All I can say is WOW, after my first Predator ride. After putting on 20 miles and 3 hours ride time of tight mountain trails, woods, and logging roads, I’ve come away very very impressed for a well rounded package.

I can honestly say is that the new Predator is simply awesome and incredible. For reference, this is my 6th quad I’ve owned, with a 400cc Warrior and 404cc 60 h.p. banshee with works suspension in my past. I’m 6 foot 230 pounds, and consider myself an advanced intermediate rider, and this was my first real shake down trail ride on my new Troy Lee Predator.

Suspension: This quad has the best stock OEM suspension hands down. The front shocks soaked up 5 foot high 20 foot long jumps like you were landing in firm jello. Smooth. Softening up the rear compression and infinitely adjustable front preload is very easy to adjust by hand on the trail, as no tools are required. Lots and Lots of travel. it handled a 8 foot tall ledge drop off fine with no bottoming out which is great for a guy my size. I can't wait to air it out big time at the dunes.........

Handling: WOW; words come to mind like: precise, light, forgiving. Even when pushed hard through the corners, through woops, or fast washboard, all four tires mostly kept planted firmly and it’s a very “flat and stable” ride. It’s a wider feeling than a Banshee or Raptor, and I really liked the flatter seat similar to my Warrior. It’s comfortable up close to the gas tank (not as steep valley or narrow as a Raptor), or sitting way back for banging through woops. You can toss it around and I found myself pushing it harder and faster into jumps and corners. It also tracked straight and confidently at 50-60 mph on asphalt. Doing donuts and powerslides are smooth and predictable. DO believe the “anti-dive” and “PRO” suspension claims. Can you say NASCAR type handling? Turn radius is VERY tight for woods riding or weaving through rocks. You could almost say it had power steering. Almost too light and you tend to oversteer as a result, so a steering dampner will get added to mine soon.

Power: This quad begs to be ridden hard and fast. The 500cc 4 valve DOHC engine could best be described as cross-breeding my Warrior and Banshee. Revs FAST and pulls hard regardless of gear. Mostly it’s a 2nd and 3rd gear trail ride, with 4th for wide logging roads. 5th? Hardly need it except for WFO banzi runs. I feel a 13 tooth sprocket is needed, for slower 1st gear tight forest trail work & rock climbing, and to make 4th and 5th gear more usable. That said, the 14 tooth stock sprocket will still loft the front end with ease at speed in 2nd or 3rd to cleanly clear a big mud puddle or rock in the trail. The throttle response is quick and sharp, which is great for a huge 42mm carb. No bogging or hesitation, though I did stall it a few times. It must be a very light flywheel, cam is much more a mid and high RPM range unit, and a 13 tooth front sprocket will make it even quicker to rev. I'm running the WB slip on silencer, and it was meaty and throaty without being too obnoxiously loud.

Brakes/Traction: Simply awesome, tight and crisp. The braided steel lines provide a very firm precise feel. Whether the tire rubber is a harder compound, or the fact that it was very wet and raining, in some rocky situations I couldn’t get the traction I needed and simply spun out on a level surface of orange and grapefruit sized rocks. Still, some of the best OEM tires on any stock quad though.

Misc:

1) The rear swing arm is a box built up weld-ment and may be hard to extend.
2) Parking brake has a ratcheting engagement on the front brake lever. Very slick.
3) Front of the frame has 2 holes built in for Tie-down points for trailering. Nice.
4) Zerks in the all normal spots, but also includes the rear bearing carrier and upper steering stem.
5) Steel Plate “Case Saver” is provided underneath the front sprocket cover. Good idea.
6) Illuminated Kill Switch and headlight switch on left grips, novel, but nice and different.

Out of the box, it's one of the best stock ATV’s on the market today. What it gives up in displacement to the 660cc Raptor, it more than makes up for it in the suspension department while still having power to spare. I figure it would take about $1500-2000 into a Raptor for axle/a-arms/shocks/tires to get what an equivalent Predator comes with factory stock. What good is more power if you can’t keep getting it to the ground? The fact that the Predator is almost $600 cheaper than a Raptor is a powerful decision maker too!

Most people aren’t pure straight-line drag racers, but ride a variety of terrain so pure top speed isn’t the only factor. My only gripe is that it doesn't have reverse, but then again neither does a Blaster, Banshee, 250R, 400ex or other sport quads. For an all-around package, I'll take this over any of them, as the way the Predator keeps all four tires in contact with the ground with superior suspension through the rough stuff is phenomenal. They've really done their home-work on this machine, and it shows. No one quad is perfect for everyone, in every environment, but this quad dead-on hits all targets in Power, Suspension, and Handling departments.

 

Great review! Nice to hear an informative post, not the"my quad is faster than yours" garbage. I really think I am going to have to get one of these. I just keep waiting, hoping I don't hear any first year horror stories, so far so good.

