I bought an Outlander 800 standard model about two months ago, it's all stock.

My buddy Kevin and I spent all day Sunday up at Little Stonyford, a camping area in the eastern mendocino mountains, about a half hour west of I-5 from Williams and about 30 miles north of Clearlake as the bird flies. We spend 4.5 -5 hours riding almost non stop, terrain varies from fairly steep mountian jeep trails, narrow goat trails, wide open dirt roads, some creek crossings and some easily navigated forest trails.

That access trail is 2 miles straight up and I challenged my buddy to race to the top of the trail, he has a yfz450, well he just takes off and gets a jump, I tried to stay close but after bottoming out a few times at the base of the trail I had to back off...I was maybe a second or two behind him, no big deal but it's clear that it's a bit easier to maneuver that YFZ then my Outlander.

My only complaints are probably the same as others, the front is a bit heavy and will dip or bottom out it you aren't careful. I've adjusted my shocks all the way out and bottoming out isn't generally a problem but these are some fairly extreme trails. SKID PLATES are pretty much a necessity and whether this is good or bad, lets me get a little more careless when driving over stuff.

Make absolutely sure your battery is triple strapped down, a loose connection will cause you all kinds of problems.

Riding up at the rock quarry near my house I've had a few problems with pebbles and small rocks getting stuck in various places. I had a small rock work itself into the fan shroud, good grief what a racket, I had to remove the fan on the trail to get the darn rock out!

After my 13 hour service my valves needed adjusting, and EFI sensor got slightly soiled due to over oiling my air filter, i was advised not to oil the air filter FWIW.

My servicing dealer isn't the dealer I purchased from but they were absolutely great to work with. Twin City Motorsports on 5th street in Marysville CA. They even GAVE me a programmed key for my ATV. For $189 they adjusted my valves, changed the engine and transmission oils to synthetic, installed a set of handguards, gave me a programmed key AND two posters/banners for my garage.

Overall performance of my 800 has been remarkable, wheelies very easily from a stop and absolutely NO lack of power or speed doing anything. I don' t use mine for utilty purposes so I can't comment in it's utilitarian usage but I'm sure it will do just fine. I do have a trailer hitch though to move my trailers around.

The thing I notice first about this quad was just how nimble it is. It doesn't feel like you're riding a beast. Handling is great, I can do power sliding in the right conditions. I can jump the whoops some but avoid doing this, the machine is just too heavy IMO for this type of riding, I'll get a couple of feet off the ground but thats about it. Landing is cush but I make sure to keep my rearend near the back of the seat to keep the front from nosediving. The power is very manageable, at first I took it kind of easy and was like "whats the big deal" then I just got on it and nearly flipped over backwards, killed my curiosity.

I've ridden up over 70 MPH on both paved and dirt roads, the feeling is fairly unstable at those speeds, I wouldn't recommend riding for long periods of time at these speeds just for your own health. It will get to 70 in NO time though.

The heat problem people have talked about I haven't really noticed. A lady friend commented on how hot it was on the left side but she complained about that on my 330 as well, I think having riding pants makes a difference. I do notice the heat but haven't experienced anything like what others have reported. I did reinforce the aluminum on the seat and around the headers as soon as I went on my first ride, not sure if this helps but I'd recommend it.

Apparently the 800 has a pretty generous reserve capacity. Last Sunday my fuel light came on at 51 miles yet I was fairly sure I'd get close to 100 miles out of a tank. I've since been told that there is probably two+gallons left when that light comes on.

Tires are two ply and average at best. Can't really complain since I haven't gotten any flats yet but I will be upgrading tires and wheels soon.

The Outlanders make a lot of strange noises, takes a while to get used to them. Seemed like my fan was making a bit of noise but that went away. The transmission winds out quite a bit, reminds me of my snowmobiling days as a teenager.

