Hmmm, not fast revving? I clearly remember a guy that road one at the meeting stating that it revs very quickly and that riding it on the track was where is shined, saying that it soaked up bumps with ease and it was one of the best riding quads he has ridin, and that it was top of the line, but I guess you would know more than he would, he only rode it, and you saw it.

But i'm not going to say much of anything else until I ride one.

 

How do you figure that it will be a good woods quad? I hear the thing is as wide or wider than the DS650 and they market that as a Dunes quad. Wide is great for handling but bad on tight woods trails. The DS doesn't do well where I ride so how is this thing going to be any better? Just curious.

The hat is off to Polaris for going against the grain though.

Balzak
2003 Suzuki Z400
2000 Polaris 400 Scrambler 2x4 (more mods than I can count)
1998 Yamaha Warrior (some good mods)

 

Well, my guess......he got a little bit of "Oh my gosh, I'm riding a quad that hasn't been released yet!!!!!! OH YEAH!!!!LOOK AT MEEE!!!!" Just like the Dirt Wheel guys did over in Japan on the Z400.....

Just wait til you ride one, you'll see. The front end was diving after every take off, and he was 2 wheelin in the corners...pretty odd for such a wide quad, eh?


Power delivery and weight should make it a decent trail quad. The width is going to kill it for serious woods riding. Heck, I even had to shrink the stance of my Cannondale an inch to make it ridable in Harescrambles.
I think people are going to be dissapointed in the sand....

 

<< And drag race smag race.....I don't give a rats **** how fast the thing is in a straight line! I'm sick of hearing that. >>



jcv400ex,

Well, I certainly don't want a machine that's already slower than mine, that would be kind of a moot point. When you consider how expensive it is to modify a four stroke, plus the price of the machine and you're talking major bucks. I don't want a &quot;high performance&quot; machine with less engine &quot;performance&quot; than my &quot;utility machine&quot; (O.K. a &quot;utility unlimited&quot; machine, but utility none the less).

The diving on the front suspension (on jumps) could be because of the riders, or soft front suspension. I'm betting on the former. These guys I met and talked to weren't pros, just average trail riding guys. They weren't picked because of their AMA standings (I doubt if they race at all). You know how soft my front suspension is, yet I have no trouble with the nose diving on even the little jumps I do.

Yeah, I tried to talk to them about the 10&quot; rims. I told them that only Polaris would be dumb enough to go with them on a machine that is meant for cross country. Still with a good set of tires (Maxxis) that shouldn't be much of a problem. I didn't have a problem with mine Saturday in the &quot;rock garden&quot;, but then again I wasn't using 20&quot; tires either. You really do get more choices in a 9&quot; tire. The bolt patterns on the rear hubs look to be a lot like what the other manufacturers are using on their machines, rather than the lousy 4/4&quot; bolt pattern they are now using. Finding 9&quot; rims shouln't be much of a problem for it.

In short, I'll hold my judgement until I see one run with my own eyes. They seem to have the speed, quickness and handling needed to fulfill my needs, but I'm still leary of buying a first year machine (except Cannondale as they stand behind their products, small enough to care I guess).

 

jcv400ex,

Have you ridin one of them yet?

If not you can't judge it any more than we can.

 

Jcv400, C'dale is a really nice top-line racer, you gotta agree, that nothing out there matches it. The Predator is aimed at competing with Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki/Kawi. There was a seperate track that the factory testers were showing off on. This thing had a 5-6 footer at the end, the machine handled it perfectly...over, and over. Take a chance and give one a ride, I would bet you'll be pleasantly surprised. Keep an open mind, and you don't need to judge it against your C'dale. It will still be interesting as to how they run against each other. On the other hand, like I said earlier, I haven't been on a C'dale, so I don't want to be a hypocrite either.

The stock width is 47.5 inches, I could be wrong, but that's still quite a bit narrower than the DS.

When you look at the last few years, it's pretty cool to see the new &quot;more daring&quot; products coming out. The shootouts should be interesting.

Another note, the trans was silky smooooooth. Nicely geared to the engine. Kept trying to get the brakes to fade.....they just kept launching my nuts onto the tank....I'd like to say it was a good pain (Ice anyone).


Ken

 

<< I also don't like how they're marketing the quad.... >>


Whether you like it or not, it worked. Big time.

 

Gotta agree with Lurch. They pulled us all in with the &quot;carrot on a stick&quot;. Yesterday was a 100% turn-around from the Spring ATV Assoc of MN convention. When a Yuppy factory person (remain nameless) comments about how people had been &quot;cutting&quot; up Sports/Scramblers to modify them. It's called stating the obvious. We're doing this because you're not (weren't)making them like we wanted. He was one who even went as far as denying the 700 Sportsman coolant leak...c'mon. The powerful tool called the internet, with forums on everything you can imagine....don't you suppose problems get passed around. The Orlando show was filled with very down to earth, &quot;real&quot; quad people. There will always be the yups, but you will generally be able to weed them out when you offer them the keys. If 15.5:1 compression puts fear into their eyes, walk away. If the curiousity ignites as to how that pipe fits and where the powerband is, then you're talking to a real quad engineer. I've talked to a couple of them over the last couple of years, and it has truly been a pleasure. I was getting all set to start looking for areas to modify on the Predator. Products to develop and market. In one way, I'm kinda sad, they covered the bases. In another way, I'm still grinin' from my ride yesterday. These are all just first impressions, a real trail work-over will really tell the whole story. But for now, the star of the north is a 600watt 757 landing light bearing down on you. As the song says, &quot;Here comes the BOOM!!!!&quot;. Wow, sorry about getting off on a tangent.

Ken.....Aircraft techs like our titanium, AND PREDATORS!!!!!!!

 

No i haven't ridden one yet, this was based on what I observed. I just do not like Suzuki and now Polaris undercutting themselves, to sell quads. With a low MSRP, and all the technology, somewhere corners where cut. I just hope it wasn't quality. I do not see how they could build such high performance quads, and sell them for so cheap. I'm not going to compare the Predator to my Dale either.

And no, I don't care for Polaris.....BUT I do have an open mind here. I can't wait until we're past the hype and into the meat of things. The rider didn't appear to be a pro rider on the quad, but he was running his mouth earlier about clearing 65 foot doubles on it and smoking all the sport quads they had there at the test track.
And I can't wait until it is in a shootout in Dirt Wheels. Yeah, you can say what you wanna say about them, but they always post the numbers...and numbers don't lie. The Cannibal obviously beat the Z400 in every aspect, other than price, but they're &quot;heart&quot; was still with Suzuki. But all the numbers that I wanted to see, where there. THe same will happen with the Predator.

So, my whole point: My opinions are based on what I SAW. And DON'T Believe the hype....find out for yourself!

 

Fair enough JCV, good constructive comments. All I gotta say is LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!!!! Can I ride, Can I huh!!!! Sometimes the Auggie Doggie comes out.

Ken....already built the Predator cage, now I'm not sure if it will hold. Modquad II on it's way. Igor start the generator!!!!