WHILE RIDING IN SAND, THE TRANSMISSION, WITHOUT WARNING, EXPLODED CAUSING ME TO FLY OVER THE HANDLE BARS AND BE THROWN TO THE GROUND. THE DAMAGE TO THE ATV WAS EXTENSIVE AND WAS DISCOVERED TO BE CAUSED BY A DEFECTIVELY DESIGNED AND/OR MANUFACTURED TRANSMISSION. I AM AWARE THAT THIS IS A VERY COMMON PROBLEM WITH THE YAMAHA RAPTOR, ESPECIALLY THE 2001 MODEL. I AM ALSO AWARE THAT THE 2002 RAPTOR HAS THE SAME PROBLEM EVEN THOUGH YAMAHA MADE SUBSTANTIAL CHANGES TO THE TRANSMISSION. YAMAHA RESPONDS BY SAYING THAT THE RIDER CAUSES THE PROBLEMS BY IMPROPERLY SHIFTING THE TRANSMISSION. THAT IS NOT TRUE! YAMAHA JUST DOES NOT WANT TO PAY THE $2000 PLUS EACH TRANSMISSION FAILURE. MIND YOU, THE ENGINE YAMAHA ELECTED TO PUT IN THE RAPTOR IS AN OLD ENGINE DESIGN THAT THEY PULLED FROM A ROAD MOTORCYCLE. *AK