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COPYRIGHT 2005 Ehlert Publishing Group
Suzuki is a company of firsts. The first four-wheeler, the first performance four-wheeler and the largest displacement mass-produced two-stroke ATV ever. True, the period from 1992 until 2003 was pretty bleak and Suzuki had nothing even resembling a sport or performance quad. But in the mid 1980s, the Japanese giant was unstoppable.
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The very first four-wheeler, Suzuki's LT125, wasn't really much of a performer. Mainly something for a beginner or a kid. For real performance, you hopped aboard a three-wheeler like Honda's ATC250R. Until 1984, that was the machine to beat. Then, Suzuki turned the ATV world upside down.
LT250R: The First Performance Quad!
In its March, 1985 issue, 3Wheeling Magazine (which also covered four-wheelers) tested the new LT250R QuadRacer and wrote, "We praise Suzuki for having the guts to come out with a four-wheeler in a very three-wheeled market. It's the easiest-to-ride 250 two-stroke ever. Starting, shifting, body positioning, steering, braking and, above all, sliding, are excellent. The new QuadRacer does things no other ATV can do and, for the first time, we have seen the benefits of using four wheels on a ATV. Four-wheelers will definitely make their mark in the ATV world."
Compared to the quads of today, the LT250 was pretty low tech. But the basic design wasn't all that different from what we have now. It sure seemed different back in 1985, though!
Of course, the extra wheel was the most surprising feature, yet the claimed weight of the QuadRacer was still about the same as the ATC250R. Initiating a turn didn't require as much setup and radical body positioning as on a three-wheeler. Just turning the handlebars resulted in a precise turn.
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Off cambers and riding along the side of hills were much easier. The quad was less tiring because your weren't always fighting to get the rear end to come around or to keep the machine pointed in the right direction out of a turn. Because of the hydraulic disc brakes and an extra wheel up front, where most of the stopping power is found, ATVers were for the first time experiencing really strong braking.
However, there were some drawbacks to the extra wheel: The front end felt much heavier than riders were used to and it took more strength to pull up the front end for wheelies. The three-wheeler guys knew how to move around more on an ATV, but they sure weren't used to all that extra weight up front!
With the huge sport quads we have today, like the KFX700 V-Force (it weighs 223 pounds more than the LT250!) it's interesting that people thought the QuadRacer was big. But that's how the magazines described it. Riders did like the way the LT stayed more level in jumps, probably due to the extra weight in front.
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Like today, engines for quads were often taken from motorcycles and the QuadRacer's manual-clutch, five-speed, liquid-cooled, reed-valve two-stroke was based on the powerplant found in Suzuki's RM250 motocross two-wheeler. The...
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