I have to say that there seems to be a very disturbing amount of talk out here of about people wrecking their brand new Kawi V-Force machines!!

What is the deal?? I have never heard of this many wrecked machines on a new production bike. Is the balance/wheelie point VS power that far off that people are having trouble eeping them under control??

When the Raptor was first debuted, everyone said that "yea, it's too narrow and man it sure is hard to keep the nose down". BUT.........there wasn't standing room only at the service garages to get them all repaired.

I have ridden STecate925's new V-Force and I didn't have any problem with the wheeling on me. It seemed like a nice machine. It was smooth and had a lot of power.

So what gives??[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

Good questions!
That's a lot of crashes so soon! My 13 year old has about 7-8 hours on the v force with no problems and has climbed some wicked hills. I've got maybe 5 hours on it and have come off the back once after casing a jump and the front end rebounding back hard. I also had some control problems cornering in tacky turf. Too much thumb, and steering control evaporates.
I also had a problem with the throttle getting stuck wide open under my forefinger several times. That's the rush i'm not looking for!

 

Arent you worried you son wont be able to control a 500+ pound quad in the even of a misshap??


RoostKing...

 

Mine got stood on end yesterday ... (broke the tail light/grab bar/small crack in fender)

In this case I was letting a young man (20 year old) with very little experence putter
around in my field. I repeatedly warned him to take it easy ... did not want him or
the bike to get hurt.

Summary ...
1. I will no longer let anyone on the bike that is not a seasoned rider.

2. In my opinion ... the stock grab bar folded up way to easy ..... which reslulted
in the tail light and fender damage. I do not think it is unreasonalble to expect
Kawasaki to have done a little better job of protecting the back of a bike that
they know can stand on its end so easy.
I will not spend $300 plus to put it back in stock condition.... just so it can
get busted again so easy .
I plan to find a stronger grab bar ... or make one myself ... that will not
fold like a cheep suit.

I will make some calls today ...... if anyone out there has thoughts on where
I can find one ... please let me know.

 

I agree Vforcer, and the last thing you do is let a 13 year old on one, if you care about that 13 year old.

 

My suspicion, in answer to GregV's original question is that a lot of inexperianced people are buying this machine. This was my primary concern when I first heard of the auto tranny. On most "sport" ATV's the process of learning to operate the clutch and shift is enough to instill some caution until more experiance is gained. The V-Force removes this factor, however, and allows any common idiot to go fast right away. As I like to tell people I let ride mine, "there is a big difference between knowing how to OPERATE and ATV and knowing how to RIDE one." I suspect the V-Force is simply too easy to operate.

That said, I still wouldn't mind having one! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

The one I saw get trashed was simply stupidity! Letting a kid (10 year old maybe) who had no business being on it . It was the fathers choice but I'd never let my 13 year old jump on one, it reminds me of the Raptor alot with the way the front jumps right up and the grab bar hits the ground! The grab bars are cheap sh*t, if I were to buy a 700 I'd get the new heavy grab bar on it before I even started the engine.

 

I believe Pechmial nailed it right on. The auto trans drives
so easy that almost anyone can "operate" it. But it takes an
experenced "rider" to keep it under control.

I will not allow "operators" on My 700 again

I also believe that there are a lot of utility quad riders buying
this bike .... that up till now, have not had to learn about
balance points....... so perhaps that "rider" qualification needs
to be "sport bike" experence ... not just ATV experence.

 

The V700 has lots of torque. Lots of torque and inexperience don't mix well. This is no different then I remember in the 80's when all the kids were getting fox body Mustangs for their first cars. It was only a matter of months before they rapped them around something or lost control in some manner.

 

LOL. Thanks for your concern fellas. I'm surprised to take flak from this forum over CPSC age generalizations.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] Yes, I am concerned about my son riding ATV's of any size. Especially considering the number of injuries i see to children on light weight dirtbikes. The size of the machine is not the issue, the rider's judgement and ability is the issue. I don't know about putting any 13 year old on ATV's but i do know about mine. He's 5'8", 120#,straight a's and has already scored an 1100 on the SAT's. He has 1000's hours on ATV's and bikes of all kinds including my cannondale, DS's, banshees, and Raptors. I included his positive experience with the Vforce to show that the major problem with the Vforce crashes isn't the machine, but the operator.

Back to the issue: My grab bar didn't even bend when the taillight broke off. This is obviously a design flaw.
I agree with 3TV, the Vforce is definitely safer than a raptor. However, i won't be so willing to let people ride the Vforce as i was with my 'dale. Mainly because the too stiff plastic and weak front subframe are going to be way too expensive to fix.

I resent your implication RebelDS.
Roostking, do you ever sleep? Yes, I worry. More or less than the parent who's kid i saw break his arm on a XR100 this weekend, I don't know.