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COPYRIGHT 2005 Ehlert Publishing Group
With ATV racing and high-performance four-strokes in high demand these days, we decided to do a shootout that pit some of today's hottest thumpers against each other on the track and the trail. We, like many of you, wanted to know which current 450cc to 500cc four stroke is the most desirable in terms of its recreational abilities and its motocross skills. We set aside two days at our annual ATV Trials event in Southern California. Round 1 was held on the highly challenging and diverse Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area trails near Gorman, Calif. For the second day of testing, Round 2, we forgot all about recreation and trail speeds and focused on performance and handling on an MX track. We put these quads through their paces on the redesigned 1.5 MX Park located in Quail Canyon in the Hungry Valley SVRA.
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Our shootout gave us a better understanding of which of these quads has the biggest bite of the bunch. Along with our seat-of-the-pants testing, we also compared these quads' weights, acceleration times, exhaust decibel levels and more. We feel our search for the big dog is complete. Now that we've found him, we should let him eat.
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DAY 1 Trail Test
The trails at Hungry Valley offered ideal feedback as to which machine was best suited for recreational riding. Recreational riding means something different for every rider. One test rider might view it as riding at 3/4-throttle while another test rider may say a recreational ride requires a more aggressive, face-paced ride. Whether it's carving through the sand washes, climbing grooved and rutted hills, pounding through knee-high whoops or railing around sharp corners, these trails are as diverse as they come, no matter what speed they are ridden. This area doesn't have a lot of tree-lined corridors, but there are enough narrow trails and washes--lined with ruts and rocks--to represent the eastern U.S. trails.
For recreational cruises, our group of test riders had difficulty choosing between the Honda 450R, Polaris Predator and Yamaha YFZ450. The ATK was least liked for trail riding by our test riders. As we picked up the pace and the speed increased, however, the YFZ became the overall favorite for most of test riders. The largest test rider felt more confident riding aggressively on the 450R, however. The Predator offered one of the best rides for slow- to medium-paced rides and could handle high speeds adequately.
4 450 VR
Most of our test riders viewed the ATK's overall power as good and thought it was a fun ride, but it was rated last in this category. While it had plenty of arm-yanking torque, it was too much for a normal trail ride.
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When ordinary trail riding became trail racing, the ATK was more exciting. Maybe that's why ATKs are more popular for the GNCC racing circuit. Our test riders said the ATK needed to be continually revved in order to maintain optimal power. This often led to testers riding faster than they had originally wanted to. The ATK's top end was very impressive and an improvement compared to the old Cannondale.
Many of the test riders said the Kenda Klaw rear tires were too slippery for the desert hardpack. While these tires made powerslides simple, they also over slid more than any other tire. However, ATK says other tire options and wheel sizes are available for its ATVs.
We liked the ergos (seat, positioning, stance) on the ATK, although it produced a unique feel compared to the other quads. The thumb throttle was stiff and had the smallest surface area in the test group. The Pro Taper handlebar bend was well received.
Our test ATK was fitted with an optional Ohlins suspension that definitely improved its handling and the HMF exhaust, though loud, gave it that big-thumper sound.
Like the Cannondale it was derived from, the ATK...
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