While riding my 03 SP600 through the snow on some local trails and lakes I noticed that when riding off camber and over 45+mph on trails my rear end would tend to steer the front making the ride feel less confident. Riding my friends new Kawi pr650 I felt way more confident going fast even though I felt every bump. I'm guessing the weight of the rear end on mine gets some momentum when sliding. Anyone else running into this and have any cures?

Thanks
John

BTW: When jumping the heavy IRS makes for graceful flights and landings.

 

Thats because the sportsman is a true locked 4x4. Fully locked rears will tend to steer different. Sometimes opposite than you want to go. The 650 is not fully locked so you dont get that feeling. Even my fully locked 4x4 offroad truck does the same thing.

 

I noticed something similar to what you described, riding off camber (sidehill) in about 6 inches of snow, what I discovered is it was because the AWD only engages when it senses wheelspin. I hate that. I could go along about 15 -20 mph, then the snow would start to slow me down. When I started to apply throttle the wheels would want to spin, re-engaging the 4 wheel drive. So then I had to give it more throttle, get back up to speed only to have the damn AWD go back into 2wd mode! I had forgotten how much that pissed me off, going several miles on a highway embankment like that. In 2wd it would spin and want to kick out downhill, but the 4wd only worked until I let off and tried to cruise at a steady speed. I would much rather have 2wd and 4wd, not this AWD crap. My wifes new Chevy Trailblazer is the same way, only it has 2hi,AWD, 4hi and 4lo. The AWD is useless, you have to use 4hi in snow or sleet. I don't think AWD belongs on an atv. It isn't really AWD, it's whatever wheels the machine THINKS you need, not ALL, as it would suggest. That's the only circumstance where I had that happen on my Sportsman, though. For regular trail riding and mudding it acts like 4wd.

 

What do you mean you felt every bump John??? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] That is there to keep you awake... LOL

Interesting about the fully locked rear. I will have to check on that for my Kawi650.

Next time try to keep up with me, even over the bumps... [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]