Looking for a sport quad, 400cc up. Love the Suzuki and Honda 400s, but notice they mostly seem to have been rebuilt at around the 100-130 hour mark.

Why would this be? Surely the engines last longer than that?

I'm a maintenance and servicing freak, but that seems really low hours. Under normal beach riding (not thrashing) surely these would run well for years engine wise?

Also what are Polaris Outlaws like reliability and riding wise compared to the above bikes? One I'm interested in has a 525cc KTM motor.

Would love Raptor 660 etc but few and far between over here.

Cheers

 

Well, I have a 1986 250R still going strong. Of course it has been rebuilt but that doesn't mean it won't still be running in another 25 years. The truth of it is off road motors are going to suck in dust over time and that wears piston rings, cylinder walls, valve seats, etc. Additionally, many rebuild so they can get more power via larger bore, longer stroke, more compression and the like.

Out of the 400's the Honda being air cooled and having looser tolerances will run longer between rebuilds, but it doesn't pack the punch of the Suzuki either.

The 525 is a race motor. If you think 100 hours is to frequent of a rebuild, then run from this or any of the 450 quads. They use short skirted pistons for max revs, run high compression, and generally need air flow to keep them cool(i.e., you can not put put around, these need to be run.) The designs make good power, but oil changes and rebuilds are both more frequent and often more expensive than the tamer trail motors.

 

If you're looking for one to fill up and change the oil, the 400ex is the one to get.

 

Thank you for that information! To be honest wouldn't have thought of that sort of thing..so is the Suzuki 400 (LTZ I think) sportquad a short lived beast as well, requiring frequent top ends etc?

Maybe I just need a farm 4WD quad, but find the 500s etc very heavy, and not easy to slide and throw around...
So a 400EX will be going on the list and a Raptor 600/660 as well.

Thanks for the informative replies.

 

What about something like this?

http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/moto...-613519348.htm

Even ridden at a sedate pace are these a high maintenance beast? Don't know anything about Polaris, but they are very cheap here in New Zealand compared to Honda/Suzuki/Yamaha, is this because they are crap?

 

Stay clear of the 450s. The are only 50cc larger then the reliable 400s yet make 10hp out of that little bit. You do not get 45hp out of a 450 without paying for it somewhere. That's the same HP a 700 Raptor makes.

 

The 500 is a Fuji motor, and it is more of a trail state of tune, same with the Z400. the Pred is a good quad, but it is quirky. The handling isn't as polished as a Japanese quad, Polaris used a mix of metric, sae, and torx hardware so some maintenance may take longer than it should. They have a history of some electrical gremlins. The seat has a weird hump in it that hampers weight transfer when riding harder.

Having said that, they are a good quad. Somewhere between a Z and a 450 power wise. Many came with Fox Podium shocks. Most of the quirks can be worked around or may not even bother you. They came with reverse starting in '05 I believe.

 

Thanks for replies, I purchased an LTZ400, so looking forward to riding. Seems a powerful and responsive bike (on the sidewalk lol)...cheers

 

congrats!