We ride in the desert where utility ATV's and UTV's like the razor get ate for breakfast way to heavy for soft sand.

My opinion follows what others say. if your running in 4th or 5th gear blasting down the trail then that is not a trail but a road and your are going way to fast. Even where I'm at 3rd gear on my 450 Quad racer is considered racing speed and way to fast for the Sport Quads to keep up with me.

Best suspension is any of the "Racing Quads" with their wide track wheel base and really good ground clearance -v- fantastic suspension free travel before it bottoms out to help you float through the mogals and other bumps. My quad has 12" of ground clearance on the front with another 10" of front shock/suspension travel and 9" ground clearance in the rear under the axle skid plate and another 9" of suspension travel.

The best suspension means nothing without the tires to match. I run a full set of Bead Locked racing rims inside a matched set of Hole Shot desert racing tires. If you want to go fast and abuse your tires and rims you better be ready to toss your factory rims for the bead locked racing rims or your going to start tearing your tires up in corners and bending up the aluminum rims on the rocks.

Anyone can go fast..A good responsible rider will not push for speed over safety..Yup I have a Suzuki LTR450 Quad Racer (biggest production 2wd quad Suzuki puts out that is Moto track ready for racing off the shelf) and Yup it runs really fast when I want it to but if you don't have the bike properly set up (nose at least two inches higher than the tail) to take the speed safely through the mogals and ruts and you don't have the proper experience to read the trail and the proper physical conditioning to take the abuse you're about to inflict on your body then you're just another statistic waiting to happen.

I'm here to tell ya if you're wanting to go hair raising fast down trails you DO NOT want a quad or ATV of any type that does not have the front suspension at least two inches higher than the rear or your going to hit a mogal or heavy rut the front will ground out (down) causing the nose to dig in and it's end over end flips ville to prove to ya exactly what I'm talking about.

Only in my opinion if your looking to ride fast and hard spend the big bucks and get a racing quad built to take the abuse and then go out and have fun.

 

Not quite true in most cases the 2wd because of its lightness and nimbleness will go further than the 4wd companion in just about every circumstance, I served as a Federal Game Warden in Alaska and my patrol quad was a Suzuki LT230 2wd and it ran circles around the 4wd ATV in all terrains, when the heavy 4wd was buried up to its axles in the snow, mud and Musk-ag (a type of peat moss bog) I was able to drive past them with out breaking through the surface crust fully loaded with all of my patrol equipment.

The 2wd Suzuki LTZ250 Quad Sport is a recognized desert racing quad and it beats the pants off of many of the high end racing quads in its cc class.

The 2wd Suzuki LTR450 Quad Racer comes built from the factory set up to be taken out to the Moto MX track from the show room. Mine has been modified to desert race; however, it can still do the 100 x 50 ft high bank oval and larger MX tracks with the best of them while never making it out of 2nd gear for most of the run, I have to keep the reins on mine or it will grab tons of air over humps and mogals.

Its not all machine and its not all driver that makes riding fun..Its a combo of the right machine with a driver that knows what they are doing and the machine and human that understands the limitations of the machine making them a fit to each other and are able to perform as one on the trails that makes the riding fun and the difference in any application of any 4wd UTV/ATV, or 2wd quad.

 

How do you get 9" of ground clearance under a chain sprocket protected by a skid plate. The tires are 18" rears which gives a 9" center to the axle itself. Unless you have tires that are 25" or so I don't see where you get a 9" clearance under the skid plate. Just curious. You've got a lot of good points otherwise.

Where we ride here in New England the trails get pretty beat by rain, snow, ice, and quads. Ruts with roots, rocks, mud, and deep water. I've had 2wd swing axles both with a chain sprocket and with a gearbox. It's why we went to 4wds. The 2wds get stuck too much and constantly need winching out. We've put so many pages on I can't remember what the original gents riding conditions were. Time to go back.

 

RickCJ7s original question was what utility quad would be good for fast trail action. The Renegade is based off the Outlander platform with less weight. CanAm already has the fastest utilities out there per cc as it stands. The Renegade has the same engine as the Outy with less weight. My tank of an X2 will not keep up with the Renegade until it gets nasty. Then the X2 has the edge as the weight gets down through the mud to the hard bottom. That's about the only advantage the bigger machines have in my book. Maybe towing and toting too. But for speed I'd get the Renegade. Pretty flickable. Not quite as comfortable a ride as the Polaris is but has plenty of power. If it's wide open with occasional nasty mud and water pits I'd go with a Renegade 800. It it's trails where you have to go through the twisties I'd go with the Rene 500 as it steers better than the 800. (It doesn't lift the front end as much as the 800 does) Traction=steering. I haven't got to try out the XPs. I know the guys here love them for the most part and I may look at them later.

