i usually am not brand specific, polaris... i wont start a flame thread, but from MY experience, everyone i knew who had one had HUGE amounts of down time and parts replacement... (only thing i havnt seen problems with are the sportsmans, and the predators)

i am having some issues with my DS (still not 100% i will be changing quads...) but my options (this is unless suzuki or arctic cat come out with somthing special...)
450r
predator
DS baja X
450 i just posted about to find out more about it (biggest downfall for me would be kick start...)
the baja, well i like mine, and bomb did some nice work on the new ones...
the predator i just dont know ANYTHING about, as most everyone i ride with is anti-polaris (some of them being previous polaris owners...)
oneof the biggest things that turned me off from polaris was the "toy" ish feel i got from riding/looking at them (lots of plastic pieces, one thing that always baffled me, was the fact that some of the quads had ONE brake lever for F/R? and it was plastic at that...) i have spent maybe 2mins looking at the predator, and it looks pretty mean, but again i dont know any specifics on it (its a 500 right? lol)

the yfz isnt in my running because 3 of my riding buddies have them, and they just rev too high for me, and arnt comfortable (i dont like having to always rev a machine to the moon) and the seat/suspension def were not my style. (im a pretty big guy...6'2 230...and have always loved the plush seat/suspension of the big DS)

EDIT*** just went to the polaris site...saw the "troy lee designs, aka TRD" predator... i thought maybe the new one would have engine mods ,or be faster (says close ratio gear box.... maybe just an acceleration improvement) If i got one i would most likely want the TLD version for the reasons of it being orange, and the shifter/gear box ***

i personally have never raced a predator (have only seen a handful of them in action) but my semi-modded ds (pipe/filter/cdi/clutch/orted intake) beats my friends yfz by only about 2-3 bike lengths, im told the 450r is a bit slower, but not much. Does anyone have the honest truth of where the preddy sits? (i would choose torque, over rev's any day....)

what is the msrp and current going rate (out the door) tag on the predator? is this new model more expensive? (is it just an upgraded model, or is it replacing the current predator?)


Again i dont want to start a "buy this because this is what i have" thread...lol
Thanks in advance for your honest opinions!

 

I did not read all of your post but i know what you want. And thats a predator. The 3 main things im gonna tell you about is Price, durability, and service. Right now 500 bucks off an a 2004. If you find the right dealer you can find out the door price under 5800. Try and get the from yamaha. Next the quality behind polaris is outstanding. I cant even tell you about the differences. Predator has a lifetime warranty on the axle of bending and breaking. I have ridding with yamahas and other bikes following right behind them or in front of them generally. But hitting the same stuff they are bending the cheasy parts left and right. No doubt yamaha is a good quad. But i dont want to spend money on parts every time i ride. I have never broken anything on either of the predators i rode. My friend took an insane crash on his predator where the bike ended up in a tree down a hill. He took a helicopter home and the bike was fine. I think the plastics cracked....Next is the service you can find at a polaris dealership. Not all have great service but when you find the right dealer. man what a world of difference. Plus would you rather have american made or over seas. Polaris been around for 50 years now way ahead in the watercraft and snowmobile race seen. Atv race they may be dropping the ball but i definetly think they will get there. If you do race 440 and 450 kits are available as well as new parts are coming out every day. They have subframes, axles, wheels, hubs, steering stems, mounts, nerf bars, pipes, 590 kits, nitrous kits, cdis. Now You can take a predator for the otd price of lets 6000 tops. I am not sure but im gonna say yamaha goes for about 7000? You can change the front and rear sprocket, cdi, nerf bars, and a pipe and jet kit. Wow a world of differnce between the bikes then. And you probably will have still payed less. Thats what i like is you can have more fun with less hassle of breaking things and buy more cool stuff to add so you can be even faster.

 

Okay now that i read the rest. The tld predator cost more then the new 2005 standard. If your not worried about price pick up a tld. it has speed shift ratchet style shifter. Between 2 and 4 the gearing is insane while leaving 1st and 5th the same. The tld comes with rezzies for the front ALUMINUm shocks. A differnt more aggresive maxxis tire. reverse for 2005 and also a taller steering stem with changed seat which i think will make people more happy when they sit on it. The retail price of the predator tld is about 6400 bucks. Which means you can probably find discounting dealers to give you about 6000 otd.

 

i just wish i knew owners of the 450r and predator... i would never buy a quad without riding it...and ill have to see what the dealerships say... (there is a honda dealership about 15 miles away, but they arnt the best people....so a test ride might be out of the question. (their loss i guess)
and there is one really large yamaha/polaris dealership about 30 mins away....when i was looking for my FIRST quad (was between the recon/beartracker and trailblazer) i rode all 3... so maybe ill have to take a spin up there and see what they can do for me (price and test ride wise)
I know if i was a dealer i would be afraid of 50% of the people just coming in to TRY it (not necessarily interested in buying...) so i know a lot arnt to keen on letting people hop on and go for a parking lot cruise... (ill just have to remind them my 5-7k isnt touching a hand till my bottom touches a seat...

have you ever raced a yfz/ds/450r? (even if you were piped and so were they, or similar mods) how was the outcome? (i just dont know how far away the performance is... i know the 450r is like a bike length or so, i was afraid the predator is like 5+?) i assume its closer to the big bore/450 class than it is the z400/400ex? (hopefully lol)

 

I can chime in on the Pred vs DS race. One of my riding buddies has an 03 Pred with white Bros pipe, K&N, and jetted. The other has an 01 DS with just a K&N. They raced one time, and the DS won, but it was not by much and it was by no means a "slaughter" on the DS's behalf. It was actually pretty close with the DS pulling ahead in the top end

 

I have raced a 450R on my Predator, stock for stock, and I beat him two or three times but not by very much. He beat me 3 or 4 times and not by much. So I personally think the 450 R is a little faster then the Predator. But I still wouldnt trade my Predatror for any other quad out their.

 

And I havent ever beat any YFZs that I have raced!

 

Roost, do you want a guad to race or trail ride, have fun on and ride with your buds with. If it is for racing then disregard this post. If it is for the fun type of riding then there are alot of things imho that are alot more important then fastest from point A to point B. I have had no problems with my two Polaris quads. But the Polaris quads usually have alot more problems in the honda, kawi, yamaha and the other forums then they do here. The people I know in my area that own Polaris quads have very little if any problems with their quads. That is one reason I own two Polaris quads. I like F/B brakes with one lever on mine. What Polaris quads have you riden that have that toyish feel. I used to own yamaha.Get what ever you want.

 

i have ridden an explorer, sportsman, trailblazer, and trailboss...all of them had huge frames, and most felt pretty hefty... (anyone know what the dry weight on the scrambler/trailblazer is? its gotta be a ton.... the motors were all fine in them, but they all just had a toyish look and feel)
The whole idea of F/R on one lever seems pretty useless to me....when going downhill why would you want the front to brake? and then uphill...why would you want the rears to brake? if i had a single lever for my quad i would have flipped it MANY a time (climbing rough steep stuff and if you dont make it you have to back down with the front brake...)

 

I thought that was the idea of getting a 4x4, you don't have to back back down a hill. All I can say is that my braking hasn't caused me any problems. If you don't want it thats your choice. It sounds like you might be happier with some other brand of quad. Good Luck