 

Just wanted to share my findings on my first hard day of trail riding on my Pred. I put on the 13 tooth front b'cuz on my slow break-in rides I could tell it was geared too high for the technical portions of the trail. The 13 tooth works great, I found it to be geared just right for my style, besides, I don't need to be going 70+ MPH anyway. The shifting on 1 to 2 was not very smooth, perhaps it is the funky shifter height, I missed several shifts. The quad does not like water!! On one deep creek w/slow moving water about knee deep the quad would die as soon as you eased into it and it would not start in the water. As soon as you pushed it out it would start right up. When I washed it up I ran it and sprayed water into every connector, the coil and the CDI box and it didn't sputter once. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Also lost several body mount bolts and had several more loose when I got home.
These are the bad things and let me tell you they were far outweighed by the good things ---
HANDLING, unbelievable for a stock quad, up steep (very steep) hills the front end lofting was very controllable while still pouring on the power. Up loose, rocky fire roads in third or fourth at full throttle was a rush! Very precise and
smooth. (relatively)
POWER, bottom end is weak, but likes to be running in mid to high RPM range, 13 tooth front cog puts it where it needs to be. Motor has a strong hit and had to often back off throttle slightly to gain control. Buddies are complaining of too much roost and don't want to ride behind me, I told them to pass.
BRAKING, excellent, great feel and easy modulation. Enough said.
SUSPENSION, too mch rebound from the factory, adjusted and set rear ride height appx 1" higher (200 lbs).
Jumps were sweet, landings soft and contollable, I love it!
GAS MILAGE, rode appx 37 miles, 30% hard, used appx 2 gallons give or take.

CONCLUSION- I hope it holds up (unlike the chain rollers) because I love this machine. I can't wait for the aftermarket to gear up so I can add some cool stuff, seems like I'll have this one for a long time.

p.s. noticed the neutral light not always coming on when in neutral.

 

Better be careful what you say (everybody) because it will just make all the Raptor owners post more lies and exaggerations of fact because they're so insecure about not having the best machine anymore.

I for one am fed up with all of their crap and this is my last post here about the Predator or anything else. There's always a group of people on each forum that spoil it for others. On A T V T i m e it's the pro-Polaris crowd that thinks the Sportsman is absolute GOD and everything is complete and utter crap and will post stuff like, "you shoulda bought a Polaris" in any thread posted in another forum if you post about problems you're having with a machine. Here, it's the Raptor people... with either a big d!ck syndrome, unable to accept that a 500cc motor can kill their 660, or they'll just insinuate that Polaris is garbage and will fall apart. Well guys, if Yamaha would bother to support their customers, you guys with 2001 Raptors wouldn't have trashed transmissions, and those of us with Grizzlies wouldn't be fighting fuel boiling problems, and everybody else with a Yamaha wouldn't have to wait for months to get parts.

I think the best thing for me is to simply stop visiting these forums. So that's it for me, I'm outta here. I'm not subscribing to this thread (I have removed all of my other subscriptions) so I won't be responding to anything else. I've said my peace and that's it.

Rob

 

Is it just me or is his post in the wrong topic?
p.s. See Ya'.

 

OFFDAROAD,

Just a point of observation...You said it died when youwere in knee deep water, let me explain why. I see you have a scrambler. The scrambler's air intake sits up by the gas cap, but if you pull the seat off your pred, the air intake sits about knee high, much lower than a 4x4 air intake. I'm guessing that you were in deep enough to fill your airbox. I would pull the plug on the airbox and check to make sure there is no water. Also what I like about the predator's airbox is that if you do suck water, the carb sucks air up from the bottom instead of air moving down throught the filter...benefit = unless you are underwater, you can handle a small amount of water in your airbox without sucking it in. That's just my guess as to what happened. And about that 13 tooth sprocket...does this make a big difference in the low end even? I'm wanting a predator and I want to get into harescramble racing with it, does the sprocket help it accel. harder?

----------
02 scrambler 400 X 4x4, K&N, works struts

 

The Pred intake is up about the height of the front of the seat, it is a long tube that runs back to the airbox and is connected w/ a hose clamp. I had NO water in the sediment bowls on the filter box. I don't think the 13 made it pull harder, it has so much power you don't need to gear down, it just made it more liveable in the woods, you don't have to ride the clutch as much in the tight stuff.

 

Hello Eddie,

Have you ridden in the mountains yet? Maybe H/M? We ride Windrock in Tennessee and H/M is comparable. I'm curious how a Predator handles that sort of terrain.

Scott

 

Heapster, totally agree with your post, one of the best handling quads I've ridden.
Snarfblat, sorry to see your leaving, have enjoyed reading the informative posts while I waited for my Troy Lee to arrive.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]