I'm at work and this should waste some time for me.

When I was a kid, all anyone around had was utility quads. Being around a bunch of old farts made me an anti-sport quad guy, but as I got older, I started liking them more. Here's my views of the old quads that I grew up around. This should be pretty boring, but then again, so am I right now.

*1984 Honda TRX 200- A solid, bulletproof quad with a low center of gravity. Absolutely horrible turning radius. Worst rev/hi/lo selector in history. Gears were down. Incredibly tough. You could roll it over and barely anything would break. I had a friend that has this, and we had an ongoing debate for years on which was faster, his 200 or my yamaha 200. I still say mine!

*1984 Kawasaki Bayou 185- A tough little quad that got better the minute you put racks on it. Lack of a rear suspension made it a saddle bronc. About as fast as my 200 yamaha, but it vibrated like hell at speed. Weird reverse tab located on the side of the engine under the right side. Gears were down too.

*1985 Yamaha 200- Pretty tough, but so was the ride. Rigid suspension, meaning no shocks anywhere. Upgraded to a 4 shock setup in 86, but I didn't have that luxury. Light front end made it hard to handle on hills, so did the lack of suspension. Probably faster than the previous two, but it would beat you to death over anything that wasn't clearly smooth. Needed the carb cleaned about once every 8 months to keep it running good. Old style yamaha reverse on the left side of the engine.

*1985-1987 Honda 250 Fourtrax- not the R. This was one of the tougher bikes of its time. An almost copy of the 200 TRX body, but with a better turning radius. Average speed for utilities of the time. My friends 87 gained speed over time to where it would run with my 89 300. Very popular. These things were everywhere. Very good in any condition. Probably the best bike of its time (mid 80's 2wd) Reverse was changed this year to the regular honda handlebar button.

*1986 Yamaha 225- A good bike that competed well with the Hondas. Average 4 shock suspension, best turning radius of utilities of this time. Low to the ground, speedometer with trip, and it was good in all conditions. Same old yamaha hi/lo/rev lever on the engine. Pull start cord had to be wound manually after removing a cover with an allen wrench. We had this quad like 8 years, and I never remember us taking that cover off.

*1986 Suzuki Quadrunner 230- Fairly quick, chain drive made it less sought after, and I only remember one guy that had one. Very light front end and it was the most flipover prone thing next to the three wheelers. This guy had a piece of railroad iron mounted to the front rack so he wouldn't flip over backward as easily. The opinion at this time was that suzuki was bottom of the barrel in the utility market.

*1986 Kawasaki Bayou 300- Excellent quad, and probably the best when it came out. Extremely tough. More powerfull than the others available, and the rear differential was new to the industry.

*1986 Honda 350 4x4- Very tough quad. Racks helped it out a lot though. Turned as bad as the old 200 TRX. This thing wasn't fast, even though I figured at the time that a 350 would be. It was the first 4x4 made. We went everywhere this guy did, but he had an easier time of it.

*1986 Polaris Trailboss 250- Nobody I knew had one, but we looked hard at one. Very quick. The suspension was the best by far at the time. Macpherson strut with 5.1" of travel. Turned good. The 2stroke in a utility made it not popular at all, and the chain drive was something we all steered clear of. Rumored to be prone to breakdown because of the 2 stroke.

*1986 Suzuki Quadrunner 250- Not the Quadracer. This was a bigger version of the 230 basically. Same light suzuki front end made hillclimbs a bitch on this flipover machine. I once saw a guy stand this thing on its *** coming out of a creekbed that we had no problem at all on our 225. Both carrying two riders.

*1988-89 Honda 300 Fourtrax- This was the absolute best bike of its time, and the most popular utility ever. Good ride, good turning radius, and easy to steer. More power than the 250's and as much as everything else. Climbed well, did everything well. 4wd version available also, only I just knew one guy that had one. This is what everyone got when they got rid of their Fourtrax 250's. The engine was as solid as there has been.

*1989 Suzuki 300- This was a screamer. My friend had one, and it would crawl away from my honda 300 slowly. Top speed had to be in the mid 50's. (I've seen 51 from my 12 year old 300 on a GPS, and this one here was faster by a few mph) Not as light in the front as previous suzuki's. Pretty good in all situations. Chain drive still wasn't popular for a utility, but this had a chain guard. Construction was not the best. My friend bent his frame in a minor rollover, and the engine was toast in 3 years. Still, we had a lot of fun on this Suzuki.

I hit 16 in 1990, and wasn't hard into quads again until 96. I don't have much knowledge of those years or what was made, so when I start writing my BS on here, its normally based on old stuff, or 96 and newer. When I got my last one, I still had that old school mentality, and I wanted a tough quad that resembled the old 250 hondas and stuff that lasted a long time. I liked the 400 Bayou for a while, but landed the Arctic Cat 500 because of its rugged appeal. I couldn't have chosen a better one for that purpose either. I guess a second childhood or something has given me a need for speed and I'm going to get that new Grizzly, but I'll still be in the AC forum at heart. Everyone in this place here is pro-honda. Thats all they've known, because their hondas over the last 17 years have held up good. I always have to be different though. I had the only 2 yamahas of the bunch, just like I had the only AC of the bunch (until I talked my uncle into getting one). If anyone wonders where I get some of my perceptions or views from, then maybe this gives an idea of whats in the back of my mind. Old reliable quads, built to last.

This is probably one of the biggest waste of space posts in the history of the forum, but at least I'm an hour closer to getting off work, and truthfully, there wasn't much to reply to tonight.

Later

 

Andy,

I have to dissaggree about the 350 not being quick. My uncle has a 1993 model (canadian) and when he raced my other uncle's TRX 300 4x4 he left him by about 35 ft with in less than an 1/8 of a mile. I jumped off the line faster and just keep pulling away.

The thing that makes it slow is the suspension. You realy can't ride this thing fast unless you want to get hurt. I should know, I was doing about 25 in some tight woods with it when I hit a SMALL root crossing the trail and I ended up with a chess full of handle bar mounted gun rack and me holding on to the front rack.

 

You are probably right on that. Take in mind that this was an 86 model, but I only rode it a couple times, and never on an open dirt road. I did fire it up on a straight little trail, but couldn't notice any hard getup compared to the lighter 2wd machines we had. Like I said, it was the only 4x4 of the group. The 2wd machines do have that weight advantage though. I can hang with my 500 AC all day on flat straights with the 300 honda. I think the AC is faster, but not by much, and both quads will jump ahead of each other during shifts. The AC tops out better, and of course pulls stronger when you nail it at speed. Also, a 2wd Honda 300 will smoke a 4wd Honda 300. A friend used to have both a 92 2wd and a 96 4wd. Depending on what he was riding at the time, he would slowly pull away from my 89 model on the 2wd, but I would dust his *** if he was on the 4x4.

You have to remember though, I was like 14 years old when I was riding that 350 4x4. Thats been a while.

 

Wow you guy's are still here! "Boner,Andy" Man I almost forgot about this site. I sold my AC300 about 6 months or so ago. I've been into dirtbikes alot for the past 2yrs and my explorer and AC was just sitting for months at a time so I figuered I would let em go. Hey is Bigbadcat still around? Man I'll never forget that debate we had 2 or 3 yrs ago,I laugh nowadays that I cared so much about this stuff to argue endlessly and bash someone I did'nt even know. I poked around in the other forums and it still seems to be the brand bashing site it was when I left. Oh well nice visiting again take it easy all! Jeff