 

Sounds like you had a pretty good ride! I only wish we had places like that around here. I am envious. Nice to hear how your outie rode out and different things to look out for. I am only at around the nine hour mark, and havn't rode much around the house since I met up with the local county sheriff. He reminded me that I wasn't allowed to be on the side of the road riding. I said something about the off road license you can purchase and display your numbers on the side of your rack, which makes you legal to ride down the side of county roads?? He said he was going to look into in. Maybe Hightower will read this and give me some input on what he knows. Thanks raidermike......Chris K.

 

Raidermike67
Nice report. We put about 600 miles on my 800 the last part of august. My wife got her leg burned pretty bad on her left leg. She is short and was squeezing the bike pretty hard. I noticed a little heat, but nothing serious. It wound up that she rode the Polaris and I rode the Outie. I am amazed at this quad. For me, it is just about perfect. I switched off with my brother and his King Quad for a while. Big difference. I want my Outie back! Did have a small problem. When going on high speed trails ( about 35 mph) , the speedo would just keep climbing until it was pegged. After the quad sat for awhile, it would go back down. I have the quad into the stealership to get that and the up-graded heat shield done, along with that silly brake pedal recall. 2 weeks and there she sits, all parts on backorder.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]
My Outie isn't perfect, but it is the closest I have ridden.

 

My wife got her leg burned pretty bad on her left leg. She is short and was squeezing the bike pretty hard. I>>>>>>>>

Was she wearing riding pants? Had you done anything to help prevent the heat? I triple layerd the thickest aluminum foil foil I could find under the seat as well as on all the plastic and inside the heatshield itself. I did this as soon as I got it. The heat was my biggest concern yet I haven't noticed it to be honest, a lady friend did once but she was wearing jeans.......I think riding pants help some.

 

She had on jeans and tennis shoes. It didn't burn the jeans, but left several big blisters on her left calf. I had not done anything to the quad to stop the heat, I had never felt it to be a big problem, but riding slow in the technical stuff of the Paiute trail proved different. If this new heat shield doesn't work, I will try the ceramic coating. I had the RWR exhaust on my DS ceramic coated and it is very durable, just a little expensive.

 

She had on jeans and tennis shoes. It didn't burn the jeans, but left several big blisters on her left calf.>>>>

While it's obvious the heat is an issue I think wearing proper gear along with the extra aluminum I put on has definately helped I think. Do you think riding boots and pants might have prevented her burns? Boots would have protected her calves. I had a lady friend who refused to wear any gear, just some sweats and a helmet, I was not comfortable with this and she had one close call on a trail where if I hadn't of turned around and caught her she would have had to bail off the quad because of a bad rut on a corner. In the future I won't allow anyone on my quads without gear on, just a helmet doesn't cut it. I'm going to order some new ATV boots for myself so I'll always have an extra pair, this will give me two complete sets of riding gear.

Please don't take this wrong, I'm not trying to tell you your business, if your wife is like my ex g/f who refused to wear anything but a helmet then don't know what to tell you [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] My ex would have simply stopped riding with me if she got burned rather then wear proper clothing, she was just that darn stubborn. Her attitude is that she feels its safer if she feels comfortable and all that gear doesn't feel comfortable to her, but you gotta wear it for a while to get used to it then you don't realize it's even on IMO. Oh well, let me know how the extra heat shield works.

 

I've been meaning to wrap the Exhaust pipe on the outty and headers with hi temp header wrap.. if your doin allota slow grunt work with not much air moving wit will melt the seat [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-sad.gif[/img]

 

thats about the way it should be, mike. i have read a couple of posts where you can put your back shocks on the front, better spring rate and will gain 1" in height.

 

I see by your sig, you now feel things like when your butt is on fire, me too. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

You've heard about the rust under the wrap after a year or so? Just askin'.

 

Did you check out RWR ceramic coated exhaust @ $700+. It uses heat wrap for the header pipes too. I don't think the coated pipe will rust. Wow, the complete 4" stainless exhaust for my Duramax was only half that. I think I will spend my money on Hmf/Dobeck, Bighorns and a Dalton kit.