Thats why I always recomend the prairie or BF650 if you still like to play around, power sliding and doing doughnuts ect.ect., trying that sort of thing is always a lot more work and can end with a 600 + # quad laying on you. I have had and Still have an IRS quad but its not what I take with me if I am planning on playing around. IRS is nice but if you still like to play, they can be quite borring or scarry if you are determined to try that sort of thing on them anyway. I hope he was ok. Great action pic.!!!!!!!

 

from my experience on the prarie, i hated the front struts. nose dived on hard corners compared to my scrammy, and didnt feel all that smooth of a rider. keep in mind this thing has 28in mudlites on it. power wise, it was ok (p650, not 700), but wasnt as gut wrenching as i was hoping from all the hype i hear. We lined it up with my scrambler, and im guessing its tires, but i walked away from it. Overall i wasnt too impressed with it. i almost wanted one, but after i rode it im happy i didnt get it. this p650 has also overheated on several occasions, and yes, the radiator was clean. but when we went trail riding with an average speed of 3-6 mph, it overheated more than once.

 

Must be the tires because I have no problem disposing of a scrammy 500....I do have stock size tires.Hell I think the scrammy 400 is just as fast as the 500 based on my experience,I am not really sure these quads are apples to apples.I would put the Prairie more in the Sportsman class.No overheating issues here ever as long as the radiator is clean but that applies to all machines.My Kodiak will overheat with a clogged radiator and my buddies Rubicon definitely will!.
02 650 Camo

 

Well, Gopher, the 28" tires pretty much explains why a Scrambler beat it. If you aren't familiar with rotational inertia or rotational mass, then you may have a hard time understanding why a Scrambler won. A lot of people talk about tire weight, but it's also tire diameter and that doesn't just mean changing the gear ratio. Try taking a 2 foot rod and gripping it in the middle and twisting your wrist to make it spin (basically only 180 degrees unless you have an extremely flexible wrist). Then take a 10 foot rod that is the same weight as the 2 foot rod and do the same thing. You'll find that it is much, much harder to start and stop the 10 foot rod.

When you put 28" tires on a Prairie, you are changing the rotational inertia, the rotational mass, and raising the gear ratio. Going from stock tires to 28" tires makes you feel like you are going from a V8 to a 4 cylinder. I had 26" 589's on mine and just sold them in preparation to buying some bighorns. I have the stockers back on and it's unbelievable how much faster and how much more power it seems to have. I can't imagine how slow that Prairie seems with 28" tires. Every inch in size makes a big difference in power felt, speed, and acceleration. Some like putting bigger tires on for additional ground clearance, but I like the power felt by keeping the tire size close to stock or only one size bigger.

As an example, I had 26" 589's and my friend had 26" Outlaws and I could always outrun him by several quad lengths. He put his stockers back on for a while and he could outrun me by many quadlengths. Now I have my stockers back on and I'm back to beating him.

 

Gopher it was the tires. I have beat BF750's with ease on my old P650. The BF750 had 27" mudlites. I realy don't see why those tires are so popular. The eat HP big time. I realy have rarely ever lost to a scrambler and since I added the Dyna cdi I have not been beat by any scrammy's. Just think about it Big giant hard and heavy tires = large power losses a harsh ride and hard steering. Unless you are riding swamp areas or like to mud bogg I realy can't see why anyone would want them. To each there own. I think you may have gotton a bad impression do to an extream tire combo. I have several different wheel and tire combo's and can tell you if you put a heavy set on one quad and a light OEM type set on another you can see a major difference in performance up to 10+ quad legths in a 100 yards. I didn't use to think the weight of the wheels and tires mad much difference but after all the testing we have done I am a believer now, its incredable what unsprung weight does to a quads performance.

 

I was going to put 26" bighorns on, but after feeling the difference in the 25" stockers, I'm going to get 25" bighorns. I don't care how "bad" it looks or the extra inch or two of ground clearance when I'm losing that much power. I don't think some realize how much power loss there is with larger diameter tires.

 

Most of the guys I ride with that run the big tires complain about them and are always po'ed when we play around racing each other. I have always been able to follow where ever they have gone with the tires I use. Rebel I will warn you, and you probably already know this but the bighorns are pretty heavy even in the 25". When I said we ran our heaviest set against our lightest set (stock OEM's) our heavyiest set are 25" Bighorns on vision wheels. Now the set I have on the maxis rims are about 7lbs apiece liter than the ones on the vision rims. I do like the bighorns in the fact the do ride pretty smooth especialy for a tire you can ride on even when its flat.

 

I know about the weight, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, but am going with the 25" tires. I wanted a tire that was tough and durable that I could depend on, but also that drove and rode good. I got rid of the 589's because I'm no longer a mud seeker. I love fast trails and I think the bighorns will suit me best. I will be heavier than stock, but much better than the 26" 589's that I had.

 

heh, anything is better than the 589;s. i had 26in on my kodiak. i personally loved them. the tread life was great, and i mud alot. ive yet to ride a prarie with stock tires, or lighter tires so i cant say much there, but how about the body roll? this thing had spacers and offset rims, and i still didnt feel as comftorable as i do on my scrammy

 

Mine didn't have much body roll with 26" 589's and it felt pretty stiff and stable. But some people said that the front springs were too soft for them. To me, the springs are fine and I see no need of changing them. The tires could also cause a felt body roll depending on how stiff they are and how much sidewall give there is (the stockers have extremely weak sidewalls). You mentioned 28" tires. Since the wheel diameter is the same, there is 4 more inches of sidewall on the tires (2" top and 2" bottom) and more room for them to give and the tire height also raises the center of gravity causing additional body roll. That might cause it, or it might be that some progressive springs are needed, or it could just be that you are used to a different feel. I went from a Magnum to a Prairie and the Prairie felt much different and much more stable but if I hope on my buddies King Quad, it will fill like it is about to flip on me. But there are quads that will fill more stable than the Prairie. Some feel different and that's the beauty of having so many different models. There is one out there for everyone. But no matter what you ride, you will be familiar with the feel of it and anything else you hop on will feel strange until you get used to it. One thing you have to remember is that a Prairie is a sport/utility and a scrambler is really more of a sport. So a Prairie SHOULD feel somewhere in between a utility quad and a sport quad.