Why Stock ATVs Are Robbed of Power
Have you ever found it frustrating that even when shopping for an ATV for the specific purpose of racing that every machine on the showroom floor comes corked up, quieted down and loaded with pieces and bits that you’re simply going to have to remove the moment you get it home?
We know we are and this subject has been a hot topic around our offices of late on account of the fact that the rumor mill surrounding an all-new Honda TRX450 has been working overtime. Sources say there is one model year left for the current machine, which means somewhere across the 12-months of 2017, a brand spanking new Japanese 450 will be rolling onto dealership floors.
As is always the case when a new performance-oriented ATV is about to be unleashed, we have aspirations of a truly race-ready machine; the four-wheeled equivalent of its motocross bike counterpart, the ATV version of a repli-racer supersport bike. Sadly, however, it appears once again the government will make certain this new “race” quad will arrive quite detuned.
Why the State of Detune?
It’s easy to look around the showroom at all of the other performance machinery sitting next to the quads that comes in truly race-ready condition and feel a pang of envy but have you ever stopped to ask why? The answer has all to do with politics and government-backed market research. Motorcycles, for whatever reason, are yet able to be imported, marketed and sold as closed competition machinery. This bypasses loads of safety, noise and performance regulation. ATVs, even the ones built for racing, have never been successful in side-stepping this landmine.
Government-backed market research has proven time and again that only a very small percentage of performance ATVs purchased ever find their way to the race track and instead end up on the trails, in the woods and in public riding spots. That’s why even the raciest of 450s still come equipped with lighting, massive mufflers, mellow fuel maps etc.
The Golden Age has Passed
What’s particularly disturbing is that about a decade ago, the sport/ performance ATV segment went through a renaissance. Honda got things started by releasing the 400EX in the late 1990s then open class machines like the Yamaha Raptor 660 and Bombardier DS 650 took the tradition and ran with it. Once Suzuki released the Quadsport Z400 in 2002, the writing was on the wall: the ATV market was ready to return to racing/ performance. What followed was an explosion of entries in the newly-established 450cc premiere racing class. Every single major manufacture was represented and some lesser-known brands even got on board. At its peak, there were 12 OEM 450cc options available in the United States alone.
Just like with motorcycles, 450 ATVs began receiving annual updates to stay competitive over their rivals. Some models (like the Yamaha YFZs) actually experienced complete fresh model updates. Brands that had typically shied away from ATV racing (like KTM) came out swinging. Factory racing and contingency money for amateur racers was back. In short, ATV racing and stock performance had returned in a big way.
The Bottom Drops Out
Like all golden ages, the 450 ATV heyday began to unravel thanks to two key factors. First the domestic economy took a dive in 2008 thanks to a housing market that had been built upon little more than hopes and dreams. As this is an ATV article and not an economic report, I’ll spare you the intricate details but in short a lot of people borrowed money on homes they couldn’t afford. Banks had been too lenient in letting borrowers take out mortgages and then when suddenly hundreds of thousands of individuals defaulted on their loans, banks were stuck with countless homes and properties they would be lucky to recoup even a fraction of their investment on.
What this has to do with the ATV industry is that disposable income disappeared seemingly overnight. A recession kicked in and, as is so often the case in these situations, the first thing that disappeared was entertainment spending. Dealers were suddenly stuck with performance quads that sat collecting dust for model year after model year. Warehouses were full of unsold 450s. Things were looking bleak in a hurry.
As if the economic crisis wasn’t enough, the government/ EPA began sniffing around and determined they didn’t like how close the manufacturers were getting to closed competition status with their ATVs. Suzuki actually got into trouble with the Quadracer LTR450 for it being too easy to alter by the consumer! Even though the machine met the government’s stringent requirements on the showroom, the fact that the consumer could purchase a Yoshimura Cherry Bomb electronic coupler to access a more aggressive fuel map, the government essentially removed the machine from the domestic market.
As is so often the case, most of the remaining 450 entries toppled like dominoes. KTM pulled the plug entirely, Kawasaki dropped their KFX 450R, the Yamaha YFZ and its awesome annual updating became stagnant and the same happened to the Honda TRX450R.
Coming Full Circle
And all of this leads us back to rumor of the all-new 2018 Honda TRX450. On the one hand we are grateful for the simple fact that Honda, a manufacturer who generally adheres to the rules, is willing to allocate R&D funds to create an all new 450 in the first place. On the other, you can be certain that though this new machine will surely feature fuel injection and a design that places the uni-cam directly over the intake valves just like its motorcycle cousin, it will arrive heavily detuned to please the EPA.
Fortunately eking additional power from stock ATVs is an art we’ve mastered from the beginning. This is true to the point where in testing, we often look at a machine’s potential performance even over its actual performance. The aftermarket will respond swiftly and aggressively. With a little luck, the remaining manufacturers may look at Honda’s new 450 and decide that developing something to compete will be a matter of corporate pride. That’s all it takes to kick off a revolution and we’re certainly due for one of those.
