I have only ridden two atv's. The Kaw Bayou which I own and a fourtrax. Both are old models and have a very harsh ride. In fact, if you are in 3rd gear or faster while going over rough and uneven terrain, the ride is virtually uncontrollable. Do they all ride like this?

I want the Utility style atv so the ex and other sport models with fancy suspensions won't work for me. Has there been much improvement in suspensions for Utility atv's and if so, which models? Polaris? Honda? Yam?

 

some ultility models you can by aftermarket suspension for and improved the ride.

 

If you want s mooth riding comfortable utility ATV, you have a few choices. The Suzuki Quad runner 250 and King quad ride very well. The Artic Cat versions of the same bikes ride well also. Then you have the Sportsman 335, 400, and 500. On slow trial, the Sportsmans are not quite as smooth and the Suzukis, but on faster trails the Sortsmans few alot more stable. If you choose the SP500HO, you have the benefit of the smooth ride and the bike will run very close to a 300ex.

Greg

 

There sure is better suspended quads with much more longer travel out there,but all in all the sport of atving is a rought ride.With all these new quads comming out I wish they would concentrate on new suspensions instead of just bigger motors like the snowmobile industry did.Look at the suspension of the new sled and all they have to ride over is snow and groomed trails.In our sport all the ugly rough stuff is not burried under 3 ft of snow but the suspension of the new quads look the same as it did 10 years ago.

 

tealboy, The Bayou and the old Fourtrax that you have ridden have less than 4" of suspension travel and were designed for low speed use. All of the manufacturers' top utility models have much more travel than that now. I think they've come a long way since the mid 90's on utility quad suspensions. Tim1 may disagree, but he rides a Polaris Sportsman which has had a good suspension for a long time. The Polaris line in general hasn't had to change their suspensions much in recent years because they were way ahead of the rest in travel. Now that everyone is making their ATV's to go faster, they've had to improve the suspensions. Here is a list of the top model utility ATV's and their suspension travel:
Bombardier Traxter 500 7.0" front, 7.2" rear
Arctic Cat 500 7.2" front, 7.2" rear
Suzuki Quadmaster 500 5.9" front, 5.9" rear
Honda Rubicon 500 6.7" front, 6.7" rear
Kawasaki Prairie 400 6.7" front, 7.1" rear
Yamaha Grizzly 600 6.3' front, 7.1" rear
Polaris Sportsman 500 6.7" front, 9.5" rear.
Test ride any of these quads and you will find a big improvement in ride quality over the two you have ridden. There are several more quads from the different manufacturers that have much better suspension than those two also. The travel isn't everything, but it sure helps. The seat comfort varies a fair bit too.

 

The 2 machines you mention are probably 2 of the worst riding atvs ever. There are a lot of utility type machines out that ride considerably better. All Polaris machines (even the low end units), most Yamahas, some Kawasakis (as long as you stay away from the Bayou), all Artic Cats, Honda doesn't seem to place much emphasis on a good ride except on the Rubicon (although the 2wd Rancher and Recon do pretty well) . I don't know enough about the Suzukis to comment on them although the top of the line units don't seem to fare well in that as far as tests are concerned. I have ridden the machines you are talking about many times in the past and thought I would have to give up riding due to back problems. Now I ride a Polaris Trail Boss and I feel great when I am done riding instead of all beat up.

 

I had the same rough ride problem with my recon so i put on 300ex shocks.

 

actually I happen to think that the 220 rides pretty well, as long as you're not jumping it, I drive it at 45 in a feild after it's plowed and it's not really all that bad even...

 

I know this is not a fair comparison but my warrior is always a very smooth ride no matter what the conditions as long as you dont jump it to high.My suspension is setup on the soft so that also has something to do w/ it. :7)