Why aren't the new 450R and YFZ450 aluminum framed with fuel injection??? I know the Cannondale had that but why won't one of the big Japanese companies step up??? I know the new 450's are great quads with engines based on their mx bikes. I was very supprised and disappointed to see that Honda didn't step up with at least an aluminum frame for the 450R. Did this happen because of price or are the aluminum frames just not up to the abuse that the average race quad will recieve?? It just bugs me that the technology is there and is only being openly researched for the dirt bikes and street bikes but not quads.

With Electronic Fuel Injection on the new Polaris 700, the Cannondale 440's and the Gas Gas 450 why isn't this on more quads? It is such a great feature on street bikes and other vehicles. It would only make sense that this is where everything is headed just like cars and trucks around the early 90's. Better fuel efficiency, throttle response, more reliable, and NO RE-JETTING!! This needs to happen soon, I would love to see another quad like the Cannondale only made from a big company that has the cash to push this into the mainstream.

Does anyone else feel that quad's are always the last to recieve the new technology, that isn't really new anymore??

Also I know that the mx bikes do not have EFI yet but it will be there in a few years. Honda is really getting the aluminum frames down. They are also the only manufacturer to have an mx bike with the aluminum frame, with all the other companies doing alot of R&D into the aluminum frames.

I didn't plan on writing an editorial, I just needed to see what you people think.

Thanks

 

The reason you still buy most chevy and ford crate engines with carburators is because there is less to go wrong in a carb. Racers have used carbs for 50 years, but only efi for the last 20 years. Its brand new on atvs, and cannondale had some problems with it. Gas gas is an exotic from another country. In spain these machines are made for on road transportation as well as off road. Thats why they come with all kinds of turn signals and mirrors and a horn. Imported machines just dont have them on from the factory. Polaris has only had efi for a few months now, so the reliability is unproven. Suzuki will have another efi utitlity in a few months. EFI is a good idea. AZSand just designed and is selling efi units for the bomb ds. Its just expensive to implement, especially when a new top of the line sport quad runs 7 grand anyway. Do you want to pay an extra 500-1000 for efi? If you do then you should have bought the 8k dollar cdale cannibal when it was out. EFI and its cost along with the aluminum frames and their cost drove the cdale bikes out of range for most enthusiasts to afford. Yamaha and honda are just trying to keep themselves from making the same mistake and being left with overstocks of expensive sport machines.

 

I understand where you are comming from but the bigger companies will be able to keep the prices down compared to Cannondale and others. They wouldn't make as much per machine but they would make more on sheer volume alone. Then if they didn't update the quads like they are doing now, they would end up making a bigger profit in the end. I know it will be more expensive but until a big company does it, it will remain expensive.

Maybe I am just having issues because I am stuck with the same quad I have had for over 5 years for the next few months.

I would have had a Speed 440 until the dealer told me that Cannondale was shutting down it's motorsports division.

I am just tired of atv enthusiasts getting stuck with old outdated designs. Like the 400EX, Raptor and others. They come out and they are great then year after year we usually get stuck with Bold New Graphics. While the dirt bike guys get enhancements year after year then a totally new design after 4 or 5 years. I know it is costly but I hope it happens soon.

With all the success that every manufacturer has had when they released a new sport quad in the last 5 years or so you would think that we would get more respect from the companies besides BNG or sometimes NOTHING AT ALL.

I am just having a hard time understanding why we get the shaft year after year.

 

If you think its bad right now, take a look back before 2001. All that was availible was the banshee, warrior and the 400ex. I wont complain that in the last 3 years we have seen more sport quads released than all prior models combined. Its a great time to be an enthusiast.

 

I know that is why I don't have a Raptor or something better than my 400EX. I really want a new one just waiting on a good reliable job. Then it's YFZ or DS650 time.

 

This is just the dawn of a new era for quads of all kinds, the technology is just now coming to a point where it is cost effective to implement on stock production quads. Cannondale was literally just a few years ahead of their times, maybe if they had just come out 5,6, or 7 years later then from when they had first come out with their sport quads they might still be around. Look at the snowmobile industry and what has happened in the last 15 years, it has been an explosion of technology and innovation, prior to 15 years ago sleds were only 2 strokes, carb, and mostly leaf spring skis on the front.......now look at sleds of today and see what a difference they are. Ten years from now I will look back and say how did I stand to ride that 400 lbs, 660 cc, solid axle weak machine......then I will go out to my garage and sit on my new 2014 Yamaha Raptor II that is only 325 lbs, EFI, 800 cc Vtwin with 50 rwhp stock, and has IRS that handles like a true sport quad.......[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-cool.gif[/img]

 

It is a good sign that manufacturers are starting to put efi on the big utes. From a manufacturers viewpoint, these bikes are the biggest $$$ makers and sell in larger numbers than sport quads(for now) It makes more sense to implement efi in these models first, then trickle down to others as the bugs get worked out.

 

Aluminum frames - cost - the Cannondale frame was only as strong as it was because it was like an 8 piece frame that was hand welded by the company that knows aluminum frames better than anyone in the world.

EFI - I love it on my Cannondale. Throttle response is unbelievable, tuning capability is always there with the laptop. No more jetting.


Why don't they step up? $$$$$$$$ - They can produce what they are selling now, YFZ and TRX, for way cheaper than you could produce a Cannondale. And they sell for almost the same as a Cannibal did. Tell me who is making $$$ here.

As long as they are as good as the competition, they don't have to have the radical, awesome, knarly technology. If the best bike is a steel frame with a carb, that is what people will buy, cause it is the best they can get. If Cannondale had been able to keep going for another couple years, this market would be way different. In 2005 Cannondale was hoping to have 50RWHP stock and weight in at under 350 pounds. They were working on a carbon fiber axle and a ton of other trick parts. That is the only pressure that would have changed the market. Yamaha, Honda, Suzuki, Kawi - for now - will continue slowly improving. If this is anything like the late 90's they will make these bikes and bail for 10 more years. We'll see.

 

Do those EFI quads use a MAP or MAF sensor or do they just use a TPS+engine speed map?

 

Hmmm...

Ours uses a engine map that controls timing and fuel, and a TPS. There is also a sensor that reads air pressure in the airbox and air temp. I don't know much more of how to explain it.