Should I Buy an 04' Viper S?

W

warren

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Sep 17, 2009
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Hey all, looking for some insight on the 04' Viper S ... A friend of mine is selling his for $3800 CDN (live in Canada). It has the Ohlin suspension package and a few other goodies I understand. All stock, 6,000km. In mint condition and very well maintained. No electric start or reverse however ....

Should I jump on this? From what i've been reading this is a good sled and a good price for it ....

Cheers!
 
if he has the olins rears on it, then by all means jump on it. they are a good looking sled. the american guys will tell you that is too much but in canada in good shape that is a pretty good price.
 
absolutly not...........











but you can e-mail me his contact information so i can :lol: !!!
 
warren said:
Hey all, looking for some insight on the 04' Viper S ... A friend of mine is selling his for $3800 CDN (live in Canada). It has the Ohlin suspension package and a few other goodies I understand. All stock, 6,000km. In mint condition and very well maintained. No electric start or reverse however ....

Should I jump on this? From what i've been reading this is a good sled and a good price for it ....

Cheers!
Click to expand...
That's the exact sled I'm looking for now to try and add to the stable but they are few and far between in these parts.There's on 04 Viper ER for sale in the local Auto Seller with 6000kms on it and they are asking $3995 with saddle bags for it,so I'd say your looking at a decent deal.As Maim said the US prices tend to be a bit lower than what we see up here,not sure if it's the difference in the dollar or the import stuff we have added to prices here or what but grab that sled.
 
Yeah here in canada, thats a steal of a price for a viper (a least for here in newfoundland) If I were to sell my Mtn Lite, I'd ask 4000 and let it go for around 3500, thats about average for a 500 here of that age, both liquids and fans... I know it seems a bit high but theres always those couple people around that would pay that for a POS sled from the mid-90s (and most likely, a polaris!)
 
buy that viper s.....those things are sweet. i only seen 1 ever on the trails and in person. very, very rare sled indeed. always wanted one. hopefully in time, i'll have to add one to the stable.....LOL.
 
Thanks for all the replies everyone. I did agree to buy it, it's in mint shape-really well taken care of. In my neck of the woods (Ottawa, ON) there's a few earlier model vipers for sale 02 - 03's for $4000-$5500 and they have high mileage and are the base models w/o ohlins suspension. I've always been a Bombardier guy .... really wanted a rev .... but have been told once I go Yamaha i'll never go back .... guess we'll see!
 
i have a rev too. its awesome on a bumpy trail, or if you want to ditch bang. no sled better IMO. but, if you want to have something that handles good in the corners, the viper will be better, as it will want to stay planted a little better, due to the lower center of gravity. the yamahas are also more reliable and have a better crank bearing setup. no isoflex grease to pack in there every 5000 miles or so. i do love the lightweight of my rev, as well as the electronic reverse. works swell.

oh yeah, the viper s has better shocks than the revs.
 
The one thing I'd recommend right off the bat is to yank out the skid shocks and have them revalved for your weight and riding style as this is probably the one area that Yamaha has been lagging behind in.The Ohlins on front will be good for about 8-10000kms they are that good but the rear skid performance will be quite different to what your used to on the Rev.Other than that they are a very solid platform and the fuel mileage from the triple is very good,just experiment with the various settings available to you on the rear skid to find the sweet spot.
 
fourbarrel said:
The one thing I'd recommend right off the bat is to yank out the skid shocks and have them revalved for your weight and riding style as this is probably the one area that Yamaha has been lagging behind in.The Ohlins on front will be good for about 8-10000kms they are that good but the rear skid performance will be quite different to what your used to on the Rev.Other than that they are a very solid platform and the fuel mileage from the triple is very good,just experiment with the various settings available to you on the rear skid to find the sweet spot.
Click to expand...

The Viper-S came with the non-rebuildable gas cell shocks in the skid. They work well until you really hammer on them for awhile and they start to fade. I'd get a set of KYB's and send them to Pioneer Performance to get them revalved.
 
Yamaha had to cheapen them up somewhere to offset the ohlins, tunnel traction brackets, skid plate and ripsaw .... non-rebuildable shocks and no bearings in the coupler arms for the big shock is where they saved some of the $.

Ride it with the stockers, if you take the time to set the gap on the transfer rods like in the manual it actually rides pretty decent with the stock skid shocks. And that doesn't cost anything!

If you for replace the stockers with rebuildable kybs, you need differents spacers for the mounts.
 
Actually the rear shock in the Viper S are a position sensitve double wall
shock. These shocks ride better than the aluminum bodied shocks and last along time.
 
Great info ... I'll ride it stock this season and try to get it dialed in. I should clarify I've actuall never driven a Rev, I've been on a 1999 Bombardier Formula Z 500 (S2000 chasis) for the past, ummmmm, 8 years! This Yamaha is a BIG upgrade for me ... A much needed upgrade. I think the fuel mileage should be comparable to my 500 twin and my insurance cost is the same! ... maybe you guys can shed some light on the fuel mileage .... I'll run 250km on a tank with my 500, and it'll cost me about $45 to fill it up at $1.00 per litre. What are vipers getting?
 
vipers usually get between 12-15mpg if you are not hammering on it all the time. and do not be too worried on the oil consumtion as they are very good as well.

bros viper usually takes about 2 liters less gas than my war when we run together but he always makes me lead.

if i had found a viper-s when i was shopping i would have bought it before my war. found one 2 weeks after i pulled the trigger on my war.
 
I bought one late last winter after I blew the engine in my 02 viper and only rode it about 500 miles before the snow melted. The ohlins front shocks performed great over the kyb's in the old sled. Mine still has the factory non-rebuildable rear shocks and it seems to have a plusher ride than the rebuildable ones in the 02 but they are a throw away part. I think I will get the shocks from the 02 revalved and rebuilt for future use in the viper s.
 
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