 

Sir,

The Suzuki LTR450 Quad Racer "Sand Hog" (look in my garage)comes from the Suzuki factory built to be moto track race ready with 8" rim rear moto tires and 9" rim front tires which gave about 6" rear clearance under the rear differental and about 8" under the front frame at the "A" arms. I traded all the rims out I now have 10" beadlocked racing rims on the rear and 9" bead locked racing rims on the front to the tune of about $450.00 for the set. I replaced the tires with a specific matched set of top shelf 6ply "Hole Shot" desert racing tires (specifically matched to provide ground clearance without shaving off speed and mobility) to the tune of another $450.00 plus for the set which added more lift, the back tires are 10 - 12" wide and I had to remove the plastic leg guards from the front of the back fender due to tire rub (less than 1/2" clearance standing w/out rider between the tire and the deflector). The new tires and rims have given me 9" clearance under my rear differental skid plate (I measured it for rock crawling and for running the race tracks) and 12" under my front frame at the "A" arm (just had to know so I measured it). Combined with this the quad came from the factory with fully adjustable gas charged racing shocks, the front suspension has 10+" of travel before they bottom out and the rear shock has about 6-9" (not sure) before it bottoms out. The quad has been properly balanced back out so it retains its "nose up" position with the front about 2-3" higher than the rear to help the quad "Float" or in layman terms go really fast through the ruts and mogals without digging the nose in to the hole between the mogal ridges, I can go through the mogals in no less than 2nd gear now without beating the body up to badly. To date I have never bottomed out the rear shock but I have bottomed out the front suspension one time in high 1st gear in a really bad 2ft wide by 2ft deep wash out after a rain storm and that was enough for me "it hurt like hell when it vibrated up through the bar into my hands. The quad also has had the aluminum factory handle bar removed for a steel re-enforced racing bar and the thumb throttle has the 2" racing extension on it along with a set of moto handguards to protect from thorns when I get froggy and start going overland through the desert busting brush. Last but not least a full belly (nose to butt) skid plate, a rear differental skid plate and the nose now has a Desert racing front bumper/brush bar bolted into place.

I ride in everything from open gravel/sand roadways, soft sand washes and sand dunes to riding through a place called slash X where you can rock crawl to your hearts content not to mention the times I take off cross country or on the cross country dirt bike trails just to get my adrenaline fix for the ride and to show them (the dirt bikers) what my quad can do. When I really get the need for speed and want to challenge my riding skills along with the really good adrenaline fix I go out onto the car killing desert cross country racing tracks of which we have three 40mi racing loops within 3mi of the front door of the house covering every terrain known to endurance racing (the same ones you see killing racing vehicles on ESPN) and run hell bent to leather on them (I can now do them in 3rd gear with no worries here) and that is where you better put on your game face or you will roll the machine and that is where your suspension and tires get put to the test, if you don't have the balance right your going to regret ever going out to howl with the big dogs on those tracks, and yes i have gained the respect of many a rail driver when I grab air running next to them. If you ride with me you will never come home saying you had a boring ride I guarantee it, if I come back from a 2hr ride not soaked in sweat and out of breath I consider it a boring ride, most likely riding point with the wife on her LTZ250.

Everyone has their preference in what they want to ride and I believe more power to you in whatever you choose to ride. Where we ride and with my skill level versis my ability to control the machine I ride I have no use for the 4wd ATV/UTV as I would have it torn to pieces in the first month.

I trail ride with the dealer who sold me my quad and they know my abilities and how I ride. When I went shopping for the new quad the only question they asked is how much did I want to spend to get a quad for my riding ability and skill. They showed me the Suzuki LTR450 Quad Racer..I sat on the seat fell in love with it and three hours later I loaded it up on a trailer and took it home and I have no regret with my purchase.

Again only in my opinion..The machine alone regardless of what it is is nothing...The driver alone is nothing...It takes the blend of driver and a machine that fits that driver to make riding fun.. To make the blend of "man" and machine one must complete the "human" factor and that person must know how the machine moves and how the machine sounds when running along with the mental and physical capacity to respond to the machine as it moves on the ground to keep the proper balance. This only happens with tons of riding your machine and learning its ways.

Being a little fearless and crazy when you're riding also helps

BTW the picture of my quad (garage picture) on the trailer is decieving because there are six ratchet straps holding it down in interstate transport position with the suspension collapsed. Also if your looking for a size of the quad its sitting on a 5'x8' utility trailer. the wheel base of my quad is wider than the inside bed measurment of my 6' bed Ford Ranger that is towing it.

 

Basically, you're saying you have a larger diameter between rims and tires. IE You had tire rub on the footwells or pegs. Okay, I understand where you got the clearance. I love the light and fast machines too, but not up here. I kind of wish I could live out in the dry environments sometimes to play in the sand but I don't. Thanks for the explanation. It sounds like you're dialed in for your terrain and riding style.

 

We did this specifically because of the rocks that jump up out the sand and try to tear your rear end off and to maintain a proper balance to the machine.

It helps that I have a wife who spoils me when it came to outfitting my quad and I also have a really good job that allows me to spend cash from time to time

 

It helps that I have a wife who spoils me when it came to outfitting my quad and I also have a really good job that allows me to spend cash from time to time[/quote]

These are the ones that we as men cal keepers

 

is there a cliff note for #35

 

You probably can't go wrong with any of them.Myself i like the Outlander and with the xxc package it should be a beast.They all have their good and bad.I would try to ride as many as you can and decide.What ever you decide i'm sure you will be happy with it