I've been debating on some quads and pretty much narrowed it down to a preditor but still swinging on a Z-400 int he back of my mind. Now I just gotta pick for the girl..I want to get her a Z but 2 $5000+ quads is just SO much. I was looking at a warrior (2000 for $3400). How do these do in the dunes. Do they have enough power to get around fine? I searched past messages but found nothing about them. Would it be able to keep pace occasionally with me? They sound fine for trails. She's only 5'6' so size it not an issue. She also does not have a lot of expierene so i figured it would be a good beginner bike. Think I should just bite the bullet and get her what I get or save the 3 grand and spend some on mods and maybe sell it in a few years.

Thanks for past help and the future,

Avram

 

I own a 04 warrior. I can't make it up the comp hills but i can make it everywere else. maybe not as fast up some of the dunes as others, but it works fine. It's a little heavy, and the suspension is all that great. but for a beginner it should be fine. I put a 15 t gear on primary, it's geared so low, it seemed i was always shifting. the reverse is great to. I tried some sand shark paddles, seemed to be a bit much for the hp, so now i run gecgo's.

 

I dunno what size dunes you will be going to, but from some of the pics I've seen here on the forums the Warrior won't have a really easy time of it. If you keep to the smaller hills you'll have fun. The Warrior is a great hill climber, just stick to 2nd, or drop down a sprocket in the front ..

If you see my pics, that's the typical riding area for me and with the razr's on it's a scamble up the hills .... maybe with paddles it would be better.

 

If you're going to ride places other than just dunes, I would get her a good used 300EX. It has much better suspension than the Warrior, handles much better AND it has reverse which she would love.
The 300EX also does really well in the dunes. I have ridden the Oregon dunes many times and see many 300EX's down there going up all the hills.
This is just my opinion.
You should be able to get a very nice used 300EX for $3,400.00

 

The Warrior is a great rock-solid bike. Ive ridden many of them and my friend owns one. They have reverse also. Ive ridden a 300 ex and wasnt overy impressed. not a bad bike but id buy a warrior before a 300ex. My buddy has a full pro seris Yoshi exaust on his, K&N filter, high compression piston and that thing makes a lot of power. you'd be supprised how much that engine can push with some engine upgrades. another nice investment is an aftermarket wider axel or some spacers if you wont be jumping it. For the winter he has gigantic spider tracs and with his engine setup he plows right through a field with a foot of soft snow. IF you just stay on the throttle it will make it through most anything and it never bogs out. Now granted a stock warrior doesnt have as much power but the ammount of performance parts available for the warrior is pretty much endless. they've been making it since the 80s. I have a wolverine (basically same engine) and im happy with it. Being from newengland im not a dune rider so i cant tell you dune experience but generally from what your looking for seems like a warrior would suit you just fine. of course for 3 grand you could get a quadzilla and she will outsling you in the sand, but i dont know how well she rides.

 

You are going to get alot of "warriors are underpowered for the dunes" Which is true...they are marginally underpowered stick a pipe/filter/jet on it'll do fine. We also have a warrior too and we ride the dunes quite a bit and I can make it up anyhill on the warrior aslong as i can get enough run...I have Sandstars on it ( ithink 21s) stock gearing, Pro Design and the warrior pulls it fine...not great but it does fine

 

yes the one we are looking at has gekos, FMF pipe, filter, and jetting. It sounds like a pretty good deal. The only problem is it is not at the polaris shop. Maybe since we are gonna bye 2 bikes at once the'll come down a bit? How does that work. Can they generally shave off a few hundred bucks when you buy two at once. One is gonna be cash so I was thinking if they can drop the price enough maybe just finance a second new bike. I have heard of people talking them into getting helmets and such free...how about bike discounts? If not the warrior sounds like a good idea. I looked through dirt wheels and the net and there are a lot of mods for decent prices.

 

The reason your having troubles with big dunes IS THE GECKOS!

My girfriend has a warrior that has been worked and if she catches a fat guy on a stock 400ex....

 

The warrior will do just fine, especially for a beginner or novice rider. They are also bullet proof and they can't hurt the bikes. They are air cooled, but can run all day in the blazing heat of the desert and never miss a beat. You can run fairly aggressive paddles on them (recommended), just gear it down one tooth in the front. My wife weights approx 120 lbs, has a stock '03 Warrior (with pro-flow and L&N filter), but still has the stock exhaust and runs 21x11x10 Sand Skate II's on it. She loves the bike and can go up most hills in third. It also corners like it is on rails. The rears are off-set wheels (which helps). The only way to flip the bike is to be VERY stupid and going way too fast. (it can be done, don't get me wrong, but for a beginner it is great and stable). Too bad you don't live closer, I would sell you an '03 in near mint condition and around 30 hrs on it (including the paddles mentioned above) for $3400.

 

well never been on any dunes or anything like that but around here we got some very steep hills [south centeral kentucky] im a big guy pushing 300 give or take depends on lunch but any way my warrior has no trouble pulling my big butt up any hills i take on most of the time i hit them in 3rd and may half to drop to 2nd.