Well, I am in the market for a new ATV and am finding myself in a bit of a mess. I am 6'0" and 250lbs with full gear, I ride fast MX very fast desert so this next quad is going to have to be nuts. My last quad was a 1988 Suzuki LT500r and it emberassed all of the 450 guys and layed waste to banshees and raptors in the desert, so I want a serriously potent low to mid snap that carries into a top end that will pull till the limiter without just signing off. I am going to modify what ever I get, but the potential and reliability must be there first. The units I have been considering are the Raptor 700R, the Can am DS450 and the Kawasaki KFX450. I have never cared for the honda and the Suzuki 450 has never done well in the desert, that and there are so many posers on the YFZ that I could not in good conscience ride one out here.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

The truth is, probably going to be impossible to match your old LT...they don't build them like that anymore!!!

During the cool months, I ride nothing but desert. (For the record, I am a cross-country guy, and don't go to the dunes very often. And, if I wanted to MX, I would go dirt bike.) In the hot summer months, we switch to riding trail quads and utilities in the mountains, so there isn't any "off season" for us.

For me, the choice was glaringly simple. The Honda 450R is the king of desert endurance racing, like Baja and Vegas to Reno, etc. If you aren't on a Honda (either quad or dirt bike), you probably won't even finish the race....much less win!!! Pretty simple!

My R has the HRC kit, it is widened, and it corners like it is on rails! Like some desert race teams, I stick with the 04/05 years, becasue the engine has an oil cooler, and is overbuilt compared to later years.

 

As for other machines, any good trail quad can be built into a workable desert quad, but you also want to MX, so that makes it more complicated for you......

You are a big guy, but still I would stay away from the large machines like the DS650, Kawi 700, and Honda 700XX. After coming off the light LT, they will feel like real tank! None of these will ever be MX quads anyway. (I know Honda has been racing the 700XX in Baja, but that is just a publicity stunt. They have to get some press for this odballl porker, and I guess they figure that is the easiest way to do it. They should be racing it in those eastern races where it is all muddy and the trail gets extremely rutted, instead.)

The Raptor 700 is a torque monster, but falls a little flat on the top end compared to the 450's. Good trail or dune quad for a big guy, but not going to make a good MX machine.

So, you are left with the 450's, but better yet.....the KTM 505SX if you want a pure MX machine, or the 525XC if you want more of a cross-country machine!

http://www.ktm.com/505-SX-ATV.100395.20.html

http://www.ktm.com/525-XC-ATV.100175.20.html

 

I have to say you are right, Even though I can get a new quad at like 5% over dealer cost it would still be like $5000-6000 then it will probably take another $4000 to make the machine only semi lame. The other option I have is the spare engine from the Zilla. Does anyone know if there are any companies that will still do a custom frame, that route may be the way to go as it will cost less and get me exactly what I want.
The Kawi sure does look great dressed in that green and white though and if you were to powder coat the frame blue with a blue seat.... Can you say 2009 Tecate?

 

I would check the old frame builders who were keeping the old 2-strokes alive a decade ago just before the consent decree expired, and we got a flood of new 4-strokes. See if anybody can still build you a frame.....if they are still around???? Trying to remember names: Lonestar, IMS-Roll, etc.

On the other hand, might just be a good time to make the jump to something new that you can easily get parts for, and keep the old 500 as a garage queen museum piece???? The KTM's are race ready out of the box so they would not require a lot of expensive mods, but the initial purchase price will be steep....and I think they are ugly!

Around here, KTM dirt bikes seem to be taking over the world! I would have a 450EXC dual-sport, if I had longer legs!

 

Yeah, all I have left of my zilla is the spare motor that came with it. I'm going to visit roll design today (they are about 2 miles from my house) and got the number to leager's I was told he was making aluminum frames for 250R so that sounded trick.

For the initial price of a KTM I could easily complete the whole project and buy a couple 55 gallon drums of VP C12 and a couple 5 gallon buckest of Maxima 927. The KTM would still be stock too.

 

If somebody built them in the past and saved the old jigs, you might get lucky!

 

One of our guys really dressed up the current quad track, man my jaw hit the ground and I got an ache in the pit of my wallet.