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COPYRIGHT 2004 Ehlert Publishing Group
This season, we know the score between Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki on the ITP/ATVA MX Nationals motocross tracks. Doug Gust is shredding the rest of the class--with six straight wins--on his Yoshimura-prepped Suzuki Z450. And Honda's Tim Farr has recovered from his team's earlier mishaps to take the No. 2 Pro ranking. Yamaha has a host of quads in the Pro-class top 10, including John Natalie, Jr., Kory Ellis--who has one National win--and Jeremiah Jones. The battle of the brands is in full effect, but the pros ride full-blown, high-dollar quads, some estimated in the $20,000 range. What about the average racer and those more financially strapped?
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The ATV community has begged for a shootout of these three quads and brands, but one without the Pro-class price. Thanks to K & K ATV and its industry partners, we designed a Battle of the Budget Racers just for you. Instead of letting K & K ATV work with an unlimited budget and have more than a month to build the quads, we set parameters on the shootout. K & K's Shawn Kirby agreed to build all three ATVs within a week, between MX Nationals no less, and stay within $300 of our predetermined budget of $12,000. That price included the cost of the quad.
Factoring in the MSRP, K & K had roughly $5,500 in parts to add to the Honda 450R ($6,499). The Suzuki, because it retails for $5,699, had the most spending room, with about $6,300 remaining. With a $6,899 MSRP, the Yamaha YFZ costs the most of these three ATVs and had the least to spend on hop-ups ($5,100).
THE PARTS GO ON
Because Kirby was faced with the daunting task of building three competitive race bikes on a budget, he had to make crucial decisions on which aftermarket parts should and should not be included in this shootout. Should the YFZ get engine mods? Does the Honda need a high-dollar front end? Should the Suzuki's main focus be on the engine?
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Handling, suspension, traction, power, torque and aesthetics all played a part in deciding what parts each quad would need. The other dilemma with building three quads in this short of time period is receiving the parts on time and then installing them. K & K had many of the parts in stock. All the vendors were on board, and everything came in on time...
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