I usually pick up one or two magazines a year for the ads and picked up this issue. Another pathetic article in which the DS outshone the other bikes in every area but woods riding but when it came to pick a winner it was SOOOOO hard? Typically, the criteria they chose ends up rating each bike the same.
The quads didn't really deserve to be in the same shootout, and the Raptor was left out because it weighed less than the DS but the Scrambler weighed 100LBS more than the DS!
They rate the DS at 3 of 5 stars for wheelie ability, this with the shortened swingarm. How short does Bomb need to make that swingarm? They are already screwing up a good dune quad. Has it occured to anyone in these mags that you may not want 500+ lb quads flipped on top of you at the slightest uphill? Change the tires and exhaust and the DS wheelies too easily as it is. I looked over the kids quads but really couldn't learn anything there They listed over 60 quads but couldn't make a recomendation about any of them.
Sorry for the rant, I should have expected the typical magazine stuff and the reviews that are afraid to mention anything bad, yes its all about the ad money even for toilet paper it performs poorly.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img]

 

Ok, so I was bored last night and went out and bought a few magazines [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]. I read the shootout while walking on the treadmill, ... at least it made the time go by faster, LOL. The interesting thing about this shootout to me was that I have personally owned all three of these ATVs, so I have lots of seat time on them all. I can see why they said many of the things they did, but I still don't really know why they added the Scrambler to the shootout at all. I really think that the magazine editors, or test riders, or both, were bored as well. They probably had a DS, a V-Force, and a Scrambler sitting in their shop and after sitting around with nothing to do for a while they came up with this brainstorm of a shootout.

 

DesertViper; I never rode any other dirtbike so I can't compare the power characteristics to another, but I must tell you in stock trim the thing rocks!!!! Power, Power, & more power!!! Torque is my forte & those KTM 525sx has all the torque that was ever created. I don't motorcross but wanted something other that another atv & gambled with dirtbike...Oh... my God type of power!!!! Dealer ask me if I'm sure that I could handle the beast!!! Just like a man with a pair... I said no problem. My Raptor(Curtis Sparks pipe, rev box, port/polished, cam, & aggressive pistion...woke up my Raptor) sits more than anything, because the KTM has satisfied my taste for power. Aslo the price wasn't bad $5500.00 brand new in Aug. 04. Couldn't resist. Just read a Motorcross shootout comparison of all classes & they had a section on the 2005 525sx, from what they said they made it better & even Faster. The black-box did the trick from what I read!!!
I still want a DS 650 Baja X version. Looks like a Cadillac of the atv world. Everything looks heavy-duty on it. Love that. I thought the 04 Black/yellow color scheme was good, but I saw the Black/orange & Loved it. KTM colors also, humm!!!

 

Thanks for the follow up. It sounds like I would have liked the KTM if I would have picked it instead of the YZ 250. Oh well, I'm more than happy with my flea flicker featherweight 250, and even the little 250 is way faster than any ATV I have owned. I thought it was interesting that a YZ 250 won the bike GNCC championship last year, and beat out all of the more specialized "Off Road" bikes.

 

Ok, as you can tell by my name, I had a kfx700.. I know have an 04 ds 650 baja X.. that 700 could not get out of it's own way!! I was getting beat by 400 ex's and the kfx400 all day... the quad had torque to the moon but it just had no speed...I blame the shaft/auto for it, so I just had to up the game a bit.. The raptor is by far the "tippiest" quad i've ever ridden, so, that was out of the question.. I jumped on the baja and to this day I couldn't bring it up sideways.. granted weight probably has something to do with it 2, but the long travel A-Arms work wonders.... as for these "shoot outs"... I don't know how much I care for the validity of them... I know of one shoot out done awhile ago between the banshee and the ds650.. they said that the minute you miss a shift in the banshee, the DS is gone... out in the dunes of Jersey, i've smacked PLENTY of banshees around.. so, aftert I read that article, I stopped taking them so seriously...

 

O4KfX700

We need to hook up and spank some of these bikes around here. Do our own shootout!!