This is a question for anyone who know the mechanics behind how IRS works.

Some of the newer sport bikes are coming out with IRS. In the sand with straight paddles on my Raptor, the wheels always spin at exactly the same speed. This makes the bike track in a straight line. Great for doing hill climbs.

One of my buddies has the Outlaw. When he bought it the dealer recommended against straight paddle, due to the IRS would cause it not to track straight and v-paddles would help him keep it straight.

How does the IRS work when the tires start slipping in the sand? Will they lock solid and spin together? Will one wheel get more power than the other?

 

It is the extra traction and the IRS has better ground contact. If I was going straight paddles I would go with 6 or 7 paddles 8 for v-paddles

 

I don't know jack about paddles but have you ever seen a VW bug turned into a dune buggy ?
An IRS atv rear wheels work just like the German VW bug rear wheel drive suspention and that's how IRS work's on atv's !

I had a Jeep Pickup truck back in the mid 70's , and this little VW bug that was Totally stock followed me through some of the ruffest and swampiest ground i've ever been on ; and this little car with stock wheels and tire's followed me through a deep creek crossing with a very steep bank on the other side where there were no track's showing where a vehicle had ever been before !

This bank was so steep i had to back up and hit it three times for the huge mud grip tire's on the Jeep pickup to eat a set of track's into the bank , for my jeep to climb up it to the top of the bank ; and even then i had to go to high 4wd in second gear for the jeep pickup to climb up this bank without spinning the tire's it was that steep !

My cousin was riding with me and he kept telling me that D*m little car isn't going to make it , everytime we would go through deep mud and water ; but everytime we looked back there was that little bug following us !

Even i thought the bug wouldn't make it up the other side of the creek bank with only rear wheel drive , and there was no way it would've if i hadn't dug a set of tracks into the bank even if it had 4x4 ; but i still didn't think it would make it up the huge bank with those small tires and wheels and no 4x4 !

But after i got up the bank and stopped to see the bug still sitting on the oher side of the creek waiting , Man i thought for sure they wouldn't try it even though i knew it could make it through the deep creek with no problem ; but i took off over these trail's that ended at the deepest swamp i had ever seen that where i stopped !

I turned around and drove out another trail where we stopped to eat our lunch and take a break , while we were sitting there here come's this little VW bug with drit clogged in the front bumper ; they stopped and we talked to them awhile ; my cousin kept asking the driver how did you make it through all those bad spot's where we had to go to 4wd !

The guy just smiled and said German Engineering is what makes this bug go where no other 2x4 will go , and it also float's , kenneth my cousin told the guy i think i will buy one of those bugs if they can do what a 4x4 jeep can do ; the guy told us that this was the first time they were able to get up the bank before and that it was really all thank's to us for digging the track's for him to follow !

And as he was cleanging the dirt and mud from his front bumper , he said we had to get a running start at the bank where i made the track's ; that's why the dirt and mud is clogged to my front bumper !

After seeing how a stock bug would go through everything it did that day , i can see why VW bug turned into a dune buggy could go almost anywhere ; if you've ever seen someone put a VW on a lift you can see how the rear axle's collapse inward they do this to dig into the ground for the added traction in rutted out trail's and road's !

So just add 4x4 IRS to a VW dune buggy and it would be unstoppable , so the Germans had the technology for IRS first ; then the Japanese Company Suzuki used it when they started using it in their atvs !

So thats why IRS helps you go through mud and swamp's like they do , better than most any straight axle swingarm quad ; but weight make's alot of difference most IRS quads are utilitiy atv's and weigh more than a regular sport quad !

So a sport quad with IRS with as lite weight as possible will give you an advantage over a sport quad with the same or near the weight of a sport quad with the straight axle swingarm , mostly because of the ground clearance ; and the way IRS drive axles will invert them selves to dig into ground for better traction !

But as i stated at the start of this post , i don't know Jack about the type of tire's to use for sand dunning because it's to far to the beach in north ga. ; so i'll leave that to the guy's who know about riding in the sand ! ..............

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: CALDS650

It is the extra traction and the IRS has better ground contact. If I was going straight paddles I would go with 6 or 7 paddles 8 for v-paddles</end quote></div>

My buddy wishes he'd had done exactly what you stated. Stayed with straight paddles and went with fewer paddles.