long as you keep the valves adjusted right and such 4 stokes run and run BUT its really up to the rider how long it lasts NO MATTER HOW MANEY STROKES

 

[hudack]

wheres our pa homie darederek his blaster is a 99 and has never been rebuilt.
where do you get 2 strokes blow up all the time.
with a 4 stroke you got to get the vavles adjusted that,is not free.
keep saying 2 strokes arnt reliable but once you get a 4 stroke it will go just as quick if not taken care of like your blaster was.
mine was a 99 rebuilt it a year ago still ran when i did id like to add.
also my year old pistion is siting in my room right now very clean.
whoever said 2 strokes arnt reliable never heard of air filter oil, leakdown testers, compresion testers, plug chops or good 2 stroke oil!!!

 

[darederek]

CHECKING IN!

99 blaster. 3rd set of rings, but stock piston and crank. 125 lbs of compression and kickin just as good as ever. so im what 12 years in with roughly $75 of parts? who says 2 strokes arent reliable.

 

[05blasterkid]

i didnt say 2 strokes werent reliable, just the 4 strokes in general are more reliable

 

[hudack]

4 stroke takes just as much matinance as a 2 stroke whoever is telling you differnt is telling you wrong......

 

[theblasterboy]

i just say get rid of your blaster cause apparently you dont have the balls to handle it.Ok get a 4 sh*t none cares.

 

[best]

i didnt say 2 strokes werent reliable, just the 4 strokes in general are more reliable

It is a mixed bag. The older design motors, the 350s and many of the older 250s are tough engines. They have modest horsepower output but many of them are tough as nails and go a long time without oil changes or valve adjustments. The downside is their low power output and heavy weight is not too exciting.

Many of the newer 400 and 450 engines make a lot of horsepower but at the expense of reliability. They are large bore and high compression and have huge lightweight valves and a short piston with very little skirt. Everything inside them is designed to be lightweight and they carry a minimum of oil, which they stress with a lot of shear, so it needs to be changed extremely often or the engine WILL fail. When they fail, parts are expensive compared to older engines and stuff breaks so a lot of metal is thrown around the engine. The valves and cam are of "interference" design so they get easily damaged too. The crank is more like a 2 stroke design and does not handle detonation or metal bits very well. If you don't do the frequent oil changes and the valve adjustments on these engines they WILL cost you bigtime.

With the frequent oil changes required, their oil use is often in excess of what a 2 stroke uses. Cheap oil will not do, so the cost is significant. As for 2 strokes not being reliable, I do not have much experience with Blasters but my KTM bikes go many years and many miles without adjustments or repairs and yet are very high output engines. If you drive the daylights out of it and don't maintain it as designed, it doesn't matter whether you are riding a 4 stroke or a 2 stroke, it will break. One engine just happens to have fewer parts.

 

[best]

That's including labor. And once again, a "rebuild" doesn't cost nearly that much. Like I said previously, if you GRENADED the engine, that's another story and it's costly whether it is 2, 4, 6, 8 stroke. Half the stuff you are getting done probably isn't even necessary to begin with.

Ahhh, I thought your "promise to rebuild at half the cost" might be too good to be true.
You don't have any experience with the modern 450s, or maybe you just call a ring change a rebuild?
Even a with a ring change it is advisable to change the piston too because the short skirts are prone to wear and cracks.
The cost of piston kit, gaskets, oil and bits is about $300 parts and about 6 hours work. Certainly more complicated than a 2 stroke.
But it ain't a rebuild.

Many failures like a worn bearing or broken skirt cause metal to be thrown around, damaging the bore, crank and cam.
Besides, the revs involved take their toll on the valve springs and retainers. The close fit of valves to piston makes bent valves common.
Did I mention valve guide replacement? Timing chains are comparatively cheap.
What parts do you not replace on your rebuilds?

I have been down the modern 450 4 stroke road, as well as many of my friends.
The power and traction was fun, but all of us were burned with high costs and more frequent service and repairs.
Sorry for being a bit pissy, but it is hard to not be bitter after seeing several people burned with $3000 repair bills on a 1 year old bike.
These are bikes I am talking about, Yamaha YZ450F, KTM450+520F, and Husaberg for the most part.
The 450 ATV engines used are very similar.
I'd like to make this warning loud and clear to anyone believing (like I did) that all 4 strokes are reliable and cheap.
Sorry for being so adamant about pushing the issue, the dealers won't tell you these facts.

 

[99LRDblaster]

Ahhh, I thought your "promise to rebuild at half the cost" might be too good to be true.
You don't have any experience with the modern 450s, or maybe you just call a ring change a rebuild?
Even a with a ring change it is advisable to change the piston too because the short skirts are prone to wear and cracks.
The cost of piston kit, gaskets, oil and bits is about $300 parts and about 6 hours work. Certainly more complicated than a 2 stroke.
But it ain't a rebuild.

Many failures like a worn bearing or broken skirt cause metal to be thrown around, damaging the bore, crank and cam.
Besides, the revs involved take their toll on the valve springs and retainers. The close fit of valves to piston makes bent valves common.
Did I mention valve guide replacement? Timing chains are comparatively cheap.
What parts do you not replace on your rebuilds?

I have been down the modern 450 4 stroke road, as well as many of my friends.
The power and traction was fun, but all of us were burned with high costs and more frequent service and repairs.
Sorry for being a bit pissy, but it is hard to not be bitter after seeing several people burned with $3000 repair bills on a 1 year old bike.
These are bikes I am talking about, Yamaha YZ450F, KTM450+520F, and Husaberg for the most part.
The 450 ATV engines used are very similar.
I'd like to make this warning loud and clear to anyone believing (like I did) that all 4 strokes are reliable and cheap.
Sorry for being so adamant about pushing the issue, the dealers won't tell you these facts.

