Need A Quest? **** dude, you need a brain. I've never been on anything that is more stable on an off camber than an Arctic Cat. Nothing. And you are just clueless on your Prairie and its swingarm rear end statement. A prairie is no better than a big bear, kodiak, quest, Magnum, 450s, Rubicon, Vinson, Eiger, Foreman 400, Bayou 300, or any other straight nonarticulating rear axle quad. Its got the same simple setup in rear that the first damn suzuki had in the 1980's. Its no better or worse than the next solid axle quad.

On the contrary, show me exactly how it can be more stable than the ACT swingaxle Arctic Cat 500. No articulation at all. Get your uphill tire on a rock pal and over you go. Same thing with the AC and the suspension gives to the uphill side and there the quad sits, safe as a kitten.

For some reason, everyone seems to think that because the rear articulates, anytime you get on a sidehill, the quad will squat downhill and flip. Not true. You can't beat Arctic Cat for stability of any kind.

note* the key to sidehill stability is width. The Prairie is no wider than anything else other than maybe Yamaha's which are normally narrow quads. What in the hell makes the Prairie so super stable??? And don't pull that 45 degree engine crap, cause everyones engine is canted forward for a lower center of gravity.

The reason you like your Prairie is because it fast. Don't act like stability is the quads strongest point, cause its not. Average Average Average.

 

Has anybody got one of the new AC sport quads? Just wondering how they preform

 

Hey Andy, don't get your panties in a knot man! I don't care what you say, any machine that is top heavy will tip easier than one with a low center of gravity! The quest for example is the most stable quad made and anyone that owns one will agree 100%. Wanna know why? Because it has super low center of gravity and its wide. That thing will go on sidehills where you would have to get off and walk your grizz to more stable ground. I know because i've been there many times with my cat. And yes, since i bought the Prairie i've tried those spots where the cat gave me fits and there was not one problem with handling. Oh, and i didn't buy the prairie for its speed by the way. I was at a local fair and found one for the same price as the Vinson 5- speed i was about to purchase. I felt it was a killer deal and bought it. It sound like you... i mean your Grizz has had bad experiences with Prairies in the past! I truly believe having been riding a Cat for a year now and having had several bad off-camber experiences, I have to say that the Cat is much "softer" and rolls into the downhill turns in a bad way that will end you up in the high bushes in a heartbeat. I agree that width (stance) is very important in determining stability, but softness/stiffness of suspension is also a major contributing factor. My Cat is far softer and easier to "roll" than the Prairie or Quest. A smoother ride on a rough trail, no doubt, but the trail better not be off-camber!!! The Prairie is also more stable do to how the engine is set in the chassis and like the quest, the gas tank isn't way up high like the top heavy grizz and cat for that matter.And I never said that stabitity is the Prairies strongest point, its just one of its strong points. I can only relate from my own experience, and how my quads have performed for me and my riding partners. Keep in mind that I'm just telling it how it is, not necessarily bashing.

 

Hey Andy, This is a post from yet another amazed P650 owner!

" I took my new P650 into the rocky mountains yesterday (my back yard lawn is just not good enough). All I can say is wow! My wife was riding my father-in-laws Artic Cat 375. I know that it is not worth comparing the two, but I am going to. I took the AC up a hill, and it barely made it to the top in full throttle. My 650 went straight up without a hitch--at less than half throttle. I will be honest with you. My 650 is more safe. I thought that with all of that power, that I would be overwhelmed. I felt totally in control the whole time. A couple of hills on the artic cat made me pretty nervous (like I shouldn't even be going there). I can only imagine how good this 650 will be with good tires."

 

Hey people I found this in an old forum. It talks about some of the stuff you are.

http://pub96.ezboard.com/fatvnationf...picID=82.topic

Hope it works.

 

Everyone is talking about stability of atv's and which is better! But alot of that has to do with the individual riding the atv! Body positioning of his weight has a big factor in how stable the atv will be.
I had the pleasure of going to a class of the atv safty institute this past sunday and I think it was well worth it. I rode with alot of Professional instructors and practiced on course layouts for hilll climbs, sharp turns,emergency avoidence turns and adverse terrain riding after the courses and classes we all went in the trails for a ride it was alot of fun. If anyone hasnt gone I recomend it. Even novice riders can learn a thing or two. One guy there was sent by the dealer he is going to be racing for. I say this because it is a class worth taking for everyone.

 

Buy the way!My Cat was the only Cat there and it was one of the main topics there!! everyone loved it.It performed flawlesly.

 

The added traction of differential lock has to help the Prairie in that situation. As far as uphill stability (preventing flipover backwards), nothing at all is as good as an Arctic Cat (not the 300's or 250's with the rear placed engine). The AC has 100lbs. more resting over the front tires than the rear. On paper it sounds like it would be bad at descending hills, but not the case. As far as going uphill, nothing is more stable.

As far as being top heavy, its no more top heavy than the next big quad. I've been through stuff on my AC that scared the bejesus out of me on the old straight axle honda. Its nice to have all four tires on something, rather than just sitting there teetering from side to side, wondering when its going to finally go over.

As far as run ins with prairies, nobody I know owns one. Not a lot of Kawasaki fanatics around here. Other than an occasional 300 Bayou from the early 90's. Its pretty much Yamaha, Honda, and Arctic Cat. I'm sure if I did encounter a Prairie, he could slightly outrun me on a straight stretch, but I would love for the guy to follow me through a rocky creekbed so I could listen to that aluminum swingarm gather up dings.

 

I totaly agree about the up-hill stability of the cat, there isn't much that come close to it in straight climbs.

 

Just my .02 worth. I ride a 02 SP500 HO. My friend just got a new 03 400 cat with the act suspension he had 12 miles on when we started. A few miles down the trail we decided to try each others machines. I found the cat ride to be rather unstable going through series of about 1-2' moguls at speed trying to keep up with the SP. We found a rather deep water hole and... jeeze you have to try it. (we didn't know how deep at the time). So we started at the sides and proceded to go more to the middle. Well the cat found a dropoff and went in to the tank. While fiddling around the vent hose came off the front top of the tank and got water in the gas so wouldn't start after it got winched out. So towed it the 15 miles back to the trailer. When we got back to his house had to drain the float bowl 4 times to purge it. It did get about 3X better gas milage than the SP did though.