[sully55]

Hey everyone

Ive been looking at some quads, and leaning towards the raptor 350. I believe it suits me best, please let me know if you think other wise. Im 35 yrs old, grow up on dirt bikes,never owned a quad, and have not ridden in 2+ years. I will be doing mostly trail riding. Im totally not into the " I got the fastest quad ", or adding a ton of mods. Also what is the top speed on a stock 350. Thanks

 

[WERKS]

I'm 33 just got the 350. I do alot of trails with a little jumping and the 350 handles great all around. I'm the same way just a bike to screw around with don't need a racer.

 

[pile0g00]

What type of riding do you do?

 

[sully55]

I live in Staten Island New York, and would have to travel to Jersey to ride. It would be mostly trail riding, and there is a place that charges a fee to use their tracks. I forgot to mention Im a fatty 225lbs! :

 

[pile0g00]

350 should work great on the trail, the engine is set more forward than the others and it helps to keep the front planted and the 350s can take a beating. If you want to go jumping on a track I would go with a Z400 (or any 400 I just like the Z), better power to get moving and jumping ergonomics/shocks. For just stunting around the 400ex is a great bike, bullet proof, not too hard to get the front up, and you pick one up for a song and a dance.

 

[Flynbyu]

Ditto.

With your size, I would go with a 400cc class bike. The suspension and power delivery on the 350 is inadequate, and it's not water cooled. The Raptor 350 is a good starter bike, but I would not recommend this for an adult to ride. You'll out grown it quickly. If I was looking for a starter bike, it would be a Z400. The Z's suspension is fully adjustable (with the 05 model having preloads up front and in the rear), it's wide straight out of the box, and the engine is powerfull enough to power it up over whoops and for wheelies. It has a great balance point.

I've rode them both, and the Z is a much better purchase for close to the same money.

Good luck with your decision.

~Brian

 

[04RAPTOR350BOY17]

Yea i whit brian i would go whit the Z400 even tho the 350 are awsome lil quads lol..oh and the rap350 top's out about 65-66mph stock.. :thumbsup:

 

[1badrap]

I own two warriors,I've riddin. the Z's,great bike,but now I own an 07 raptor.If money is not an issue I would buy a raptor.No hassle fuel injection,leave it stock,easy maintain,all day comfort.Just does'nt get any better.Good luck!

 

[Mad Dog]

If you're looking at buying new I'd suggest the z400. If you're picking up something used both the raptor/warrior 350 and the 400ex can be found for rather cheap. I'm not sure about the z, but the used ones usually go for considerably more than used raptor/warriors and 400ex's.

 

[Pacific Barbarian]

I used to own a Yamaha XT 500 about 12 years ago and never ridden a bike since. I wanted to get a quad, but for a long time wasn't sure what to get. So finally decided Yamaha willl be way to go again.

I decided on the Raptor 700 and I do not regret it one little bit. I am 6'2" and 250lbs. It is so comfortable and a pleasure to cruise around on. I am not into racing, just having fun. Nice thing is, you have all the power at your disposal and do not have to look for the power band, for it is just always there.

I got my wife the 350, it is such a nice quad though, perfect for her. I enjoy riding it as well, but I would have gotten bored with it, I know for sure.

Go for the 700, it is an all round, very comfortable ride, will meet all your expectations.

 

[05 Raptor 350 Blue / 06 700 White]

You know this really kills me...if you go on the 700 forums and have people ask these questions, none of you even take into consideration that the 700 may not be the best choice, but you all jump at the chance to say "GET THE 700 IS THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED CHEESE" but you come on here suggesting anything but almost...the 350 isnt in the best thing but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it....i may be being bias as i own a 350 but at the dirt cheap price and the fact that in the trails it keeps up with any 400 stock and you can almost do the big 3 for under 300 bucks is a nice selling point and with the big 3 and a 12 tooth front sprocket i would bet it would be most 400 in a drag and you would still have some money in your pocket...granted you bought a newer 400ex...yea you could get a 95 for way less but its a 95...
For the OP I went from bikes to quads just like your saying you did and there isn't anything i would rather have right now.

