I got the 650 out in the dunes (Sand Lake, Or) this last weekend. It did surpisingly well. I lowered the air in the tires down to 2.5 lbs and it went everywhere I pointed it. I switched back and forth between my banshee and praire and the praire is so much smoother over bumps and rutty sand.

I really think the 650 could make use of rear paddles though. If you hammered the throttle, all 4 tires would spin hard looking for traction.

oh, and I managed to mess up my warn winch really bad trying to pull my banshee out of a bad situation. I was pulling and an angle and the cable started winding on the outside of the drum until it moved no more. Cable snapped trying free it. I am anxious to yank it out and see how much damage I really did to it.

 

Hey Dextreme thanks for the sand story. You are the first guy I have heard of that used a 650 in the dunes.

My bro is a big banshee rider, long rear arm and tons of engine mods. He rides sand mountain in utah.

Do you think 4x4 quads will ever take over popularity in sand riding?

 

I see lots of 4x4 quads on the dunes here in oregon, especially in the last 5 years or so. One thing that was really cool while climbing dune, was that since ya don't have to shift, the motor never bogs out. On my banshee I will occasionally have to down shift to keep the r's up (if slipping the clutch doesn't work). With the Praire, the power is always there...the limitation is traction. I can't imagine what running 4 paddle tires would be like!

 

I took my 650 to Little Sahara in Oklahoma last Saturday. It is definitely a blast in the sand. Fly up one dune in 2WD, crank the bars at the top, keep the gas pinned and fly right back down. Talk about sand roost. These 650's can jump like you wouldn't believe. Some of the fellas I was with suggest I get a Custom Axis rear shock. Sand drags are a blast too. I really thought the Polaris Scrambler 500 4x4 was fast. There were 5 I raced against Saturday in the sand and none crossed the finish line before me. I was in 4WD to get better traction and the Scramblers were about a quad length behind me. I assume they were in 2WD since there were paddle tires on the rear only. Tons of fun no matter what your riding on.

 

The 650 does indeed perform well in the sand dunes when the belt is not slipping.(See my post about this problem.) Spent a few days at Glamis with friends and my 650 out performed the 500 HO 4x4 Scramblers they were riding and they had paddles on the rear.
Climbing Oldsmobile hill, I could give then 4 or 5 lengths head start and then pass them at 3/4 of the way up the hill. Again no race on level ground. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Dextreme, good info! I may be going to the dunes @ Little Sahara (never been there) here in a couple of weeks. I was wondering how the 650 would do. If I get to ride it at all.. HA!HA!

 

Hi geebee Bearman here
I havent talked to you since the Utah atv jamboree, hows it going? How did your clutch problem turn out and are you going to the Jamboree this year?
Bearman