Hey Mitch, what's up? I see that you ride a Griz. My buddy that was with me has a 660 Griz. In fact the day of the hill climbing event we were putting the Prairie and the Griz head to head in our own little poor boy test to see which was the best. We couldn't prove one was better than the other except in drag races along the sand bars of the river. There was not a wheeler there that could take the Prairie in the drags, not even a Raptor. Now mind you these were not scientific tests and the Raptor was a little out of it's element in the mud and sand, I say this as the tires on the Raptor were similar to what a TT racer would use not alot of lug on them. We hooked the Prairie and the Griz together with a tow rope, we rednecks in Texas refer to this as "hook'n ***'s" and had a sort of tug of war. We couldn't budge each other but I think I could have took him with some better tires, lol!!!! Thanks for the condolences on the crash Keep a havn' fun!!!!!!!!!

 

Hey toto. Glad you're alright. I'll tell you guys a little story about an endo. A bunch of us were out wheeling 2 weeks ago and my buddy on his honda 450es decided to try this rather large hill. He made it right to the top, but his back tires hooked up real good--a little too good. Over he went!!! The bike missed him when it landed upside down, but when it came over on it's wheels again, it got him!! He was kissing skid plate big time!!!! We got it off of him and after a couple of minutes of him groaning and moaning, we started looking at the damage. The first thing we noticed was that his digital display was smashed to crap. His front rack was bent a bit, handlebars pushed down and front brake lever bent. Anyways, I started looking at my 650 to see what would break if I did the same thing. The first thing I noticed is that the pod is below the handlebars, so if you roll it, at least THAT won't get buggered. He got a price on a new display-----$280 canadian!!! Just one more reason why the Kawie is better than the rest!!!! LOL!!!

 

Toto,
I am glad you are o.k. I was riding along a trail a couple of weeks ago with a guy I had just met only minutes before. He had a green 650 like mine. He said it had about 150 miles on it. Anyway we went down the trail and I was following him. When we came to a steep hill, with deep tire grooves on either side, he stopped. He said I bet this machine could make it up in 2 wheel drive. I asked him if he ever had gone up this hill before in 4 wheel drive. He said no. He said he never went up the hill period. I do not think he had much experience with hill climbing. I have gone up this hill many times but always in 4 wheel low. I went up it earlier that day in 4 wheel low pretty easy, so I figured I would try it in 4 wheel low. I went up without too much of a problem. I had to stand up and use some body english however. As I went down the other side of the hill and came around to where I started, I saw him standing next to a tree. At first I thought he was fertilizing the grass or something until I saw his machine on it's side with him leaning on it. He did not even wait for me to get back from going up the hill and decided he would try it himself, for the first time, in 2 wheel low. I forgot to mention that he is in his fifties and over 300 lbs. I also noticed on our brief ride that he never stands up when he rides-no matter what the terrain becomes in front of him. He said he made it up about three quarters of the way up and the wheels came up. He got them down about three times he said, until the fourth time when he hit a root. The machine came back on him hitting him in the chest. Next he said it rolled end over end about five times and came to rest on it's side. The handlebars were bent down and the plastic was broken in the front. The speedo display was fine. He said the huge cooler he had on the rear rack saved the back end rack and platic. Diving it back to the parking lot it ran fine mechanically. I even think he gunned the throttle a few times! The machine proved to be tougher than the ridcer that day as I think he may have broken his wrist.

 

I endo'ed my 650 going down a steep bank. I too was in 4wd low and touched the brakes and over I went. Next time I will put it in 2wd low.