Shined up the beast this morning and went on first trail ride. It was rocky and muddy. I was with two prairies. I was pretty impressed with how well it handled the rough stuff. Well, she aint as pretty as she was this morning, but I knew I had to get the first trip in. Went through some pretty nasty mud without getting stuck. Handled ruts surprisingly well. Still my least favorite conditions (down hill ruts). Climbed even better than I thought it would. Really doesn't feel heavy on the trail. When you shift your weight and use the throttle in turns, it seems quite nimble and quick. I thought the width might be a problem, but it was more of a help. Overall I was impressed. The area I am most concerned about is steep downhill. Would be nice to have engine braking at idle. Took some getting used to;throttling and braking down hill. As far as pros and cons, the list for pros would be too long. The cons would be the braking issue, and inadequate protection up front (radiator). The plastic doesn't offer much protection in the mud, but as sport quads go, it's better than most (ruined a fairly new pair of nike running shoes, we'll see what wife can do with'em[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img] Any tips on cleaning the Force?

 

Where did you go BigCreek??? Livingston? I had wanted to get there this weekend but didn't work out. We are planning a trip this weekend. I go for my 10hr(+) service today. Figured it would be good to get that first service out of the way before I went to Livingston anyway. Also go to pick up my ORANGE helmet today. I got my bike in Richmond...so it's a bit of a drive to the dealer (good people there)...giving me a deal on a helmet.

 

Good to hear you had fun on your first trail ride. I have to agree with you on the down hill stuff. The worst part of it is that it free wheels at the worst possible times and you never know when it is going to happen. The darn thing is so responsive, that using the throttle to keep it on the compression, while going down tricky hills, can some times be a little un-nereving. Thankfully, the brakes are great.

The best way to clean it is a pressure washer. I usually pressure wash it first to get all of the big stuff, then I use Simple Green or some type of cleaner degreaser, spray it down real good with that, use the pressure washer on it again and get all of the tricky areas real good.

My buddies all give me a bunch of crap, because I clean my Quads after every ride. Funny thing is that my quads always look like new, and all of their's look like crap.

 

The "gas it downhill" will become 2nd nature after a while. We do it on our sled to slow down coming down a long mountain face (2-3000ft). I went ripping this weekend on some logging trails and oil lease lines on the shadows ot the Rockies and man I was impressed with some of the deep water and mud the V-Force will go through. If you head in to the goo on the throttle, she just plows right through it.

As for cleaning, I use a pressure washer at the local car wash as well. I nail all the plastic and foot pegs but I usually let go of the trigger when I wash down the engine/axle and electrical. I found that any good Pexiglas cleaner will shine here right back up.

 

I was really impressed with my KFX on the trail. Witch is real good seeing that i ride on trails 95% of the time. I just really started climbing some serious hills and loved how it just climbed them like they werent even there. This the very best quad i have evr ridden. In my opinion the only thing it needs is some more top end to open it up some. Im gonna wait on a pipe, i want to see what unfolds.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

My V Force is 10 days old now and still having issues with the motor dying. Spent Wed-Sat this past week on a vacation to the dunes. Several times, I went through a section of whoops (about 100 yards long) it would sputter and die at the end of the trail. Same spot each time. This is the same thing that happened my first time out at another riding spot. Went down a rough fence line trail and it died at the end of the trail. Not sure how to address the problem, but I saw and talked with a couple of other V Force owners this weekend and they had no problems so far.

The dealer's diagnosis is fuel slosh. Anyone else having this problem? Any ideas?

 

I would go somewere to get the problem looked at. My KFX didnt die at all not even after i have had it for 21 days. No quad should die after you get it brand new no matter what kind.
Try to take it to ur dealer and make them look in it and ride it. When i had a warrior i had to basically make the people look at the engine and service it. If ur dealer wont do anything then take it to a mechanic and tell them. Good luck.

 

pairof98s,

What is it doing EXACTLY. Is it cutting out at 1/2 throttle? Does it miss at full throttle? Or does it just have troubles at idle? I am real interested to know if it is doing what mine had done. If you don't want to take up room on this Thread, PM me with every detail you can think of.

If you don't receive the help you need to solve this problem from the dealership, you might try contacting Kawasaki directly. I had some Carburetor problems, and once the Service Manager at the dealership contacted Kawi about it, they were all over it. They ended up sending 2 new carbs, instead of having us mess with the ones that were on it.

 

The motor acts like it is flooding and stalls after getting out of the throttle. It only does this after a section of rough terrain, like whoops. The dealer spent a whole day letting all of the service techs ride the **** out of it. Their opinion was fuel slosh, and the only time they could get it to die was riding wide open throttle and locking up the brakes front and rear together. They said the tranny could not backshift fast enough to compensate for the immediate stop. That makes sense, but that is not what is causing my machine to stall. I'm thinking it has something to do with the float level in the carbs.

I called Kawasaki Customer Service yesterday and they looked me up in the computer. Apparently, the dealer did not contact Kawasaki with my issues when they had it in the shop, so I was not in the system. They said to contact the dealer again and have them log my complaint before they could do anything for me. Honestly, I don't want to go back to the dealer, simply because I don't want them joy-riding my new machine. I bought new because I wanted to know it had not been abused, especially during break-in. I've already seen the service guys getting crazy on it during the break-in period, claiming they need to try to reproduce my problems.

Next time I go riding, I'll see if it is still doing the same. If so, I may go back to the dealer and ask them to get Kawasaki Technical Support to help diagnose the problem.

 

Hey Xtremest, I know it sounds crazy, but I have never ridden there[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]