I have a raptor that I can take places that I wouldnt dare take my dads grizz. The big quads are just roll overs waiting to happen. Id say to go with the new Yam 450 wolverine If you want the 4x4. If 2x4 then Id recommend a semi sport bike with reverse.

 

Yeah, but i bet your dads grizz will go alot of places your raptor would never dream of going.

 

yea, i got stuck behind a string of atvs last year on a medium hard trail and at every obstacle all of the guys in that bunch had to hop off their 4-wheelers and go help the sport quad over it.

monty

 

The way I see the 2wd vs 4wd debate is that the 2wd quad does not have to carry around the extra 150-300 pounds of weight required for 4wd. Assuming clearance is not the problem, I figure the 4wd quad requires 4wd to get to the places that a 2wd quad can go... just to compensate for its extra weight.

However, that is not to say that the 2wd quad can go everywhere a 4wd quad can go. Also, I think some 2wd quads are better than others for these trails. For instance a YFZ450 is terrible for slow, goat trails that a 250 Trailblazer is at home on. So far, we have yet to find a Michigan trail that we could not negotiate with our 2wd quads. That includes the notorious Kalkaska north trail. Although, I admit we skirt the deep mud holes.

The only place I thought 4wd might be helpful, was the scramble area at Black Lake. This has the steepest hills we have seen so far in Michigan. This was an old ski resort, so the hills are very steep. Some of the hills are gravel so it was easy to break traction with rear wheels only. More speed (more HP) would have gotten me up these hills. But then again, 4wd in a low CG quad would also have done it. I was unnerved with our quads going up these hills, and a 700 pound quad that sat even higher probably would have made me even more uneasy. I suspect these quads would have flipped over backwards. My wife would not attempt the steepest hills and I backed down from one of them and stayed away from its nearby brothers.

 

I figure the 4wd quad requires 4wd to get to the places that a 2wd quad can go... just to compensate for its extra weight.
>>>>>>>>>

Yeah, like MUD and WATER. I've already had to help my buddy get his YFZ across a few creeks and I wouldn't dream of riding one of those through deep mud, not in a million years.

 

And here we have a problem I have encountered with sport quads being used on many trails. Due to their not being very good at negotiating through the woods and over obstacles they need to rely on wheel speed and power. Also with all of that rear wheel horsepower and torque on tap you have a lot of roosting and wheel spinning. Hey, it's hard not to. That's what sport quads are for. What all this means is that they as a general rule will tear up the trail much worse than a 4x4 atv which does not require all of that wheels spin to negotiate an obstacle or section of trail. I know I don't allow sport quads on my trails on my farm. I can take a 4x4 utility ATV through my trails and you can hardly tell I've been there. I ride a sport quad through those same trails, even riding quite tame, and they show damage. That's just the nature of the beast. Add to that the noise factor and it can really cause all sorts of unintended consequences.

You get a bunch of sport quad riders riding aggressively - especially doing hill climbs - and they can do enormous amounts of damage. I've seen it happen. I saw a riding/hunting/fishing/camping area of hundreds of acres we worked for years to develop get closed down because of it.

I think it is a case where it is just the wrong tool for the job. Sport quads have their place but too many times they're being used in the wrong places to the detriment of everyone else.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] N E X T [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

Ok so maybe a sport bike wont make it thru deep mud. Most people quit playing in the mud after theyre 12. And If your buddy grew some *****, you all would not need to be stoping and helping him out.

 

nobody is really thinking a sport quad is gonna do best for this guy. lets get real here. a few loose rocks on the trail and that's the end of it. i live in the Northern Rockies, and our regular trails usually start at 5,000' or 6000' and go to about 10,000'. the sport quads just can't do it. all it takes is one big rock to straddle or a slick log across the trail. they are fun and fast, but not good here.

monty

 

Most people stop playing with training wheels when they are kids too, what happened to you??