I have a Suzuki Ozark and my family is planning a trip to Jack Frost Mt. in PA for this weekend. I was wondering if it was safe for me to take my Ozark on their ATV tracks? I don't see many utility ATV's doing jumps or even riding on the tracks, so does jumping harm them somehow? I am a newbie at this sport so the only thing I can think of would be bottoming out the suspension. May seem like a dumb question, but I always wondered. Also, if anyone is going there I will be in a black Ford F-150.

Thanks,
Jim

 

I jumped my Ozark over a 4 foot high jump and upon sticking a perfect 4 wheel landing decided that was the last time I would do that! I weigh 235 or so and I did bottom out the suspension. My knees and forearms hurt for several days! The Ozark was OK. At my age {44 at the time} I shoulda known better! I now ride a Z-400 and while it is capable of such jumps and much more, I'll leave that kind of stuff to the younger guys!!
If you wanna jump, get a sport quad!!

 

I would have got a sport quad in the first place but the only thing I could afford was a Blaster and I wanted a four-stroke. I'm only 15 and my body can take the abuse of hard landings but I am more worried about how the quad will hold up?

 

If you are going to sport ride a 250 class utility you have the best one to do it with. The Ozark will outperform all the others in its class and some folks who have spent time on both say the Ozark will outperform even the 250EX. Suspension travel and a higher weight are the usual hold backs to utility quads ridden like a sport quad. You'll notice the Z-250 weighs 40 lbs less and has a 1/2 or so more suspension travel than its sister quad Ozark. Having ridden both now i can say it makes a difference!

 

Thanks for all the info bobcat, and nice website, but will jumping the Ozark hurt the machine at all?

 

Depends on how big you go. The Ozarks shocks and suspension are not made to jump a lot. Jumping will wear out the quads components MUCH faster than normal riding. Be careful, jumping while loads of fun can be dangerous.

 

Hybrid,

Good to see a 15 year-old with such good grammar and writing skills! I'm impressed. We see lots of guys on here with poor English, and it is refreshing to see someone your age taking pride in his presentation. Have fun on the Ozark. It is a great little machine. My buddy has one and it is very nice, but you might want to stay away from the motocross jumps. The Ozark was made for trail riding, not getting air. You could bend things if you get too crazy.

Happy trails!

 

Thank you for the compliment. I am not sure of this but I did not mean I was going to jump 50 foot doubles. Sorry if it came off that way. I did mean some small table-tops maybe 4-5 feet high and about 10 feet from the take-off to landing. The Ozark would be landing on a downhill slope so that would absorb some of the thud when I land but I just wanted to make sure that I was not hurting the ATV in any way. Thanks for your replies.

Jim

 

try here my brother has an ozark and rides it preety hard. small jumps seem ok. look under friends.

quad pics

 

ya i would definetly stay away from those big jumps on an ozark because once i got about 5 feet off the ground with one and it bent the chassis slightly and busted a left front suspension so definetly stay away from those big ones