The only times I have had the chance to head out have been with my wife or brother riding our SP335. As any other SP335 owner knows top speed on these thing are 42 and 45 mph. So sport riding on long open trails is not going to happen.

Wednesday I was able to take a spin on the Predator alone to see what this machine could do. I can’t believe this much fun isn’t illegal and wonder why I hadn’t tried this sooner!

Too many times magazines and non-owners have said the Predator can not loft the wheels. I can now say it does it with ease and scared the crap out of myself when I was flying down the trail, shifted into third, and nailed the throttle. This resulted in the front end coming up and startled me because I wasn’t expecting it. The rest of the trail had more snow on it so it just spun before and after this time.

The only problem I have had is how the Predator makes you feel too confident with it’s cornering. At one point I came out of a corner too fast into some deeper snow and lost it, which almost ended up with me catching a tree between the front and rear tire on my leg. I dropped a foot down as I was bleeding off speed to help stop and came up with just less than 6 inches to spare. If I hadn’t dropped my foot, I would have been quite sore. Whew! I could have given it more gas and missed that tree but there were more waiting for me if I would have did that.  About a 1 foot infront and off to the right was a 4 x 4 post that also could have did some damage. I think I made the right choice. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-tongue.gif[/img]

Towards the end of the ride I saw another ATV in the distance and closed in expecting it to be someone I knew. Instead I come screaming up behind two younger kids looking a bit nervous who decided to take off. I slowed down and let them run because I was not going to encourage racing with a passenger. I just hope I didn’t scare them and will apologize next time they are out. I believe it’s the same ATV that visit two houses down the road all the time. Hmmm… wait as minuet that may have been the same ATV that was power sliding in my driveway last summer ripping it up!! Grrrrrr.

Now what I need to do is find out how I need to set the suspension so it will soak up some of the terrain instead of bouncing around under acceleration. I also can’t wait to get used to shifting so I can do it smoother running through the twisty trails shifting up and down.

At this time I’m still amazed at the power this 500 puts out and have yet to give it full throttle but I have been close! The Predator is still more then I ever hoped for in my first sport ATV!

To those of you who don’t have to work today, GET OUT AND ENJOY YOUR MACHINE! Don’t forget to have a little extra fun for me!!!

Have a great weekend!!!!

 

Add on nerfs for those tree encounters, and get yourself a set of the front rezzi's, you won't believe it's the same machine.