Skid plates are the heaviest replacement part you typically install. You're putting, in most cases, pieces of 1/4" think aluminum in place of next to no weight plastic. Add the full chassis and swing arm plates together and it equal a about 30lbs. Nerfs weigh around 15-20lbs. A Arm skids front and rear 20+lbs. Take the Honda 450r front bumper and replace it with something better and I promise you it weighs more. There's hardly any weight to the stock bumper. So you see how you can easily add 50+lbs to your ATV and not even realize it.

 

regardless.....the 700xx is a tank when compared in weight to most atvs, also alot of those aftermarket add ons like skids and stuff only a small percentage of people use full skids on sport quads, and aluminum isnt heavy either, you could deck out say a honda 450r with like all the upgrades possible and the 700xx would prolly still be heavier, no sense in trying to defend the weight on the 700xx...its heavy, period, just because its heavy doesnt make it a bad quad either, in fact it does better than expected on alot of things for being as heavy as it is.

 

I love the 700xx and I will own one next summer, I'm not ''racer Joe'' and I dont want to be the next Gary Denton, I'm just your average atv rider that enjoys trail riding and who is in love with Irs. Do most people who own sport quads race? I dont know any racers. There's a ton of sport quads out there with solid axels and We should feel lucky to have one with irs. I dont think its a tank or a pig and it looks funner than a van full of hookers!

 

lol i know id love to own one.

 

Now there's something I'd have to argue.

 

I would say that so called small percentage is actually 80-90 percent of sport quad riders. I ride with 15-20 people with sport quads and every single one has full skids. Not sure of where you ride, but if you ride anything remotely rough you would have full skids. One good hit to the sprocket/brake rotor and you've far exceeded the price of a skid.

 

lol definitely not 80-90, and i do ride in rough terrain 90% of my riding is Xc terrain, whether its a dirtbike or not, i dont play in rocks much so my only skid plate is under the bearing carrier on the warrior, when i worked at the dealer im telling you i saw alot of quads in and out and most of them dont have skids, most kids take the plastic skids off because they dont like the look or "extra weight" or wutever lol, but at least half or less use skids on sport quads that ive seen, i guess this really depends on the area you live around.

 

I have read around on this forums for several years but just registered today. I have to agree with recon, you can not compare the 700R and the 700XX because of the IRS and SRA, this is not some little subtle differnece between the two quads. Comparing these two is like when dirtwheels did a comparison on the renegade vs the grizzly and raptor. These two types of suspensions make the quad react COMPLETELY different in every situation. IMO, a more accurate comparison would be the 700XX to the outlaw IRS.
I like the idea of a IRS sport quad and am not one of these narrow minded SRA sport guys that will ever call them worthless or an overweight pig. For trail riding I would take an IRS quad over a SRA any day of the week and if that is what I intended my sport for I would have gone with an XX or outlaw IRS. If I am trail riding it is the outlander I am riding. The raptor I ride in ATV rodeo's, TT races, and the dunes. In the rodeos an the TT races, the XX or any IRS quad will simply not compete with an SRA, I have seen many try but their times are not competitive but pushing the limits on the rough trails, the IRS on the XX is going to beat the raptor hands down.

For what you are wanting it for I think you would love that XX, I have personally never ridden one but I am sure they will be a hell of a nice ride for tearing up the trails.

 

Too bad too many people are so narrow minded that they refuse to open up to other possibilities.

Trust me they are. The xx EXCELS at this. You can find Raptor riders trying to keep up on the trails and it's funny because they know it's a 700 Honda. You can stop and take a break and then they catch up. You get going again, catch up to them (hung up on stuff), pass them, and repeat. It's gets funnier every time it happens.

 

Yea all this bickering and raptor vs 700xx non sense is not needed, Its so simple SRA for race and IRS for everything else...just decide how you will ride. If you dont race and you want an awesome sport quad that hauls major a$$ and pampers your backside get the 700x.