Yamaha owns the sport ATV segment. If you’re serious about your play time on the sand or the trails, you’ve got to check out any models of the Raptor lineup. If you’re looking for a championship, the awesome YFZ 450R can get you there.
The YFZ 450R is Yamaha’s high tech, race ready performance ATV that’s designed to kick dirt in the face of everything else. The YFZ 450R comes with excellent, racing quality shocks, a powerful, fuel injected motor, and a high tech, cast aluminum frame. Every part of the machine was designed with performance in mind.
Last year Yamaha introduced the Grizzly 450 with EPS and we were impressed. The new Grizzly fit in perfectly with its larger brothers which are still sales leaders, offering many of the same features in a slightly smaller, more affordable package.
We believe the Polaris Sportsman XP 550 is quite possibly the best ATV ever built. That’s not a claim we make lightly, but there is so much to love about the XP 550 we hardly know where to begin. The ergonomics are excellent, the engine is powerful and smooth, and it’s a dream to drive. What more is there?
Most riders use their ATVs for trail riding, for work, and even as a hunting buddy, but the best times are when out play riding with friends. For the simple joy of play riding on the trials or the dunes, we want an ATV that offers all-day comfort, a sporty look and nimble handling, and an excellent engine with enough power to conquer hills and provide plenty of thrills. Kawasaki’s KFX 450R fits the bill perfectly.
Nobody has ever come back after riding a CAN-AM complaining the motor was weak, and that’s not about to change. What they built for 2012 are all new machines from the ground up, and they started with the top models in the lineup.
The old saying is, “Good things come in small packages,” and one of the best examples of that in the off-road world is the new Kawasaki Brute Force 300. Though only slightly smaller than the other Brute Force models, it’s a huge overachiever.
Can-Am introduces an all-season, all-terrain goggle
Written By:
John Arens
We don’t often spend a lot of time comparing goggles. For the most part they all seem pretty similar and the most comparing we do is picking the set the foam has fallen off of the least since we last stuffed them in our gear bag. That all changed recently when a set of CAN-AM ADVANCED TEC E-CHROME goggles arrived. The E-Chrome goggles promised fit, comfort and features like we hadn’t seen before. They were right!
No company in the history of ATVs has had more influence than Honda. Other than a few six or eight wheeled amphibious vehicles that found a niche with sportsman and work crews for their ability to traverse wet or dry terrain, it was the cute, little trike, the 1970 model ATC 90 that grabbed immediate acceptance and launched a sport. Suddenly those that were intimidated by riding a motorcycle off-road had another option, and even British secret agent James Bond hopped on an ATC 90. Honda had started an industry!
Have you ever gotten back from a ride and looked at a map to see where you’d been? And how many times have you been to a sweet ride spot but couldn’t remember where it was when you got home? Ever wondered what kind of speed you were carrying across the dunes or through a tight section of trail? At ATV&SXS Illustrated, we’re guilty of all three. At least… we USED to be!
A tap of the brake brings my Yamaha ATV to a stop atop a huge, pristine dune. The funny thing about sand is it always seems clean. The same never-ending breeze that has blown for 20,000 years and sculpted these dunes in the first place quickly now works to erase my tracks one grain at a time as if I’ve spoiled its great, undulating canvas. To the left is the deep green of a Pacific Northwest rainforest and at the foot of nature’s giants an impossibly blue lake shimmers under an impossibly blue sky.