I know from experience with my modded Scrambler 400 (60 HP Hot Seat kit) that lots of power, mixed with good back tires and a well tuned CVT will all add up to loss of steering under WOT acceleration.
After a while I learned to feather the throttle to keep the front down, and completely get out of the throttle when entering a corner. You have to watch out when power sliding through corners with the throttle because if the rear suddenly hooks up you’ll lose steering control, mix that with the *** end hooking up and cornering g forces and it can go bad in a hurry if your not careful.
You need to respect the machine and don’t go nuts with it until you are familure with its handling quirks.
A well tuned CVT puts all the power the motor can make to the ground during the entire acceleration from 0 – top end. Unlike a manual that approaches max power, over shoots it, then you shift, now you’re revving back up to max power, over shoot it, shift again.
On a dyno run of a drag race with a manual clutch you’d see a bunch of pulses in the forward G’s from shifting gears.
With the auto it’d just be one flow of near steady forward G’s.
Any of that make sense.

 

That is what happens to a tee.

 

I could not have said it better MegaCrash !

I have to ride this different than my P650. On the 650,
I can come out of a turn with the tires spinning .... fish tailing
all the way to the next turn .... just keep correcting it by
pointing the front wheels.
On the Vforce... you better have it aimed where you want
it to go before you punch it...... because the power that causes
the 650 to fish tail .... eliminates the stearing abiltiy of the
Vforce.

 

I would hope that the one responsible for the crash (rider) would be man enough to front the cash for the repairs. I can remember a time where I bought a buddy some early birthday presents (fenders, bars, etc.) after I foolishly ran his one day old CR500 into a chain link fence as fast as it would go in 2nd gear... What can I say, I felt obligated. I would hope that anyone I trusted to ride my machine would do the same.

MegaCrash; I know what you mean. Having riden a modded and well-tuned Scrambler 400 I will back up your statement about hooking up out of corners and the front getting really light making it hard to stear. I'm sure the V-Force share some of the same characteristics making it hard for the normal inexperienced Joe-blow or a Utility-Quad rider to adjust to.

 

PLEASE don't let anyone under 15 years of age drive a V-force. That's like holding a time bomb with both hands with 2 seconds remaining. There was an unfortuate mishap here with 21 olds on sport bike and a mussle car. A close friend of mine had only 2 sons and both of them died 14 months appart due to too much power in motorized vechicles. Both sons act responsible while under suppervion but once that eye was shut. BANG. I feel a V-force kills in the wrong hands a lot more than anything else in the ATV market. I'm not buying a V-force because I feel I can not handle one on fast trails and I would have a hard problem slowing the 700 down and I'm an expert atver with 17 years of experience but I started on a YFM 80 not a 700 twin!

 

HEy folks,
dont blame the 700 V-Force for the problems and dont blame age either! When I rode the Raptor versus my sons new 700, I beat the 700. Age has not much to do with it since I am 63 years young. I also rode the 700 and can vouch for its handling. My sons 700 has $3000 worth of damage to it due to his friend falling off and gassing it at the same time. All in all I would say that the 700 is as good as you can get for a stocker for handling and powe!

 

I didn't want to chime in late but........I think it has to do with rider attitude. Experience is one thing, you could ride for 50 years on many different bikes, but that's the key, they're all different. People hop on a new bike and with all of their "experience", try to ride it like any bike they've ridden before. You should approach any bike you've never ridden like you're throwing a leg over a bike for the first time. It may jump like a quad you had when you were 17. It may accelaerate like the last quad you owned. Gettin' pretty comfortable with it now right? Then BAM, you smack a tree because it doesn't handle like anything you've ridden before. If "experience" teaches us anything, it's respect. The V-force is awesome but you could just as easily smashed up an LT80 because you didn't respect what it could and couldn't do.

 

Man I hope we don't go thur a ton of lawsuits like we did in the 80's because people are buying these V-Forces and not using their heads when riding them. I just rode mine for the first time tonite and took it real easy but did get on it a little. Did not have any problems. People should take it easy when they first get their new machines whether the are experienced or not.

 

I 100% agree with STecate's statement and bump it one further...I've met a lot of great guys since getting back into the ATV scene a little over a year ago. Every once in a while at the dunes you'll meet a guy, maybe from the forum, and you start comparing notes, asking questions, bragging a little...anyway, I have been offered on more than one occasion the chance to ride someone else's qaud. I have even made that offer on more than one occasion myself...more often than not I humbly decline...even though it may be the same model that I ride and mine is sitting there as collateral just in case. The few times that I've taking someone up on the offer when I get back they seem really dissappointed! They know that the time that they have spent modding, tricking out, and building the perfect beast had developed much more of a monster...I'll never ride another's quad the way I ride mine! Not so much fear as it is common sense that keeps me at bay, and it just doesn't feel the same! Respect each and every quad...crashing sux! If a person wrecks your quad he is half responsible unless he took it without your permission--then he is either a thief or a moron! My .o2

Jim

 

Yea, I take a lot of pride in my machines and take care of them. There is only a very select few that I would let ride one of my quads....especially my Raptor. New bars and plastic is fine, but what about bends and stress cracks in the frame that give way 6 months to a year after you repair your machine after it's wrecked?? I agree with you jiminok on treatment of someone elses ride. A good rule of thumb is not to borrow anything that your not willing or in a position to replace.

As I said originally, I thought it was a nice quad. I still haven't perfected jumping and the track riding, but I love the dunes and drag racing. The whole point is saying that is that you have to know your own personal limitations. I am jumping further now than I was last year and next year I plan on jumping further. You have to learn the machine your riding like STecate925 was saying.

And your right m14brian...........we don't need a bunch af lawsuits because of a handfull of bad incidents. The quad market is getting VERy exciting now!! Yamaha and Honda coming out with their answers to the high strung bikes like the C-Dale, Preditor and of course everyones favorite the z400..........[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

Anyway, if someone is generous enough to turn over a $6,000 piece of machinery for you to ride............be respectfull to their property.