Wolverine 450 - need a softer ride after back surgery
 

Hello, I have an 09 Wolverine 450 and I love the machine. I use it for mostly trail riding so it is more than fast enough.

Question I have is that the suspension seems mighty stiff. I find as I ride I keep standing a bit to adsorb bumps rather than have my back adsorb the shock. The seat isn't padded much either. I had back surgery this year and am doing great, however, when I get back to riding I want to be extra careful. For those of you who have had back problems you know what I mean.

So it seems like the options are either a new rear shock, which is expensive, or new rear tires. Starting with the shock, a route I would rather not go because of the expense, I talked to someone at Works Shocks. They told me they could build one that had a 200lb spring which is less than the standard 250lb one. I am only 170lbs, but wonder if a spring that light would cause me to bottom out the shock alot. Anyways, if I can avoid the cost of the shock, all the better.

As far as the tires it has sporty low 23" tires. Some people have replaced the tires to get a softer ride. What tires would you reccomend? If so would I increase the diameter a bit to soften the ride? Could you do 24 of 25" tires without ruining the performance?

Please help me out with your advice if you can. Either way I won't stop riding, but if you can help make it more comfortable for me I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

As a follow-up I just takled to a local shop and they suggested putting 25" ITP Mud Lites on the machine. Any thoughts? Said they were light and would give a much nicer ride.

WHen I broke my back, I added weight to the rear rack to help soften the ride. It worked for me. Then when my back was better, I removed the weight. If you need alot of weight, then you may have to add some to the front to keep it from wheeling too much. A little less air pressure in the tires may help too!

The problem is that the ATV was rough and bouncy even before my back was bad! I guess the stock tires are super stiff. I did some searches and it seems like alot of folks solved the problem by putting on better/bigger tires. I may try the 25" Mud Lites as I did some searches and people reccomend them on this machine.