Heh heh, when I first bought my 87 500r earlier this spring, me and my friends were out at the pit playing around. My wheeler had dry rotted tires so bad I had to run the back two flat(a 3 inch rip will cause that, ya know), while testing the new machine, the rear grab bar fell off and went flyin into the woods(found it later), there was no latch to hold the seat on, the rear fenders were held on by the seat, and the seat was held on by me. The front fenders were non-existent so I wire tied The radiator shroud on. If I ever got laughed at so hard, I can't remember when. Any how, my friend on the piped raptor headed towards the bowl to conquer, and I took off after him(dangling muffler and all-thanks to lost grab bar)and BLEW by him climbing the bowl. He said later(when he'd finally talk to me again) all he heard was a braaaapppp and saw two huge rooster tails and he didn't know what the hell was goin' on......I told him to wait and see what it'll do when I get done w/ it...but I'll have to say, anyone who rides a Zilla and then rides a Raptor after will have to admit the suzuki makes the raptor feel absolutely GUTLESS!!!

 

I don't think any machine handles better than another. What I think is that a person gets used to a certain type of machine and thinks his handles great. Do you know how when you get on a friends quad (maybe even the same model) and it just doesn't feel the same? And you feel like you really can't do everything that you can on your quad?

If you have had your Qzilla or LT250 for a long time you can become extremely good at racing and whatever. A lot of it is just skill.

This is even coming from a Honda guy whose 250R's and 400EX's are claimed to be the "best handling atvs".

To every man/woman their own.

 

hylton i agree 100 percent

 

hehe my story is almost the same as fasternu! haha

i picked up my 87 and took it down to the local pine forrest. the bike had ripped fenders, totally bald tyres, and well real dirty. it took me about 1 and a half hours to get it fired as well haha. but everyone shut up when it started......l let it warm up then left two huge roosters down the main road. i came back, did two 360's, pointed it down the next track and hit the gas, the dirty old bald tyres grabbed and threw the front tyres in the air! haha...all the raptor a banshee boys just stood there with there mouths open hehe. one slight problem, i stalled it about 500m from my car and it wouldnt start, so all the raptor and banshee boys had a rye smile on there face when i pushed my bike outa the pines hehe. but ill have my revenge.

My bike is getting the full service. I have the engine at a motorcycle shop for a complete check and also gearbox repairs, ive stripped the chassis down to the metal and resprayed it crystal silver, with three layers of clearcoat, the a-arms, rear grab bar, brake lever, and foot pegs are off to the chrome shop. And all the other parts are either polished or sprayed gloss black. At the moment its sitting on a milk crate, just the silver chassis, and the steering column with a new set of renthals and grips on it. next is new bearings for the swing arm and a arms, reassemble the a arms, and hopefully ill get my engine back so i can continue with puttin it back together. Im looking at putting on a Paul Turner or an LRD pipe as well. Also im looking at a set of kenda dominators or itp holeshots xc's on the brand new douglas rims that came with the bike. They have paddles on them at the moment so i might take it up the dunes but i think i go where the real men ride hehe.....Beleive me, this is a mean arsed quad. Ill have pics available when its done [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I think I have an even better story than you two.

A couple of years ago I told a friend of mine I was looking for an used quad to buy to try and keep up with my buddies on their 400EXs and 350Xs. I had rode both of these machines and knew I would need something impressive for the 350X like a Banshee or a decked out 250R. A couple of weeks went by without too much luck finding anything when this same buddy told me he had a cousin who wanted to sell a Quadzilla. I said "What the hell is that?" To which he said he didn't really know, but did I want to go look? I asked how much he wanted for it and he said that his cousin was asking $500.00. Needless to say we went to look.

When we got over to his cousin's house, a 50 mile trip by the way, I found this absolute hunk of sh#t sitting in the corner of the yard. It looked bad, real bad. It was all faded with half of the rears riveted back on with angle iron braces, a veritable Frankenstein. The motor was shot and the tranny was busted. I asked him how many people were killed in that accident and tried unsuccessfully to jew him down. He said it was the fastest thing ever built, nothing could touch it, blah blah blah. I was totally uninterested but gave it a couple of test kicks just for the hell of it. It fired up and something in the back of my mind said "Oh, yeah". Anyway, as it was a long trip and I hadn't found anything else, I bought it and was sick with second guessing all the way home. When my wife saw it, I thought I was going to have to sleep outside for the rest of my life.

A couple of months and several hundred dollars later, I had just begun to revive the thing. New plastic, motor and tranny, chain and grips, so forth and so on. The thing was finally ready to leave the driveway after 2-3 months. I hopped on the bike, rode it down the street a little ways without really opening her up for about 2 miles when it quit on me. Wouldn't you know it, right about this time all my Honda buddies came riding up and laughed like hyenas and totally dissed my bike. They had all been having a lot of fun with me for the past few months for buying this piece of crap and now they were all falling out in the road with the sight of me pushing my 'Zilla back to base. I had gotten what I deserved, they said.

Being good friends that they were they pulled me back to the house and went to bragging to each other about who had the fastest quad. They were focused on each other, discussing their Wiseco pistons and Cobra pipes and left me to dig around under my plastic to find my problem. After a minute or two the two 350X boys were ready to drag out in front of the house and see who was top dog. At this time, I discovered a disconnected black wire and plugged it back in. I kicked the old 'Zilla and it roared to life like the fire-breathing monster it was, everyone fell silent with a sense of foreboding hanging in the air. I was still putting my plastic back and could hear some serious whispering behind me when one of them caught me smiling. He said "What are you smiling about? You think that piece of sh#t will make it out of the yard?" I only shrugged and said let's ride.

We left the yard and rode down the street about a mile to an area with a few hills and we messed around down there for about an hour. My shifter worked its way loose so I had to sit and watch most of the action. On the way home, I was in the lead fully knowing that I was being set up for an all Honda beating. I pulled over and looked back to see where everyone one was and that's when they all blew past me racing for the house. I had to reach down and shift with my hand while trying to drive at the same time, too. About 100 yards in front of me the two guys on 350Xs were looking at each other, neither being faster than the other they were side by side. They never saw me coming. I blew right between them like Moses parting the Red Sea. I was at least 25 miles an hour faster than they were and reeled them in giving up a top gear head start. I was way ahead of everyone when I got home and made a point of washing my bike before they got there. I asked them "What took you so long?" They asked me "How many gears does that thing have?" I told them 5, but couldn't be sure which one I was in because I was having to do all my shifting by hand. Now that I have the thing tightened back up, could we race again so I wouldn't be handicapped and could reach top speed. They said "Hell no, we've messed around enough today and now we have to go home. See you later". I almost felt sorry for what I had done to their little Honda egos but not quite. Incidentally they all sold their 350Xs right after this happened.

 

High 5, Slinger, high 5[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]!! When my old lady seen my treasure for the first time, she was PI$$ED!!! After all the excitement me and my friend shared on the way to get it, she was expecting a little more than this. But after chatting at work w/ some guys there about ATV's, she knew I had something awesome when all the guys there started talkin about and wanted to see it and take it for a test ride when she mentioned what I just dragged home. After a guy there said it was like finding an old Corvette Stingray that needed some TLC, she started to understand what this wheeler was all about(she loves old vettes). So now she can't wait till I get it restored and really flex some late-80's 2 stroke muscle in the presence of all these new "Hi-Po 4 strokes".....

 

Amen.





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