I said this in a another thread. I rebuilt a YFZ top end for $320 and we had leftover dough to put in Kibblewhite springs and only spent about $500. The titanium valves were fine as was most everything else. We simply swapped out the piston, rings, gaskets, springs, etc......more or less a simple top end rebuild like a 2 stroke. Went ahead and cleaned it up and put it back together and I saw that YFZ last month and it was running like a champ.

A "rebuild" is a bit of a vague term. We rebuilt a top end. If you do something dumb and grenade an engine, it's not without causation.....in most cases it doesn't "just happen". It's no different than a 2 stroke after you go lean blow a hole in the piston, break off a skirt, destroy the crank and everything else........just like a 4 stroke.......it's easier just to trash most of the engine and buy a new engine as a whole since it's more cost effective. Will the 4 stroke cost more if you have completely f*cked the engine?.......sure.....that's inherent of larger displacement and the valvetrain, but in either case, you are screwed. When I rebuilt my buddies Banshee, it costed about the same as the YFZ from what I remember in the $300ish range. Both were top end rebuilds. If they were both grenaded engines?......the YFZ would probably cost almost the 3 times the amount to fix than the Banshee......best point to make is just don't grenade your engine.

As for dealers, stealerships couldn't give the rat's ass what they do or sell as long as it goes out the door and they get cash in hand.

 

[theblasterboy]

this kid gets annoying with allthis bs.Just my 2 cents.

 

[99LRDblaster]

this kid gets annoying with allthis bs.Just my 2 cents.

.............touche

 

[alex90]

I said this in a another thread. I rebuilt a YFZ top end for $320 and we had leftover dough to put in Kibblewhite springs and only spent about $500. The titanium valves were fine as was most everything else. We simply swapped out the piston, rings, gaskets, springs, etc......more or less a simple top end rebuild like a 2 stroke. Went ahead and cleaned it up and put it back together and I saw that YFZ last month and it was running like a champ.

A "rebuild" is a bit of a vague term. We rebuilt a top end. If you do something dumb and grenade an engine, it's not without causation.....in most cases it doesn't "just happen". It's no different than a 2 stroke after you go lean blow a hole in the piston, break off a skirt, destroy the crank and everything else........just like a 4 stroke.......it's easier just to trash most of the engine and buy a new engine as a whole since it's more cost effective. Will the 4 stroke cost more if you have completely f**cked the engine?.......sure.....that's inherent of larger displacement and the valvetrain, but in either case, you are screwed. When I rebuilt my buddies Banshee, it costed about the same as the YFZ from what I remember in the $300ish range. Both were top end rebuilds. If they were both grenaded engines?......the YFZ would probably cost almost the 3 times the amount to fix than the Banshee......best point to make is just don't grenade your engine.

As for dealers, stealerships couldn't give the rat's ass what they do or sell as long as it goes out the door and they get cash in hand.

depending what you are droping in a rebuild including new gaskets and coolant and oil will run 500 max...if you DIY..if you grenade it and need a new jug a big bore kit is only 500 bucks..i got my big bore kit for my kfx was 400 onlyI:I

 

[slickerthanyou]

I've had my raptor Since '08 bought new, have had no issues with it engine wise. However I DO regular maintenace, Change oil every two months, (which is about 20 hrs of riding for my kids), And just this year i did the valve adjustment, It was suppose to be done six months after we got it but since I was intimidated by it, i let it go this long, They were way out of range- easiest thing to do, easier than a leakdown test!

I love the blaster too! I'm still learning it, jetting and such, but i have all the low end torque i need! Just a matter of doing homework then asking questions Before you mod your quad, and then doing it.

I love to ride both quads, and they both have neck jerking torque!

I agree a quad (any quad) is only gonna last as long as you take care of it! Good luck with your purchase!

 

[theblasterboy]

.............touche

and i gaurentee you were not the only to that think that!

 

[tjsdaname]

Ahhh, I thought your "promise to rebuild at half the cost" might be too good to be true.
You don't have any experience with the modern 450s, or maybe you just call a ring change a rebuild?
Even a with a ring change it is advisable to change the piston too because the short skirts are prone to wear and cracks.
The cost of piston kit, gaskets, oil and bits is about $300 parts and about 6 hours work. Certainly more complicated than a 2 stroke.
But it ain't a rebuild.

Many failures like a worn bearing or broken skirt cause metal to be thrown around, damaging the bore, crank and cam.
Besides, the revs involved take their toll on the valve springs and retainers. The close fit of valves to piston makes bent valves common.
Did I mention valve guide replacement? Timing chains are comparatively cheap.
What parts do you not replace on your rebuilds?

I have been down the modern 450 4 stroke road, as well as many of my friends.
The power and traction was fun, but all of us were burned with high costs and more frequent service and repairs.
Sorry for being a bit pissy, but it is hard to not be bitter after seeing several people burned with $3000 repair bills on a 1 year old bike.
These are bikes I am talking about, Yamaha YZ450F, KTM450+520F, and Husaberg for the most part.
The 450 ATV engines used are very similar.
I'd like to make this warning loud and clear to anyone believing (like I did) that all 4 strokes are reliable and cheap.
Sorry for being so adamant about pushing the issue, the dealers won't tell you these facts.

if you are not mentally handicappededededed.... you should be able to rebuild a top end in about 2 hours... and I just rebuild my stock 450r with all stock parts for about 250$

and for the 3,000$ repair bills. them people got F'ed in the ass... lol I got my race engine built for about 1,750.. and that included all aftermarket parts and a compete teardown and replacing everything that even looked funny...