As I stated in a previous thread I have rode dirt bikes for 25+ years and am fairly new to the ATV scene. What I dont understand is why none of the manufactures make a quad that has some real power? A lot of them use motorcycle based engines and detune them. It dont make sense to me to take a engine, put it on a machine that weighs 2 to 2 1/2 times more and detune it so it has less power. Any answers?

 

Yeah I know what you mean OhHEll. I've been riding dirtbikes since I was 7 and i'm now 21 looking to buy a new quad. I just don't understand why they detune them.

 

A small limiting factor is that quads; even sport quads drivetrains can't handle power quite as well as a single very easy to spin wheel on a dirtbike. A jolt of throttle that results in simple wheelspin on a dirtbike may tear the tranny gears out of the exact same setup in a shaft drive 4wd where nothing is gonna yeild. Hence when shoehorning bike motors directly into quads doesn't seem to work quite perfect. Putting a 20% smaller intake throughout is a heck of a lot easier than than a 30% tougher tranny.

 

I dont think atvs will ever be as fast as motorcycles until they start treating them like snowmobiles where they know they need a lot more power to move 'em fast!But on the other hand everyone i know around my house and my family has always loved motorcyles,but they like atvs even more!!!My neighbor who is 25 has raced since he was young on motorcycles and he is always raving about how much fun the 400 ex is and even with 2 people it has soo much power....Other converties iknow also find there quads just as fun and almost as powerful.......Does anyone know how the connondales do against say a 250 mx bike since they are not "detuned" like most atvs are stock??????????[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img]

 

I agree!

If some manufacturer would build a quad with 12" of suspension travel front and rear and be a nice stable machine, with about 65-80 hp stock, I would be in line to buy one now.

I dont think they will ever do it, but I can dream.

Bat

 

I don't get it either. But if you can file a lawsuit against cigarette manufacturers because you get cancer, or against Ruger because that's what some guy used to shoot your family memeber, I guess you can do the same to a company that builds a quad with lots of power. Hell, my friends 600 supersport puts out 100hp and the rear wheels, why can't my Raptor put out 75 HP, with some good torque numbers? Seems that they keep the aftermarket in business this way. Produce a quad with the right suspension, that is lightweight, and puts out 75HP, everyone would buy it, and the aftermarket would go away. It's just weird, my buddies dirtbike puts out way more power than my Raptor. He11, you'd think the 660 could easily be built to put out respectable HP numbers. For some reason it has to be upped to a 686 or 720 to do it. Pretty soon you will only be able to buy shoes that are a foot wide, because everytime someone trips and falls down, they could sue the **** out of Nike!

 

I was riding my buddys yz426 today, and I raced a raptor, I made the raptor look like a slug! We were on a dirtroad too. How come dirtbikes have 11,12,13" suspention front and rear STOCK while raptors ("high performance&quot have 8 and 9. If somebody would make a quad, that can stay with a 250cc dirtbike, have 12" suspention, and weighs less than 400lbs and still be reliable, hell, you can barely improve.

Note: a quad that can run with 250 2-stroke dirtbikes, but the quad is a 4-stroke.

 

<< I think it dates back to the law suit days of the 1980s. There is a certain &quot;implied skill&quot; required to ride a dirt bike, but any moron with a right thumb can ride a quad, or at least try to. Also, the &quot;redneck titer&quot; amongst ATVers seems to be a lot higher than amongst dirt bikers, just watch the 4x4 sections of any Huevos video if you don't believe me. Forest Gump had a saying for people like that, ... &quot;stupid is as stupid does&quot;. So if you put a moron on a fast quad he <u>will</u> get hurt, and I think the ATV manufacturers are still trying to limit their liability by limiting the performance of their products. It seems that each new sport ATV that comes out is just barely faster than the last best sport quad, instead of a whole lot faster, which could easily be done. The ATV manufacturers want to give us the absolute minimum they need to to get us to buy the new model, and no more.

I also raced the open expert class on dirt bikes before growing old and slowing down. After deciding to move to ATVs I couldn't believe the almost total lack of what I would consider to be real &quot;performance&quot;. Even the fastest ATVs are dog slow compared to a dirt bike, but that is ok for me, being an old fart and all. You young guns need to pressure the ATV manufacturers for some performance though ...

3TV >>




power to weight...........kids grow up on 2 wheels...I know I rode a bike when i was 4 not some 4 wheeled pedal car...its more natural to them....and if you put a moron on a dirtbike I guess he will become some big time star that will burn out and ride something totaly new and then bitch about how they do things....moral of this story is never get old...........sorry but I didnt buy stock in that one!!!!!!!!!