I took my '02 Big Bear out to the desert last weekend. It so slow... I didn't expect the Big Bear to be a fast mahine. But at 400cc I can't believe that all the 250cc quads are much faster than my Big Bear. On the flat dry lake, I can only go about 40mph max according to the speedomter. My daughter's 80cc Bigwheel was faster. The ozark and and recon all beat me and run circles around me.

Is there anything I can do to make the Big Bear go a little faster? Thanks for your help.

 

Well gearing is out of the question with your shaft drive.

My suggestions would be:

Performance pipe, K & N, Open Airbox (don't go in real deep mud with this mod!!!!), rejet, maybe a more agressive cam, new valve springs and taller tires. Does the BB 400 have a rev limiter? If so, get a new CDI which either increases or removes the rev limit for the engine.

Something to keep in mind here tho .. the big bear is a workaholic. It's not a sport quad. My friend wanted me to clock him on his 89 BigBear 350. I let him start off and slowly accellerated so that I didn't outrun him .. by the time I was ready to shift into 5th he was topped out at 63km/h or 39mph. That was with him on (~280lbs) and his 6 year old (~75lbs).

 

You cannot make a utility quad a sport quad. Regardless of engine size it is geared to be a work quad. Speed was the last thing on the list.

 

well freind of mine has and 01 bigbear 2wd with 26inch tires on the back it wun real close to 50 if no i tiny bit more i know my wolverine ran 54-55 with the 23 and was able to pass him slowly but easily so just put taller tires on it lol

 

i find this kind of hard to believe at some of these people saying their big bears only do 30mph.....mine can do 55 on flat concrete....sounds like it's going to blow, but it'll do it....i know this for a fact...because my friend installed a speedometer on his raptor....and went beside me to see wat i was doing and his showed up about 1mph off...and my frinds 03 kodiak tops out the same that i do....so i have no idea whats wrong w/ ur big bear, unless your just not giving it all you got...or the fact that i weigh 130??

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Bigger tires seems the only easy way to get more speed. I thought the 400cc should make up the difference for being a utility quad. You mean the engine size doesn't matter? Oh, I forgot to mention. I have problem climbing hills too. The 250cc can climb better than my Big Bear. Wait-a-minute, I don't get it. Isn't the recon and ozark are utility quads too??? I search the suzuki & honda groups and there are many discussions that they can do 55mph easily. My big bear is not much heavier according to the spec. I weight 160.

 

Only thing I could think of to do is to go find find a For Sale Sign....write your number and put a $200 dollar price tag, that will make it go very fast, just not top speed wise.

J/P, Add a Pipe and K&N and taller tires...see how you like it then.....if its still not fast enough as you wanted it to be...Can't help you.....

 

BigBearAddict, did you do anything to your Big bear? Mine is totally stock. It has approx. 600 mi on it and just service and tuned by the dealer. It appears to run perfectly. My 02 Big Bear has a speedomter. I ran it full throtle on the flat dry lake. It's max out at about 40mph (give or take a few..). The engine sounds fine. I'm totally max out. I could not keep up with other smaller utility quads.

 

mine is totally stock and has 1000 hours on it as of now....ive had it for only 6 months from when i bought it brand new from the dealership....but the only thing i can think of for a reason as to why yours is doing 40mph....is if the pin on your throttle assembly is nearly or completely all the way in???

 

Thanks for the tip about the throttle speed limiter screw. It's was not all the way out. I should have read the manual carefully. According the manual, I can adjust it to 12mm out. It was about at about 8mm from the factory.