Looking for some input on a Polaris Sportsman or Predator 90cc.

Anyone here own one?

Tell me about it.


Thanks !!

 

We had a 90 Sportsman for 2 years. It was both a remarkable machine and a remarkable pain. My daughter rode it to the top of Independence Mountain in Montana, nearly 10,000 feet.

It was durable, yet - could be a pain with having to clean the carb jets if it wasnt used for a while, and the ignition sometimes gave us trouble after trailering in the rain or riding through swampy areas. We had to replaced the starter relay also. None of it difficult.

But considering the hell we put that thing through - I shouldn't complain.

Sometime I would have to ride it out of the woods as my then 12 year old would either get sick or hurt on occasion. It carried my 200 pounds with ease.

I think some people make the mistake of putting to small of kid on the 90's sometimes before they are ready for it. They really can move along at speeds that can be dangerous even with a rider above the right "fit". Their is a limiting screw to limit throttle movement and that can help.

My daughter smacked a tree pretty hard and the damage was limited to the plastic and some unbending of front tubes - again nothing serious and also impressive for durability.


Edit - - I forgot to mention that they hold their value pretty well and parts were easy to get from the many dealers around town. We sold ours for $1600 to the neighbor whos kids have been running the snot out of it since we sold it.

Good luck

 

The Sportsman has the utility quad look and the Predator has the sports look. Different plastic and different back wheels. I read one posts from a SP-90 person stating his kid wanted its racks removed, so it would look more sporty. And I ready a post from a Pred-90 asking how to install racks, so he could carry light camping gear on it. If you are deciding between these 2 different units, pick the one your "young rider" likes the best. Then, add racks or remove racks as needed.

When it comes to purchasing a mini-quad for a "young rider", I believe that body fit and let the rider pick his/her style must always be put at the top of the criteria list. I remember reading a post that a parent purchased his kid a RED mini-quad. Even after many performance increase upgrades, the young racer felt it wasn't fast enough. To the "young rider", YELLOW is always a FASTER machine on the track. If the young rider's requirements would have been taken into consideration, perhaps a yellow one should have been selected on day one. Hence, the young rider would have been driving something they really wanted in the beginning.

Hope this helps...

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My daughters had her "Yellow" Sportsman 90cc going on a year now, and loves it, and we've not had any problems with it other than fouling a plug out on the trail once... seems to be a great fit for her, we just removed the cdi jumper a few weeks ago after since she has become a better rider, but we are still using the throttle limiter on her.. the only damage to it has been where she ran into the back of another atv she was following too close and knocked off one of those fake headlights... your probably not gonna go wrong with either the sportsman or predator

 

We've had our Pred 90 for about a year now (2004 model) and have had zero problems with it. The only thing we have done to it is take off the CDI jumper and replace the entire air box with a nice set up from Hetric Racing to let it breath better and re-jetted the carb.....she really moves out now, even with my 165lb butt on it. Oh, the other thing we did was replace the stock plug with a Platnum plug. We did this for no other reason but to see if it made a difference.....and it did in that it starts easier and seems to warm up MUCH faster then in the past......the Pred 90 is a bit cold blooded when it comes to starting and warming up (at least ours was). It's never fouled a plug (both before and after the air box mod and platnum plug) and has always run strong. I only wish we waited one more year.....2005's have reverse now! There is a pic at the bottom of my Bio page of my kid's Pred 90.....click it for a bigger photo.

 

MikeCer: what is this cdi jumper and what does it do?[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

KYathear,

its a small metal clip (jumper) which is installed into the electronic speed controle system, that limits the engine rpm's

below is from the owners manual page 140.

Maintenance
Speed Control Systems
Electronic Speed Control System
Your Polaris ATV is equipped with an electronic speed control
system, which controls the engine RPM and speed of the ATV.
Speed can be adjusted by removing or installing the jumper on
the CDI (A). With the jumper installed, 50cc models will
travel no faster than 10 mph and 90cc models will travel no
faster than 15 mph. With the jumper removed, 50cc models
will travel no faster than 15 mph and 90cc models will travel
no faster than 30 mph.

you can go to the Polaris web page and download a owners and parts manual if you dont have one...

 

soimcrazy . We have two Pred 90 an 03 and 04 TLD and have had super luck with both. My 6 year old son races motocross with the 04 , it has alot of mods done to it. Hes the champ in his class this year and it never once let him down.
[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

u had no problems with yours?! lucky! i blew 1 engine runing through some watter. the air box is right in next to to front left tire. it sucks in all mud and water. then after we spent a lot of money getting it fixed, we were putting it back together and we pinched the oil line so then it ran a bit then seized. it seized so hard even we jumped on in the kick starter (220 pounds) the piston would not even move. we took apart the atv and piston and every thing was black because of no oil. so thats engine 2 so know that is my sisters and i have a 88' 125 fourtrax. by the way how much do think i could get on a 2001 sportsman with a brand new engine?

 

Bought an 05 sportsman right before summer. Kind of wish that mine had the daytime running lights. I was hoping at first that my kids would get the pred but after see how well the sportsman keeps the mud off of them, I'm glad that they went with it. The racks have actually come in handy once or twice.

Soimcrazy. What if anything did you finally get?

Mark82nd Where did you get your platinum plug. I've been look for an iridium NGK. but no one around sells them. I found one at oreilys for my TB 250, but they dont carry them for the 90.