 

[Pacific Barbarian]

You know this really kills me...if you go on the 700 forums and have people ask these questions, none of you even take into consideration that the 700 may not be the best choice, but you all jump at the chance to say "GET THE 700 IS THE BEST THING SINCE SLICED CHEESE" but you come on here suggesting anything but almost...the 350 isnt in the best thing but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it....i may be being bias as i own a 350 but at the dirt cheap price and the fact that in the trails it keeps up with any 400 stock and you can almost do the big 3 for under 300 bucks is a nice selling point and with the big 3 and a 12 tooth front sprocket i would bet it would be most 400 in a drag and you would still have some money in your pocket...granted you bought a newer 400ex...yea you could get a 95 for way less but its a 95...
For the OP I went from bikes to quads just like your saying you did and there isn't anything i would rather have right now.

Dont get me wrong, I love the 350, I have one, my wife uses it. Iam 33 years old now. I will still get the 3 mods for her, after I have upgraded the suspension. The 350 is a great bike, but in time you will have to get better a-arms as well as new shocks, plus the big 3.

For my height and weight, it is not all that comfortable, but the 700 is.

The stock 700 is an excellent machine, you can get one 2nd hand for quite cheap, and you do not have to do any mods to it, keep it like it is, and enjoy for ever more and many years to come.

What I am saying is, coming from the Yamaha XT 500, I really enjoyed that high torque from low revs all the way through, so the 700 was easy to adjust to riding wise, compression braking, etc.

I still enjoy riding the 350 very much. Just that if it was my only quad, I would have always wondered what the 700 would be like. Now I enjoy the best of both worlds!

The 350 however has some factory flaws:

#1: Positve camber on front wheels which cannot be adjusted
#2: Hard to find neutral when hot
#3: Struggle to engage forward out of reverse

The 700 does not have any flaws that I know of.

 

[05 Raptor 350 Blue / 06 700 White]

The 350 does not have positive camber from the factory. I saw your post you have bad ball joints. Everything is a little difficult to find neutral when hot...and he is coming from bikes and they are harder IMO. All you have to do to solve the reverse problem is to let out the clutch a hair...the guy i got my 350 from didn't know this so neither did i so he told me to cut the quad off and switch then turn it back on(which works just not the best way) but it didn't take me, or my brother, 15 minutes to figure out how to get it in and out easy. Like i said everyone downs the 350 and calls it underpowered and out of date...but there is not a lot to fairly compare the 350 too...raptor 250 250ex 400ex z400 are all in different categories...so what is the 350 underpowered in comparison to? And just because its the same motor as the warrior doesn't mean anything the yz 125 up until 04-05 was the same since 93-94 and you don't hear many complaints from owners about it.

 

[Pacific Barbarian]

Dude, do not take this personally! About the ball joints, there are no popping noise, the bolts seem bent, but I have nothing new to compare it to. From previous posts I will go and find the thread for you about the positive camber, just give me a few minutes, I have been searching through all the archives, and I have all those problems others were complaining about. And news for you, i found a 4th flaw I will be adding soon, by editing my post about factory flaws!

Once again, you are taking this personally, you should not. I am trying to establish some ground for positive debate, where we can sort out our problems. If your bike doesn't have any, I amm very glad for you. Mine does have some, others too, we would like to fix this. So please, ease off on the emotions!!!

 

[TrybalRage]

I personally love my 350, I'm 29 years old and although the 700 is a very nice machine, the 350 will do everything you need it to. The motors are very well built, nice torque range, and I personally have no need for more motor. But everyone is different.

I've never been in a situation where I wanted/needed more power. Every hill other people were doing, I could do just as well. I've run right behind my buddy's Polaris Outlaw, with both of us pushing the machines pretty hard.

I think the deciding factor should be comfort. The 700 is a bigger quad, and if you are a taller person, the ergonomics would probably fit you better. I'm a little guy, so I'm happy with the machine I have.

 

[andy9802gt]

I dig my tree fifty! In tight trails it doesn't matter what size bike you're on nobody is getting outta third anyway. I ride with 'shee's and 450's and a dude with a nasty ass cr125 when I go to my brothers in MI to ride and the only time I end up in the back is on the road to the riding spot. So get the 350 if it's a good deal and ride it like you stole it.