The lawsuits and all that were mostly over the trikes. I don't recall any one reason being given for the 500's demise, although I am sure it
has a lot to do with our litigious society and the whole atmosphere surrounding atvs back then. Also, Suzuki didn't have a 500cc mx bike. With the reliability problems the zilla had, they may not have had the $$ to fix the bugs(being a low production model) BTW, hp was around 50 stock and in a very mild state of tune at that.

 

You are on CRACK!! I am on my 3rd Zilla and have picked up a few bits of info concerning this quad. Not least of which is its stock HP rating, which is less than half of 100hp. A GOOD running stock 87 would be lucky to lay down 50 or so hp, but most of them are in the mid-40isn. Good lord I really wonder about some of you. Also, Suzuki did NOT stop making the Zilla because people were getting hurt due to the power, if that were the case, how do you explain the existance of modern streetbikes such as the Busa, GSXR1K, ZX10, ect. The Zilla, however awesome in its own right, was not a hot seller, and was costly to produce, this was also about the same time that the LT250, 250r,and the Tecate went the way of the Dodo. If Zillas sold like 400EXs when they first came out, trust me, they would still be made.




Im still in awe about the "100hp stock" statement, quit concerning yourself with how many thousands your "nozzle" is turned out, put down the DIRT WHEELS, and get outside and get some real-world experience.

 

Yeah I love the 500 as much as the next guy but a 100 HP? 40'-50's is more of the real world numbers. Yes I believe cost of the 500 was an issue too. Atv's are bigger than ever now, but back then they were still new to people and were unknown to many. If they made a modern version of it today(new motor design,suspension and frame) I'm sure it would be a hot seller for those who could afford it as you could bet that it wouldn't be cheap. Damn greedy companies.! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-frown.gif[/img]

 

I think somewhere in '89 when I was debating on the LT250 {NEW} and the LT250S{NEW}
I vaguely remember the guy I was doing all my buisness with{ told me during my decision}
that Suzuki was pulling the plug on the LT250 - LT500R'S because they were getting sued left
& right do to* injuries*. People were getting hurt having FUN and had the ***** enough
to sue Suzuki for their injuries. It wasn't a manufacturing decision of them being crappy or
anything else..they were just being singled out and pressured because of the injuries that
were happening.
If someone REALLY wanted to know why, and instead of having a DEBATE about it they
could very easily write to Suzuki and ask this very same question and get a VERY straight answer.
Instead of asking us, and when we reply to it, that you tell us we're wrong for our response.
WRITE SUZUKI & ASK!!!!

 

Yeah, I'm sure that someone over at Suzuki is going to take time out pf their schedule to tell you why they quit making a quad over a decade ago. They weren't making enough profit margin for them to continue making it.

 

my stock zilla was laying down 47.5 hp at the wheels,

they are known to produce around 50 hp stock and go around 80 mph,

it is said that the prototypes were hitting 100mph, and the engines were choked up and de tuned to reduce the production models to the stated 80mph


i would immagine its demise had everything to do with what scooter 86 said,

with all the bad publicity about atc/v's at the time it wasnt realy apropriate to be producing a quad like the zilla.


ive also wondered if it had anything to with the other manufacturers not producing a bike to compete with it and no race class being formed.

 

Bullsh!t aside it is an interesting question. I figure the 500 went away because of the consent decree. Suzuki turned out Quadracer 500's from '87 to '90. They kept making Quadracer 250's until '92. Back then the racing scene had really died away. I can recall going into showrooms (in Alaska) and seeing quite a few Quadracers. I don't think they were selling because of all the bad publicity and the concent decree. Suzuki probably couldn't market the quads the way they needed to and the public lost interest. Back then all the sport quads were dieing out. The 250R was gone in '89, the Tecate 4 in '88, the 250X went away in '88, came back in '90, disapeared again, back again in '92, and then became the 300EX. Only Yamaha had the gumption to stick it out and kept producing their sport quads non-stop.

What is weird is that Suzuki was continually refining the Quadracer line-up all through production while Yamaha just kept producing the same thing. I have a feeling that the bean counters killed off the Quadracer for fear of liability lawsuits as Suzuki was under attack from the bogus Consumer Reports article on the Samurai all around the same time.

 

Excuse me but who died and made you king of all knowledge. I don't own a quadzilla and the source that I read that from said 83 horse power out of the crate. Can't remember where it was but thats where I derived my almost "100" horse stock. All in all its rather childish that instead of contributing to this forum you'd rather assasinate ones character throwing up your amazing level of "knowledge" in their faces. I am not on "crack"...I don't fiddle with my air screw all day and I probably know just as much about you do with all of your years of experience with quads/dirtbikes etc etc. And you cant compare motorcycles to atvs motor/power wise. They are in a totally different environment...(no jumps, whoops, ruts to catch you off balance) Different gearing also. Companies would not just stop producing a machine for any simple reason...theres most likely a number of them in this case. No uptrending in sales, lawsuits for both people being hurt (who really shouldnt have been sold a bike of that magnitude in the first place), more appealing competition, company revenue has comped down (coincides with no uptrends in sales)...and the sole fact that people probably heard nothing but things like that bike is a death trap...so and so was hurt on one etc etc. I'd say a small reason which probably has no relevance to this situation but could would be that they had defects/flaws they paid millions to fix which hurt them.

-Mike

 

didn't they have head bolt issues and vibrate a lot? seems i heard they popped head gaskets a lot.

 

The only thing in this thread that's for sure, is that StangGTMx likes men. Doesn't anyone but me think that's a little disturbing?