I guess because there seems to be a Honda, Polaris, Arctic Cat, Yamaha or other mainstream dealer never more then 30 minutes from any given location (around here) - That kind of parts availability is what I was referring to. So far - every Polaris 90 part I've needed has been in stock at the local hardware/Polaris store. That store also brought in some lower cost Eton kid quads and had a difficult time selling them - noting that customers would be discouraged with not having replacement/spare parts in stock. It seems most were willing to pay more for the "brand name" quads with replacement parts on the shelves.

We needed most of the front end plastic replaced by day 3 - the tree in the back yard must have moved quickly.

Your mileage may vary.

 

Yeah, when the engine parts are interchangeable! LOL! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Engine parts have not been the demand items. The plastic body and front suspension items were told to be the most frequent replacement parts needed. Hitting things with the quad was the reason.

I don't know much about parts interchangeability - what parts from which manufactures are interchangeable? Does this include drive train - chassis, brake parts etc? Controls etc?

 

Your line made me reflect back. My son ran into a tree as well. Actually, it was kinda funny in the way it happened. For us, we do lots of forest trail riding. My son leads (thankfully he has the maturity to lead) and I follow. One day last fall while double riding my disabled son, my middle son drove his Pred-90 around a deep forest corner. At the same time, my disabled son's boot came off. I immediately stopped, put his boot back on and continued around the corner. Like always, my son on his Pred-90 drives approx 30-40 feet around the corner and waits for me to catch up. This time, he looked around his shoulder and didn't see me. He continued to "put put" along at 2 mph. He kept looking and looking, waiting for me to catch up. I came around the corner and immediately seen he was 6" from a small tree. As he was looking behind his shoulder, his arms turned slightly sideways and he didn't even notice. Small bump off the tree - just like a bumper car at the fair. As I seen the expression on his face, I kept laughing and laughing. As I manually pushed his unit away from the tree (so he could turn around it), I kept laughing and laughing. He looked at me and said, "Dad, it wasn't that funny!!!" The next day, his Pred-90 went into my shop and I install a side mirror on it. Today, he now watches me from his side mirror. No more mandatory turning his head (and repeating the same type of accident) while he waits for me to turn the corners behind him. A driving mirror is little machine improvement "lesson learned" you may want to share with your future students. This $20.00 upgrade was well worth it for our unique riding conditions.

Hopefully, your young driver didn't hurt themselves from your moving tree.

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Only her allowance balance was seriously impacted. The agreement was that I would pay for half the parts if it was damaged. Thats the last time anything was broken like that.

Those mirrors are a great accessory for anyone trail riding with others. I have them on my Polaris but the Arctic Cats don't have a hollow handlebar to plug into. Havn't found a clamp on that I like yet.

Weve always kept an adult out front of the 12 year old while I kept watch from last place - but now shes going on 15 and can lead just fine with her Recon. At first having someone to follow made for good examples to learn from - and kept her out of the deeper mud.

 

I would agree. Most inexperienced "young kids" should NEVER lead. It all depends on the kid. In my previous days, I would lead 100% of the time and my son would follow. As a watched him from my mirrors, I noticed he was riding very sloppy. Like he was struggling. I watched my speed and noticed we did 5 to 15 mph. Most of the time, we were doing 10-15 mph in the clear paths. Knowing how sloppy my son was driving, I told him to lead and I would follow him. I wanted to watch him from behind - to monitor his body posture much better. To my surprise, his body posture and comfort control was near perfect. Then, I noticed he was doing 5 - 10 mph range. Then it hit me... My "little faster" speed while leading made him over drive his experience level. I was unknowingly pulling him faster. For our known trails, my son leads in order to "set our pace". In unknown trails, I lead and SLOW DOWN. There's a 9 year old kid on our trails who I'd NEVER allow them to lead. Even putting them between 2 adult drivers is an accident waiting to happen. It all depends on the kid's maturity, experience level and their natural leadership skills.

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For the mirror on our Pred-90, I went to my local Honda dealer and purchased a universal fit mirror post. It's gloss black and fits on minis. For the mirror, I purchased an inexpenisive "rectangle" black mirror, made of plastic and a steel rod. Post was $6.95 and mirror was $12.00. For something that could snap off during an accidental roll over or hitting a large tree branch, we don't look for cosmetic perfection. Is it functional? is my main focus. For us, this $20.00 upgrade works great. I'd highly recommend ALL trail quads have mirrors. Having glass, I wouldn't recommend them for the race track. Good thing most mirrors can be quickly unscrewed / removed.

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Most dealers do not stock plastics and front suspensions items. I can't understand why anybody would replace the front suspension with more stock parts anyway? Frankly, they aren't very good (or safe imo). Guess they don't know any better.

I believe the same block and drive train can be found on a lot of mini's. The Polaris Scrambler has a couple of clones floating around (chassis and engine). Haven't gotten a good look at a Predator to say if it's still the same under all those plastics.

Do your own homework WhoDat. You wouldn't believe me anyway.


Spike, I started my kid out leading because my mini came with a rear tether kill switch which I attached a retractable dog leash to. Worked great.

 

My kid started in our backyard. He rode on our flat ground for almost 5 weeks. The cones, the 4x4 logs, the "over and over" again routines often drove him nuts. Some days, it drove me nuts as well. He was only allowed out of our small fenced yard if he could consistantly lock up all 4 tires, comfortably perform cornering / leaning, etc. When we did "hit our trails", I restricted him to smooth sand dune and flat fields. Again, "over and over" leaning, stoping at each T-intersection, yeilding while merging onto "Y" trails, etc. Luckily we immediately enforced a good "phase training approach" in our family.

I do know one family who bought their 14 year old a 250 2-stroke Sports quad and said, "go have fun on your own". No training and no common sence behavior was taught. Approx 2 weeks later, he was riding "alone" in our sand dunes and drove head-on onto another rider. Ambulance & all. Today, our sand dunes are now closed. All because that 14 year old parents didn't slowly introduce him to "safe & common sence" riding behavior. And yes, the parents of this kid sued and got thousands of dollars. Go figure???

Thanks for your idea of installing a teather switch and dog leash on the back of our mini. Should cost me under $30.00 (or so) for this upgrade. When the time comes to teach my daughter how to drive our mini, this "rear mounted" teather switch & pull cord is a great idea. I'm sure if other parents installed a rear teather switch (and possibled wired into their front teather switch wiring) and dog leash on their new mini, it would be great for them as well. Thanks for the idea....

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"Most dealers do not stock plastics and front suspensions items." - They do around here. Being a little less myopic eludes some.

"I can't understand why anybody would replace the front suspension with more stock parts anyway? " Frankly, they aren't very good (or safe imo). - In your opinion - based on what? If someone wipes out a A arm and shock they should what? Build a highperformance race machine - on that side of the quad?

the same block and drive train can be found on a lot of mini's. - which ones I asked ? Or are we quessing? I havnt' seen anything even close. I'm not the person proclaiming expertise either.

"The Polaris Scrambler has a couple of clones floating around (chassis and engine)." - clones? which ones? Do you know or are you guessing again?

"Haven't gotten a good look at a Predator to say if it's still the same under all those plastics." -

So you don't know.