I am trying to decide what quad to trade my Brute for. I have pretty much narrowed it down to the Polaris Outlaw 525IRS, the Raptor 700, and the Kawasaki KFX450R. My concern is that the trails are real ruff and can have some very large rocks and rutts or washouts. If I go strait axle I will be putting 22 inch tires on it and good skid plates. I like the Raptor and Kawaski for the fuel Injection. I like the Outlaw for the IRS. I am not sure about the outlaw for Dune and fast desert riding. I also worry about jetting issues as I ride elevations from under 4000 feet to over 10,000 feet, sometimes on the same ride. What are your experiences with sport quads on mountain trails and which quad do you guys think performs the best over all terrains.

 

I ride my warrior on mountains trails that are pretty rough. 22s on any of the 3 would be a good decision. any of them would be good, just have to decide which you like best

 

The Raptor has the most adjustable suspension of the three. Everything that I've heard about the Rap700 is nothing less than top level...power, handling, suspension, and reliability.

Suspension tuning can be a little hit or miss but once you get a handle on it...you can't beat it. My stock suspension wasn't that good. When I replaced it with some adjustable suspension......Let me just tell you that enough can not be said for the ability to tweek your stuff to suite any given conditions on any given day with just a few clicks.

 

Gus Thanks for the Reply I had a KFX700 for a while. I liked the power but hated the suspension and felt it was a little too heavy for a sport quad. If Kawasaki would figure out how to reduce the weight just a little and redesign the suspension to handle better I would buy another. The free wheeling was a little unnerving too. I have been hoping the Raptor guy would chime in with their experiences as to how the Raptors do in the mountains. I know they rock at the Dunes and fire roads. Just wondering how they handle the rocks and ruff stuff.

 

the 09 shocks on the rappy are much better also. i want to try them out see how they do. i know they wont preform like a good aftermarket sutup but they look like great for stock.

 

The new Raptors with the Hi/Lo speed compression along with all the other normal adjustments is suposed to be about as good as it gets with out going after market. If you did some research along with some trial and error......once you get a grasp of how to make the shocks do what you want, they must be pretty good.

 

of these 3 i would go whit the 700 because its EFI and its good for trail. and at the elevations ur riding in i would get EFI and the 450 i think its more of a track bike than trail
did u check out the Honda TRX700xx its fuel Injection plus IRS

 

on a little side note the someone has just developed a closed loop system for the raptor. what this means is that if will self adjust the efi mapping all the time. it has worked on a dyno and now they are seeing how it will do in real riding conditions.

 

I have 22's (rear) and lots of armor on my Raptor and I ride mountain trails. You'll still get hung up a lot more than with your Brute.

How big are you? To me the KFX450 feels much smaller than my Raptor and the seat is pretty bad.

I'd go with the Outlaw if your trails are really rough but the Raptor if you are in the Sand most of the time. Which terrain are you in most of the time?

 

I ride the mountains more than the sand. I am over 200 pounds and just barely under 6ft. I am a little worried about hanging up climbing through some of the rocky section as they are also pretty steep. But most the areas my Daughters Honda 250 can make it. There are a few that I won't even let her try though. ( The Hinda is shaft drive so it has more clearance than the average sport quad) I kind of thought the 450s might be too high strung more track and sand than tight trail stuff.