I am 15 years old, 5'10" and 145 pounds, I've grown up with utility quads and can handle them in any conditions, and any speeds, so I would consider myself an intermediate rider. I have an 07 Sportsman 500 4x4 and I love it.

As far as riding goes, I will spend most of my time riding on Gravel roads with my friends, and they all have 400+ sport quads, and I can't keep up on my Sportsman. But other times, I'll be riding the trails and rough terrain, mud, snow, whatever is there. I'm looking for a quad that is fast, but also has tons of power, because I pull trailers with my sportsman, and I'm gonna get a hitch for my sport quad and do the same, I was strongly considering the Raptor 700. It's fast, and has that lower end power. My main necessities are: Fuel Injection, Power, 65+ mph.


Opinions?

 

Well for the kind of power you are looking for there are only a few choices in sport quads. Raptor, Honda 700xx, Kawasaki Vforce 700. How good either of those will be for pulling a trailer though, im not sure. Not because of lacking power, just the design of the quad vs a utility. Raptor 700 is great all around, great for trails, great for speed. They will make a 400 look silly. Of the three i mentioned it is the most "sport" oriented, and probably the quickest. The honda 700xx is a nice machine too. It has IRS which will work well for you if you are riding in the mud and rough terrain. My friend has one, it is quite a nice machine. The kawaski 700 is the most non-sport oriented. It is an automatic, is belt driven, solid rear, and is a twin cylinder. It the most powerful of the three, but being an auto and a heavier machine, it is the slowest. Still significantly faster than the 400 class and will keep up with the raptor or honda 700 without issue. It would be your best bet for towing of the three. All will do more than 70mph. Anything in the 700 class is going to blow you away in power vs your sportsman, and any of these will suit you well for what you are looking to do. Having ridden them all, they are all great machines, but they each have there differences. All about your personal preference and usage.

FWIW, a lot of people will say you are relatively small guy for these machines, however for one you are 15 and still growing, and for two i'm not much bigger than you (and im 21) and my raptor 660 doesn't feel too big in the least. I wouldn't worry about your size at all.

 

Okay thanks man, the only thing I have against the raptor is that it's a manual, and the only thing I have against the kawasaki is the carburetor.. I like the IRS on the trx, but I'm not a fan of Honda. I think I'm gonna go with the Raptor. But before I make up my mind, what's the ups and downs of belt drive vs chain drive?

 

With what you are wanting to do with it I would go with the V force. I am not positive on the honda but I have never seen a hitch installed on a raptor or seen one for sale. I am sure you could but it would take some fabrication. The only place on it I know of to bolt it up is where you loosen the carrier to adjust the chain and I don't think that area has the strength for a hitch. Depending on the wieght of the trailer and load it may be real hard on the clutch as well.

I have both a belt drive and chain, my outlander runs a CVT setup like the V force does. I have to say it has been very good. You do loose more power out of the CVT than a chain drive but the V twin in the vforce makes up for it.