Hi everyone I was considering buying the 2005 Kodiak but i have read several posts about how the kodiak feels unstable or "tipsy" while riding. I am moving to montana where I will most likely be doing many hill climbs that will more than likely be quite steep. I am concerned about this so if anyone could give me some more info on this that would be great! thanks

 

My 2005 Kodiak has been through its paces the last 3 weekends in Arkansas. It is not tippy. If sits lower than all my friends "Monsters" (Brute force, Grizzly, Prairie) and handles better in tight/Steep terrain. It is my first ATV and I had to get used to high speed turns on gravel roads (the IRS requires more throttle to slide). But, most of my riding was up and down severe inclines and in technical rock and tree terrain. Hope this helps.

 

This spring, I switched from the much lower and smaller Kawasaki Bayou 220 to the Yamaha Kodiak 450. In my impression, it IS alot tippier than the bayou. But that bike is alot smaller with a lower center of gravity and alot less ground clearance. The kodiak suspension is also alot easier on my... suspension.

Twice, I have tipped the kodiak over, and both times in places the bayou would have had no trouble. Its caused me to adjust my riding style a little. Now, I really like the kodiak but I was very concerned at first.

I'm fairly heavy for the Bayou, 265lbs, so getting adequate power on up hill climbs can be a challenge. I was always worried about starting up a hill and not knowing how steep it might become around the next bend. It can be very difficuly to turn arround on a steep hill. The kodiak changed my fears because it has sooo much more power, there's never a problem accellerating up hill. My biggest worry on an uphill climb on the bayou was encountering an obstacle that could cause the wheels to come up off the ground. This happened once on the Bayou and it rolled end over end over end. I was really lucky to find it still ridable after that roll.

The kodiak is great in that it always seems to have enough power to speed up when an obstacle appears. It's momentum that carries me over one ostacle after another. In both cases that I tipped the Kodiak, I was going very slow on a slanted trail. Had I been able to go faster, I would have been only slanted for a second and would not have tipped it onto its side. Unfortunately, that trail had a 4 foot deep gulley washed out in it so there was no way to proceed forward. But it was only after I stopped that I lost control of the vehicle.

Also, it seems to me that the lowest gear is slightly sluggish in a really good way. No matter how hard I punch the throttle, I've never felt the front wheels start to come off the ground. To me, this is VERY GOOD because I have no desire to do wheelies, especially on steep up hill climbs. And yet, I feel like there is always plenty of power. They've really struck the perfect balance for me. I can't count how many times on the bayou I would hit an obstacle and the motion would cause me to accidentally clamp down on the throttle and potentially cause me to loose control. So far, this has never happened on the Kodiak because on one hand, it can handle bigger obstacles without knocking you off balance, but it also seems to have slightly more sluggish response to sudden changes in the throttle.

Disclaimer: I'm only talking about hill climbs on a 30 to 40 degree angle or so. I don't know actualy degree numbrers but I climb hills only to get to the top and not to show off while doing it. I'm not talking about the kind of hill climbs that spectators gather arround to watch. Regarding those, you're on your own.

 

Don't worry about the tippiness factor. Just be smart and ride it instead of just sittting on it. My griz was a little tippy when I got it but I soon put some 6 ply dirt devils on it and it got alot better. I also put Itp c-series on it and that widened the stance a couple of inches. I still really lay into the turns, but I can easily slide it sideways and gun the gas to swing the rear end around to go up a hill. When I am riding normal trails, I grip the tank with my knees and push my body to the inside of the turn. It really makes it easy to lean into an unexpected turn very quickly. The extra ground clearance will be very worth the extra effort. When you walk right through stuff that stops the legendary prarie 700, you won't be able to wipe the sh*t eating grin off your face for hours. Good luck.

 

yes it is tripsy but you will get use to it

 

Any Yamaha is tippy. They are all narrow. Throw a set of aftermarket rims on them, and the offset you get from just the normal setup is enough to make everything just fine. Of course, Yamaha should have done this themselves by adding a more offset stock rim or a wider setup, but you can get it done for under $200 depending on your preference. Rocky Mountain ATV will sell their cheapest silver painted ITP Delta rim shipped to you for about $180 a set. I run Chrome ITP Deltas which I think I paid $220 shipped. And of course the price goes up when you get into the various C-series aluminum, Douglas, and Maxxis rims which all look really good and don't weigh very much.

And the last resort is wheel spacers which run like $170 a set, and for that much I'd rather have an extra set of rims.

But to answer the question, yeah, I'm sure its tippy feeling.

 

Thanks guys all the replies were very informative and helped alot, thanks again[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I know this thread is very old but I thought I would add that you can widen the stance of any quad and add more side to side stability by adding wheel spacers between the rim and the hub. I am fine with the stock wheels on my Kodiak 400 but it did feel a little top heavy and tippy on tight off camber trails. You can buy nice CNC aluminum spacers on eBay in sizes from 1" to 3" to fit many bolt patterns. I found 1.25" front and rear on my Kodiak for a 2.5" total width increase worked wonders for stability and confidence.

 

If you ride a lot of off-camber stuff - take that POS sway bar off and throw it away (Like I did)