Excuse my ignorance, but I have never ridden a sports quad. I have a Kawasaki Prairie 400 4x4. Everyone I know with a quad have only utility ones. I would like to try something like the Honda 400 EX, but with such limited ground clearance under the chain, can you only ride in sand, or on trails smooth enough for most cars? I can't imagine how it could get up the rough trails that a 2 wheel drive utility quad can, especially without reverse. I realize that you can fly over a lot of potholes etc. with speed, but what about rocky areas without bashing it to death? I think it would be a lot of fun, but don't want to be confined to good logging roads, tracks, etc..Please clue me in!

 

no worries on the trails man!

sports bikes are generally lighter, easy to get up momentum

i will show up utilities in the tough going if i want......

believe men sports quads are great all purpose machines.....not many places they won't go with the right rider....my 250x doubles as a farm bike (good run about, excellent for shifting animals)

 

what are you thinking? when me and my friends ride we go everywhere. and guess what the utlities are always trying to keep up with us
and if your going to be riding on rocks there are skid plates. so on a sport quad you can do anything that a utlity can(excluding pulling heavt loads) but I never seen a utlity clear a 30 or 40 foot double.

 

you can get one like the Yamaha Warrior with electric start and reverse and a good 4 stroke motor, but they are limited to only casual fun riding. you won't go in much mud, or tow anything,they are fun I wish i could have both. I have pulled out so many sport machines from the lightest amount of mud wow, makes me glad i sold my Warrior and got a Sportsman. They are fun no denying it, but for all around riding you can't beat a big ole 4x4. If you ever ride double utility is the only way to go, i guess it depends on the terrain you drive on and the people you ride with. Having both would be ideal.

 

We ride R's just about everywhere. Rocky jeep trails, fire roads, sand dunes, etc. We don't ride mud 'cause it's too much trouble to clean off (except my brother rides his in mud all the time). You can't crawl a log or ride the Rubicon Trail on one, but most places you can.

 

I've been able to out run 450 ES', Sportsman and a Prarie on a very rocky off camber trail. I've hit the skids lots of times, but that's what they are for. Instead of letting the rocks go under you, you just have to drive over them. I've been stuck on my 400 in mud, but it's easy to lift out of. I'd say 4 stroke sports are THE most versatile quads out there. IMO

 

The 400EX is perfect in the sand and trails! The only thing it wouldnt do so great in is probably deep sticky mud.

 

You have to get both, then you're ready for anything!!

 

I've got blackwater tires on my Warrior and it can go most places that a 4X4 can go. You should see the picture of the 8 point buck drapped over the rear rack on my Warrior, looks pretty funny! Would love to have both a sport and utility quad with 4WD. Maybe if they came out with a 4WD Raptor or 4WD 650 EX it would be perfect?

 

My friends and I only ride 4x4s. We go more places than any racer can go. There great on trails and stuff, but when was the last time you plowed snow or pulled logs out of the woods. When was the last time you drove into mud up to the fenders, no not water, MUD!! I rode the Cocraton Poker Run and I couldn't help but laugh at the sport quads getting hung up all the time. Then I would go through the tough spot like nothing. but if you want to ramp, wow, sports bikes can fly.