No, no you don't. There are quite a few machines a beginner should not be on. Just like you don't let your kid on a learner permit drive an LS powered camaro or corvette. It actually takes a little more skill to ride a manual at 2mph than it does to ride at 10mph, terrain dependent.

 

I guess people have different trail conditions. Our trails would not allow more the 20mph for more then a short moment. A 800 Outlander is not getting anywhere quicker then a 250 moto4 or Recon.
A 1000 sxs Commander is easily left in the back by a 350 Yamaha Bruin.

Here is the trail for the next 200 miles. 20mph tops at any time.

 

So do you put the beginner on the bruin, or let them drive the commander?

 

Imagine a beginner on the trail you have pictured. This beginner is riding a manual sport quad, 400cc and up. He dumps the clutch and gives too much throttle. This is a recipe for disaster. Again, you have experience riding a quad. And you are correct. Any of us with ample experience can ride virtually any machine safely and as slow or as fast as we please, but that is not the case with someone new to riding. Kind of like shooting firearms. When I taught my son how to shoot is was with a .22 caliber rifle. As he gained more experience, we went to larger caliber rounds. All the trigger control in the world could not have prepared him for a .44 mag or 30-06. Cool trail by the way.

 

weren`t looking for a fight particularly. the 700xx is a bastard by any means as far as I`m concerned. the best thing a guy can do to it is gear it down. for a bike that supposed to have the torque that people think it does, it`s the easiest thing to kill in tight rough stuff, I`ve ever rode. it has terrible bump steer for a fairly late model quad too. my sons 450 Suzuki would eat it up. just wasn`t the bike for me. I`m older now, don`t have to be the fastest cat on the block (when it comes to trail riding), have a kfx 700, it`s extremely comfortable for some one over 6 ft., ain`t the fastest thing I ever rode tho !! the carbs (suck) and are a bitch sometimes, but it`s a fun trail bike if your not racing anyone. jmo---bob

 

The xx is geared high from the factory but It's original purpose was to race out in the desert, so the taller gearing made sense. Simply swap out the stock 14t output sprocket with a 13t and 1st gear is equivalent to any other 450+ sport quad out there. The xx is one of the few quads that can reach speeds of over 80mph in stock form so gearing it down a tooth will hardly effect it's top end performance.

As far as bump steer goes, I don't think it has more than any other quad with over 10inches of front end suspension travel. Maybe your front end was out of alignment, but it's an issue thats not commonly associated with the xx. The aftermarket does offer aftermarket steering stems that can reduce bump steer by 40-50% (I have Teixiera tech stems on mine) but that's the advertised savings for all machines, not just the xx.

Everyone's got different tastes and it's great that we live in a country where we have choice's in everything we buy but the problems you experienced with the xx were minuscule and easily reversible.

 

Honda builds a reliable bike that's for sure. the 700xx was probably geared that way to try to keep up w/ the raptor too. I always felt like I was sitting on top of a Honda, and setting in the bikes I rode for the most part(weird description I know). the kfx700 is probly the most comfortable bike I`ve ever been on, great for taller riders. too bad it`s not fuel inj. tho !

 

Musn't have sold well for Kawasaki. I always thought they should put the 750 efi in that quad. Would have made it a lot more fun.

 

It was essentially a Brute Force without racks. A tweener quad that never really found a big enough niche to continue sales. K should have given it a better suspension and 4x4. They could have beaten Can Am and Polaris to the punch with a sporty 4x and it would have sold much better I think. I just remember my buddy trying to follow me through a creek section. I was in the YFZ and just picked better lines. He didn't have the skill to see the lines though. He sunk that pig in the mud and we had to get a guy with a winch to get it out. I could have lifted the yfz out on my own in that situation. The kfx wouldn't be moved with 2 of us. I can see it being comfy at sane trail speeds though.

 

yea,I already buried mine once in a jeep trap !! the reverse would almost back it out, but not quite. finally got the darn thing runnin right yesterday morning !!