There's no doubt this thing looks as good or better than the Vinson and the extra 200cc will surely get you there faster than the old 500. Ant everyone knows that going EFI is the way of the future.

I have a few questions though:

1. Why go to a single cylinder when the V twin is so nice without the vibration?

2. Why stay with 700cc when Kawaski went 750cc with their "Brute Force" which has a top speed of 109mph or something crazy like that?

3. I've never rode a machine with IRS but they look a little tipsy to me...not sure which is better?

Does anyone know when these will hit the dealers? I think I'll stay with my Vinson for now until I see the reviews & shootouts before thinking of upgrading. My Vinson has done no wrong but I would like a little extra power.

 

The King Quad has some sort of beefy sway bar in the back, which should control body roll to a degree, unfortunately the rear is the opposite end for a sway bar to give you good handling. From my days with VWs (Rabbits, Golfs, Sciroccos), when you have a lack of front sway control, you get rear tire lifting on corners, wacky over-steer, and a weird 'feel'.
I'm not excited about IRS, either, but do you hear a lot about old King Quads breaking axles? I havn't been paying attention to that. Seems to me they were pretty reliable.
Vibration? Maybe, unless Suzuki put counterbalancing in that actually works. Then you'll have a high reciprocating mass, but that will help with torque.... SO, again, it's all about tradeoffs.
Suzuki isn't a farm full of idiots, so they must have thought through all these issues. Let's just SEE what it's like before we get all upset about things. Hopefully they've built a winner. I know it LOOKS like one!

 

The only thing that saved thee old King Quads from not busting axles left and right was the power, or should I say lack of power. The motor was gutless and the CV angles were not extreme like the new quads. I would wait one year before buying any new IRS quad to see how strong they are. I bought a 500i when they first came out, that was a big mistake. Now I got my invincible praire.

 

Yeah, but the A Cats always had problems with the CVs. Does the Yamaha and Polaris? Who else uses them in the rear? Oh yeah, Bomb. Do they have breakage problems all the time?

 

IRS is really the only thing I'm worried about. But then again I have never rode one. Have any of you rode or ever had a machine with IRS? If so how did if feel and did you like it?

 

Yamaha has many problems with their CVs and IRS. So does Polaris and everyone who has 12" of GC and a big motor. Bomb uses solid rear axles on their big bores and only Rally has IRS and it doesn't have extreme power and clearance.

Sharp angles of CVs + enough power = snapped CVs. Thats the way it is. They can't make them strong enough. If you want ground clearance you get the hassles that come with it.

 

The Bombardier Outlander has IRS.
It's just a 400, though.
It's also the ugliest quad ever.

 

hehe, I meant to say outlander.

 

Seems like everyone agrees that the KQ looks great.

I used to have a 2000 KQ with a jet kit, SuperTrapp, and K&N. It was no rabbit, but with the mods it could keep up with any 300 cc (280 actually) utility quad. And you just had to love the shifters and locking diff. If it would have had a few more inches of suspension travel, I'd still have it. No CV joint problems.

IRS is a softer ride in the rough stuff; no doubt about it. And I think everyone agrees it's not as 'sporty' as a solid rear axle. But you can still power slide an IRS machine. I guess it all depends on the type of riding you do.

My nit pick on the new KQ is the racks and wheels. The rear rack has no vertical stop bars. And the wheels are butt ugly. In my mind I'm trying to visualize a set of ITP Baja T9s on there.

In the Kawi forum, there are a few gripes about the Brute Force 750 not having EFI. Here's a scenario. Next year (model year 2006), the BF gets the Suzuki EFI system installed, and Suzuki gets the EFI Brute Force. Something to think about. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I think I'll wait and see how the KQ does before I trade in my Vinson for one.

Just my .02.

Mark

 

I'd definitely wait for the second year production... even with that vaunted Vinson, there were bugs that got worked out in the second and third years. The Eiger, too.

I also noticed that the rear rack on the new KQ has no vertical bar. That's pretty lame. WTF were they thinking not to run the 'box' 3/4 of the way around the rack like on all the most popular A/Market systems?

Oh well, not even Suzuki is perfect.