First, I'm glad to hear that you're recovering well and would echo what Predator03 mentioned on the suspension adjustment. I don't think that most die-hard Sportsman fans would like to admit it; but the front end does and will come up on you if you don't lean WELL over the front end on inclines you might not have had problems with on other machines. It is not 'overly' light on the front end; but I think a lot of riders load incidental items on the BACK without putting as much or more on the front. I'll carry my flat pack w/gas and a 'slim-cooler' w/botlled water & ice on the front; just to say that I 'tried' to balance things out when the front end 'rears'. As we all know, the SP is a hard mount to 'throw' the other way when she decides to go off-kilter.

One thing I learned while down at Windrock on trail#18, near the top, with a big rock right in the middle of the trail. We were helping everybody over it as it was very tough (almost impossible) not to flip over backwards. Here comes my Sportsman (which I had lent out) 'roaring' up to the rock with my hard-composite (little 'bounce') run-flats and everybody darting out of the way. It takes some guts and if you 'flip', you do it in a hurry.........but horsepower and a steady throttle will blast you through some rough spots on an incline.

Best wishes on your recovery.

John

 

Hello Blackballed,

It's funny you mention Windrock. That's where we have learned just about everything we know. We ride with some pretty smart guys, and if you'll just listen, it really comes in handy. Actually, we learned about how and why they crashed, and just did the opposite.LOL.

We learned of the suspension adjustment from a guy who rides with us. He went from a Prairie 650 to a Sportsman 700. He did it cause the ride on the Prairie was killing him down in the rocks and steep declines at Windrock. He loved the ride of the 700, but the handling was terrible. He complained about it all the time. He finally decided to change the rear, up two clicks. WOW. He loves it now. It was quite a transformation. Now he raves about it. We changed all of our Sportsmans, and boy what a difference.

Riding at Windrock has taught us a lot about our machines and riding. You really need to know what you are doing there. Trail 18 is a good example of that. There are some other more difficult trails there, that will hurt you if you mess it up. We've come along way in our riding skills. Last weekend we rode with some new people there, I saw all the things they learned in the safety class, stuff we had learned a year before. It was scary to see them use those things down on that mountain. We did those things when we got there the first time. Thank GOD we had some guys to show us how to do it right. I'm not knocking the safety program, but it helps to be open minded. It helped us.

Any ways, there is always someone out there who has good advice. Listen to it, take it all in, and you will be the better for it.

Scott[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

Thanks for the advise on the rear shocks. Actually they are stiffened up a tad. I can't remember if I stiffened them one notch or two though. I made that adjustment as soon as i bought it, but more so because I liked the feel more. What you all are saying though, doe's make sense to me. The hill I attempted to climb was mabey a little to steep to begin with but the killer was probably that it got even a little steeper and a lot rougher about 6 to 8 feet from the top. In hindsight, I think that blackballed is closer to the cause in that even though my weight (230 lbs.) was forward, it obviously was probably not forward enough. I guess we live and learn. Sometimes the HARD way.

 

glad to hear ur on the road to recovery picky. can't imagine the 700 doin flips on me. keep ridin

 

I was wondering how hard it would be top flip such a big, heavy machine over backwards. I guess with enough power it would come right out from under a rider.

I hope you feel better soon. Get back into it slowly, don't rush it. Heal up good.