I have heard of one Renegade being in my dealership from a guy who was slammed in the rear really hard and then susequently hit a tree at a pretty good clip The result was the main spar did buckle but this was an extreme incident. Otherwise I think they are reasonably strong, the aluminum like foot well supports are another story however. They do get tweaked but after I put a set of Richochet skids on I never had a problem again. I think what's happening is people are getting big dents in the front or rear part of the center spar and claiming the frame is bent. That center spar is going to get dented up if you drop the front end down on large rocks and the same will happen to any center spar frame on any quad if you drop it down hard on a rock. I have faith that the frame on my Renegade is plenty strong enough for hard trail riding, in fact I think the center spar frame is probably even stronger structurally speaking than a traditional tubular cradle frame design. Good skids should be used though if you ever ride it in rocky terrain. Can Am could easily provide a little better protection than they do.

 

i'll look for those skids ..kas... thanks for the advice..going river riding today ...will have pics this time..

 

I think I spelled Richochet wrong should be Ricochet skids. I'm sick of hearing people exaggerate about the durability of the frames. I have yet to read that once in any magazine either, ever.

 

i bent the frame, not the supports for the floor supports. the sides of the spar a buckeled and bent so the front sit 1/4 inch to the left side. i was going so fast when i hit it that i didnt even stop riding or get hurt in any way. i didnt go over the bars or fall off. i just kept going. who here has hit something at 15-20 and come to a complete stop and stayed on with out getting hurt in any way. crappy frame can am.mark shut up and read the reply.

 

In the past a friend of mine was riding my Raptor and clipped the end of a large downed tree, and he wasn't going twenty mph and that only weighed 400lbs but the entire front A-arm assembly was bent backwards. The point I'm making is if you hit anything hard enough fast enough something has to give. If you run a Renegade or any machine for that matter into a stationary object at 20mph, something is going to give. Glad to hear you didn't get hurt.

 

I have owned a outty for a long time now( got one of the first 20 produced) There frames are tough but will bend. This is the easiest way i have found to discribe how it will bend. It is kinda like a pop can. hand on top and bottom very hard to crush flat. Now flick that can under same pressure from top and bottom and it bends real easy. Now with that being said where do the a arms mount to?? Yup side of the frame. If you are coming down and hit a rock hard/ stump with the a-arm you can quess what will happen just like the pop can. I have only seen left to right bendage never up and down not saying it cant I just havent seen it yet. Hou650 is that where your frame bent right behind the a-arms?????

 

You would not know the frame was bent. It rides just fine.
We did discover the bent frame when we went to replace the skid plates with the new set.
I do belive if i had the full set this whould not had happend.

 

Doesnt sound like the frame is really bent, sounds like you just banged it up. I'm picturing the frame being actually bent not just dented up.

 

Going by the Outlander frame it appears that it is ok as long as you direct all force away from it and direct all of the force through the designed points of contact. If you start whacking it at points where it wasn't designed to take a load it is going to fail.

Bottom line is that while the frame is adequate it just that and nothing more. It must also must be very protected so no weak spots or bends develop and give a point to fail at because there doesn't appear to be much of a margin for fatigue.

Can-Am went for a lightweight frame and sacrificed strength. It works, but one must take special precautions with it. The line of BS about "sliding over rocks and obstacles" with the SST frame is utter bunk and Can-Am should be slapped for even suggesting such a thing. Every machine out the door should be coming with heavy skids to protect the delicate tube frame. They should also be giving serious consideration to increasing the gauge of metal they use for the tube and the actual composition of the metal itself.

 

You are 100% right captianquint. I put full skids on and additional square tubing inside my frame as it just looks to whimpy. It added like 15lbs to 20lbs sure it weights more but it will also take some abuse now. I had my skids on from day one the dealer told me the same thing it will glide over rocks and stumps. I am so happy I didnt believe them.