<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: MEGA XP

I think we have to look at the situation here. With the economy the way it is people are not buying what they want, they are buying more what they need. I can't think of a situation where you would need a sport. We all want a sport, I've wanted on for a while but have not bought one cause I can't find a way in my business to write it off. On the other hand you could actually need a utility for spraying, plowing, pulling, guide service, crop service, GPS mapping, farming, ranching, and all sorts of other tasks. I don't believe as conservative as Honda is that right now they would build a machine that nobody actually needs. Of coarse, if you race you may need a sport quad. JMHO.</end quote></div>

Exactly the opposite here in So. Calif....this is sport quad country! Sport quads rule and utilities are not all that common (I have both, so I have all my bases covered). Sure, you can deliberately go looking for terrifying terrain that requires a 4X4 (I sure do!), but in the open desert, you will just eat sport quad dust all day on any ute.

And remember, we have more off-roaders here than the total population of Wyoming. On a big weekend 100-200K people show up at Glamis, and nary a one of them is going to be on a utility. That gives us huge clout with the manufacturers!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: reconranger

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: colt2245p






But remember....you also don't go squirrel hunting with a .50 cal either!!!



You Could hunt squirrels with it. Just depends whether you want to eat em or not. unless your going to make chislic using that 50 cal will prepare it for ya. Just like the bigger machines could pretty much go were the smaller ones go. Any of the trails you go on are going to 50" wide at minimum.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>On a big weekend 100-200K people show up at Glamis, and nary a one of them is going to be on a utility. </end quote></div>

Man, I don't think I'd enjoy that much. As it is, I like to hit the Oregon riding areas mid-week. A lot of the time you have the campground pretty much to yourself, and only have to share the trails with a few other riders, and they are more likely to be sane, sober type.

 

Where though in the rest of the USA is the sport quad contingent. The racing circles and a few people that have them to have them. Most of the rest of us dont have a desert to go to. My home state of MN is pay to play unless you have your own track there's no place for them. SD ND WY MO these states you can ride down the street legally and 90% are utility. What you saw then at your market was most likely sport based. Good, Honda needs one to replace it aged sport line. But some privlaged info I have is there are other projects going on within
Honda. I guess that's like snowmobiles up here. Does not do any good to parade snowmobiles in southern CA cause theres now market there in relation. But still do you actually NEED a sport Quad. No. I think you could survive just fine without one. 100-200K is impressive its kinda that way with snowmobiles up here. You could actually NEED one of those up here in a blizzard.

 

I wish I had the dunes to run on like the West Coast does. We think we've struck it rich when we ride the Hopkinton/Everett area in New Hampshire because it has about 10 acres of sand. Weeeee! Lots of fun doing donuts and jumping in soft sand. Would I rather have a sport quad for this kind of riding. You bet. But.... This is the same area that also included the trail I called the "Trail of Death" that ate some of my rear plastic. I was wishing I had a MX bike then. But.... Money, money, money.....

 

And dirt bikes are even huger than quads here!

You can drive down the I-10 or I-15 going out of LA on a Friday afternoon, and every other vehicle will be carrying dirt bikes or quads. You would think that would buy us some political clout, but we don't seem to ever be able to get organized as well as the activist enviro's are.

And....funny how companies that use to just produce utes and have never produced a sport quad in past years (Polaris, A-Cat, Bomb), are now coming out with sport quads. Hum! If there is absolutely no market in the rest of the country for sport quads, then these companies must be run by idiots!

 

There's a huge market for sport quads.Look at the success of quads like the raptor 700,the outlaw,and the YFZ 450 and Trx 450.These are some of the best selling machines on the market!They sell more than utilities!I'm not a real utility kind of guy because I don't need it.My machine is a nice mix of both worlds,and fits me perfectly.But people always want more power.I want more power and am in search of a faster quad.Looking around for a Polaris Predator.It fits what I want to do with it perfectly.

 

Actually, Utility units make up 2/3 of the ATV market nationally the website that has the sales figures www.powersportsbusiness.com. Type utility vs sport.

))edit__I'm not saying there is no slot for sport quads cause there is they make up a third of the market. What I am saying is that the smart money goes with 2 out 3 pieces of the pie in this economy whem developing new machines. Unless the company is confident enough that they can grab a large chunk of that small piece.

 

A sport quad uses light weight and momentum to fly across the terrain. If one does not understand how to ride a sport quad, then you just won't get this concept! A ute on the other hand, is heavy and grapples for traction, which is a totally different way to attack the terrain. Believe me, there are places I can go on my sport quads, where a heavy 4X4 will just dig 4 big holes!

Each machine has its place! 90% of the time, I don't "need" 4wd. But, sometimes the rocks get to big, or there are deep water crossings, or the snow is to deep, and 4wd is called for. However, my solution is to own both and ride the ute 10% of the time, rather than have myself saddled with a machine that is out of place 90% of the time, just to I have 4wd occasionally.

To call most of the current crop of utilitied "sport/utes", is just marketing BS! Just because you can put tall sloppy suspension on a machine and give it a big bore engine, doesn't make it "sporty". I have always liked the sport/utility "hybrid" idea, and the "old" Wolverine came pretty close to the mark! But, any machine that has the word "sport" associated with it, has to have a manual (autoclutch is fine) transmission, and not be to heavy. Yamaha messed up big time, and cut the ***** off the current Wolverine, giving it a sissy foo foo automatic transmisison. And the Renegade....what a huge pig!

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Eacy machine has its place! 90% of the time, I don't "need" 4wd. But, sometimes the rocks get to big, or there are deep water crossings, or the snow is to deep, and 4wd is called for. However, my solution is to own both and ride the ute 10% of the time, rather than have myself saddled with a machine that is out of place 90% of the time, just to I have 4wd occasionally.</end quote></div> Exactly! You got my point in reverse. 90% of the time I need 4wd, 10% of the time I don't. The difference is that (through no fault of you or anybody else) is that I (and many others) can't afford 2 quads for different situations. I can only speak for myself and my experiences. My quad is not mushy and has an acceptable level of sportiness for my needs. Will I be competing with sport quads in MX races or dirt tracks? Nope. Just, please, don't use such a wide brush. Though they are not as light and throwable as a true sport quad, I've given plenty of big and heavy utility quads peal the eyeballs back rides. We can all enjoy what we got. And, again, I'd like to see Honda diversify their line a bit. I'd love the Honda reliability with a quad with more of the features I need.