Sold the 2004 Raptor50(thank god) Picked up this 05 E-TON Viper90R.
Wow what a machine,my daughter is almost 7 and she handles it with no problems at all.The features this thing has is unreal.Horn,reverse,headlights,tailights,instrumen t panel,flashing red light at the front(my daughter call her atv "KIT" since it is black.The cdi box has a built in rev limiter 0-7. 0 only lets the thing go 5 or 6 mph. 7 is unlimited.I tried to get the rev limiter to come on in position number 7 on my front street.It just kept on pulling,i didn't want to hold to long because the motor is new and needs to be broken in,but i did have my GPS in my hand at the time 26 mph and i weigh 195 lbs.I thought that was pretty good for only having 20 minutes on the motor.Also the rear suspension is really nice the front is not bad.The only thing i can complain about is that i had to drive 2204 kms to get this thing.I live in Winnipeg,Mb and the nearest dealer is Alberta.I also only had to pay one tax,it just makes up for all the gas i used driving there and back.Great atv so far.....

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]It is a small world I think!!! Did you drive to a small town in Central Alberta and buy the ONLY Black/Yellow Viper 90-R??? We were looking very seriously at a Viper 90-r from O.J.'s and when we went back with MOM we were told somebody drove in from Manitoba and bought it.

How's it working for you? We're considering both a Viper 70 for a 9yr. old girl and the Viper 90-R for a 12 yr. old boy.

Should talk to the local dealers and get someone to carry the line in Manitoba.

'The dealer you bought from says that parts are available and very reasonable in cost from the Canadian distributor.

 

Yes that was me,sorry about that.Owen at OJ'S said that he is going to bring a few more in.Also being a Yamaha dealer you think he would push the raptor 80,he says the Viper90 is a better machine and walks all over the Yamaha 80.You may want to take a look at the Yamaha Blaster for your 12 year old.My daughter is turning 7 in July and she doubles me on my 2003 Yamaha Blaster,i work the clutch and gears.I just think a 12 year old would be to big or out grow the E-TON 90 fast.The machine is working great so far,i have more fun burning around on the Viper then i do on my Blaster.I did tighten the chain once so far.I think the Viper 90r would be perfect for your 9 year old,it has a adjustable rev limiter anyway.It's a great quad and the brakes are just wicked (rear disc)makes it very easy to stop.
I made it from Winnipeg to Wainwright,AB in 10.5 hours then picked it up turned around and drove straight back.A grand total of 24 hours and 10 min straight.Good thing for rental cars.
Goodluck with your choice.......

 

:The dealer mentioned that E-Ton makes a nice 150 4 stroke (Yukon) CVT tranny, forward and reverse, rear disc brakes and racks front and rear for about 10-15% less than the Yamaha Breeze. Bigger frame than the Breeze as well. Anyone seen, ridden, or own a Yukon? I really like the looks of these E-Ton's.

Looking hard to find a hole in these machines before I buy one.

 

Its funny the E-ton's Canadian Supplier is on the west coast and there are lots of dealers here in Ontario.I have 5 of them within a 150 mile radius of where I live and 4 of then within about 50 miles.We love our 90 and its been very good to us.

 

I think it must be Alberta, cuz I haven't seen anything for sale from Eton in Vancouver area.Too bad, because I really want to check them out.

I don't know why these dealers make such outlandish comments..... "the Viper 90 is a better machine and walks all over the Yamaha 80". They haven't been around long enough to make that claim. I have the Yam. 80 and it's 3 speed, shaft drive. You've already had to adjust your chain. Anyways, this unit is great, just as I'm sure the Eton is. I've got over 30 years of Yamaha's existence to comfort me, knowing their general reliability and that they'll be around tomorrow, and will stand the test of time.The 3 gears really make this thing fly for top speed , plus the kids are learning to shift. The Eton has reverse, horn, lights, all of which I wish i had. We spent a week in Kamloops last week and nobody wanted to ride the LT80 compared to the Raptor 80 (I was surprised, for the laziness factor of shifting gears). It was less maintenance than the Honda XR 70 my 8 y/0 ran the whole time. Big air filter made for less clogging and cleaning.

You know how you can tell when a dealer is lying? When his lips move. I have more respect for the dealer who says something HONEST, like: "They're both good machines,"... , then tries to upsell on a valid point like, "Ours is $500 less..., or has a horn, or has reverse".

Next weekend we're doing a test ride for the new MFC dealer, checking out their stuff. It will be good to see what they've got to offer. Good luck with your new Eton, i hope your daughter gets years of enjoyment out of it.

How much was your OTD price? Why didn't you get them to crate it and send it Bison?(Always nice to see what you're getting first though, isn't it?)

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]I looked at www.etoncanada.ca and found lots of Dealers in Alberta and Ontario and Quebec, not sure how current the website dealer listing is. Not much in B.C. Maybe the fact that MFC is from B.C. has turned all the legit dealers off of imported ATV's. I've seen the MFC stuff before, bad news. Every dealer/distributor in western canada only sells MFC for 1 season. Can't get parts, no support and really bad quality. Nice to hear that the E-Ton Dealers like the product after a couple of years. Just read in Powersports Magazine that E-Ton is the second largest selling brand in North America in the youth ATV segment. Seems most of the E-Ton dealers in Canada are legit ATV motorcycle shops selling other OEM's like Kawasaki/suzuki, Honda, Arctic Cat and Harley Davidson. I've talked to 3 different ones and they all say the same thing... Runs everything else off the trail....... everything!!

Polaris looks O.K. but I've heard lots of bad stories about frame problems and electrical issues.
I'm not a great welder..

Yet to hear a problem about the E-Ton,, I'll keep looking

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]Hello oldyeller, who did you buy your E-Ton from?? My sister lives near Guelph and is also in the hunt for her 2 boys.

 

Hello Prorider,
I looked at the Yamaha 80 and rode one at an dealer that also sells Arctic Cat and E-Ton. The Arctic would hardly run and the Yamaha was 4 stroke thus needed the gear box due to the lack of bottom end torque. I found the suspension really poor on the yamaha, the front axle was right off my 1968 John Deere 4020... One straight axle. The 4 stroke engine should run forever if the suspension doesn't shake your fillings out of your teeth first.
My question is with young kids, do they understand the concept of shifting gears.. Gearing up to go faster seems easy, but the gearing down to climb a hill or slow down always seems to be a problem for them to master. My take on the gear box was, I'd be concerned the young ones would power out on hills and stall or worse yet power out and roll back.
With a CVT tranny your always in the right gear!!
With the 3 speed you might finally get to a high top end, but I don't want my kids going too fast.

Your thoughts are appreciated!!

Only want to go to town once for this toy!!

 

Hey man hayman [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] , thanks for the info on MFC. I've never seen or heard of their product in BC, I've only seen them for sale in Alberta through the Buy and Sell. I thought for sure they started in Alberta, or somewhere other than B.C. Where else can i get more feedback like what you're desrcibing? Are you confused with someone new out here called atvforless.com? I can't figure out who the OEM is for them.Prices are DIRT CHEAP. I suspect they're dumping proven crap from other lines/manufacturers. It's dizzying trying to keep up with all the off-shores and who's who/what's what. Plus the risk of picking the wrong one. I've posted before that i thought Eton, Kasea (post-Mighty-Mite) and 1 or 2 others (DRR/Dinli) were apparently good, but the rest seemed scary:like a crap shoot.

But I gotta disagree with some of your comments. I find the entire suspension thing on kids quads ridiculously overrated, unless they're doing jumps and causing damage: then it's a problem. If an adult weighing around 200lbs bottoms out the suspension, then it's probably going to be responsive to a lighter child and do what it's designed to do. If you don't flex the suspensionon, then it probably would be too stiff for a kid. Suspension has never been an issue on the Yam.80, BUT, they learned on an '84 LT50 with ZERO suspension, so anything seems better. We ride rock, creek beds, hills, rough terrain,logging roads and the quality of suspension has never been an issue.

Where better to learn how to ride properly and shift, than with real gears.They catch on really fast. Like I said, last week none of the kids wanted to ride the fully automatic cvt transmission on the LT80. I agree that auto is great for first timer and smaller kids, and my kids had to get their foot strong enough to shift, They definitely gear down for hills, and that's part of my job to teach them when and where to shift. If we listened to the manufacturer, that would be a non issue as they shouldn't ride before age 12 [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

As for not hearing about any problems with Eton; why have there been so many posts on this forum about Eton needs this, or won't do this or that? Don't get me wrong, they're not a lemon, but just a many people post Q's about problems they're having with them, as they do about Suzuki or Polaris. Actually, most of the Polaris owners seem to have posted positively about the 90s- from what I've read. I don't think Etons are as bullet-proof as you seem to think they are. Plus, lets see how well they hold up after 20 years, like that LT50 'lawsuit' quad we had. LOL!

As for any quad running the others off the trails; I think that's BS. I think the rider means way more, but the quad helps. I'm teaching my brats to stop and help their other riders get through tough areas so the ride is fun for all, not intimidating. This was reinforced for me in Kamloops last week. I'm on an '03 450 Kodiak 4x4/diff lock, low range/ new Bearclaws. We're on a steep sidehill and I'm filling my pants, nervous. I'm not as experienced as the riders we're with. My one cousin informs me this is the spot where he rolled his 3-wheeler 200 feet downhill. I got through a bit shaky. My other cousin goes through on the '97 Polaris 400 2wd he just got that week for his wife, piece of cake. He'd much rather have my Kodiak, but i'll never compare to his skill or ability, even if he's on a 3-wheeler and I'm on a Grizz.

My name should be Canucklehead on this form, but someone already had it (but never seems to post;they should loose it by default), but as painful as it is for me to do, I'm temporarily Flammablehead, in recognition of the Flames Cinderella run. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]