Quads/ATV

[Jezzza]

Im thinking about purchasing a pair of quad bikes for missus and myself, but not sure what cc to go for or what would be suitable

Most of the riding style will be trails, bush riding and maybe beach/sand stuff
Weight on bikes will be 50-70kg
Looking for semi-auto (which I think means auto gears up, and a manual reverse gear), I could go manual though

I was thinking around 150cc to 250cc?
Im worried the 150cc is too slow in boggy sand (i hear on hard flat surfaces they can reach 70km/h?), and the 250cc would be too big and bulky for the missus to handle (she stands at around 5ft 2in)

Any ideas?

[mr_mike]

What your looking for pretty much falls into the catagory of chinese shitter and i wouldbt do much more than hack around a paddock close to home on one.
I know you can get some of the larger farm quads in auto and 4wd but they are big and heavy. They are made for farming and hunting not hacking about.
Yamaha Blasters are pretty popular entry level quads but not auto. Quads dont have much variety for a beginner you got the chinese shotters, low cc jap bikes then they jump up to the Banshee (350cc 2 stroke) and the 500cc+ big ones Raptor etc.

[S85FI]

Banshee.

Two stroke. Light. No reverse.

As you skill up.... learn wot.

[ZAK]

+1 for Banshee. Used to have a stroked 421cc one... 80hp @ 220kg (with rider) is loose

[sethor]

What is your budget?

[2jzlux]

Lol at recommending a banshee to a beginner or a female or someone who wants suspension.
As much as I hate Hondas your probably better off getting a trx400 or a Yamaha warrior/raptor350 if you are not that confident even a Suzuki z400 would be ok if you are just starting out.

[Joe]

I had a modified banshee as my first quad. Never skipped a beat and when I got more experience on it, it used to hose everything in sight.

[Ash]

Im thinking about purchasing a pair of quad bikes for missus and myself, but not sure what cc to go for or what would be suitable

Most of the riding style will be trails, bush riding and maybe beach/sand stuff
Weight on bikes will be 50-70kg
Looking for semi-auto (which I think means auto gears up, and a manual reverse gear), I could go manual though

I was thinking around 150cc to 250cc?
Im worried the 150cc is too slow in boggy sand (i hear on hard flat surfaces they can reach 70km/h?), and the 250cc would be too big and bulky for the missus to handle (she stands at around 5ft 2in)

Any ideas?

Not sure what your budget is but Polaris are great, i have a 4x4/4x2 400HO now, centrifugal clutch, switchable 4x4 or 2x4 but expect around $8000

The one i would suggest on a budget is a suzuki 250 ozark, its not as cheap as a chinese brand but very reliable, i had one as a work horse at my business and it got flogged by the staff but was still great when you had a few beers and wanted to go side ways, it was also great at carrying esky's and fishing gear when camping.

not sure what they are worth these days but i loved mine.

Bit of a write up here http://utvactionmag.com/features/suzuki-ozark-250

http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a513/xrturbopilot/4198_1080895384802_2668819_n_zpsxgpftjnz.jpg (http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/xrturbopilot/media/4198_1080895384802_2668819_n_zpsxgpftjnz.jpg.html)

[mr_mike]

If its for you and the missus have you considered a "side by side" ?
http://image.fourwheeler.com/f/9575351+w660+re0/0803or-09-z%2Byamaha-rhino-700-fi-automatic-4x4%2Bfront-view-rhino-beach.jpg

By the time you buy two decent quads that fill your criteria you wont be far of the purchase price of one of these.

[Scaf]

Teach her to ride two wheels

[Jezzza]

Looking at chinese quads atm to get her started.. if she likes it will progress
I use to ride 2 stroke mx bikes

Anyone had experience with a 150-200cc in sand without abut 70kg on it?

Not looking to blast around a track.. just putter around on sand and trails (scenic)

[1SPRINT]

It will be shit and will get bogged easily in soft sand.

[S85FI]

Go to 5 star Yamaha.
They used to let customers test ride unlicensed bikes on some dirt behind the shop.
The banshee is light and tame. Its also wild as fuck if you really open it up.

If you're putting around the power band just isn't there. Its actually a really easy power band to control and full power band is a fair bit of throttle.

Lots of people will say it's wild - yeh it is if you have the skill to use it.

Its like saying ya misses shouldn't drive a HSV/AMG/M5 because it too powerful and she should only drive a corolla.

If its underpowered /heavy and gets bogged all the time etc the time spent recovery the bike will quickly dampen the fun.
China spec bikes.... good luck to pulling it out of the dirt when its bogged.

[ENYXR]

I have a china spec 150cc quad that we keep on a family member's farm for putting around there and even just for putting around the beach I think it'd struggle.
A 200cc might be better but I'd be looking at something a bit bigger for sand duties.

[The_Senator]

I have a 125cc little run around quad - and on the beach it struggles.... badly.. Like, you need a run up to get anywhere!

Go with gears and more displacement - and larger wheels.

[volt_bite]

Get the more powerful one jezza, then 'll come if your missus doesn't enjoy it lol

[Scaf]

In my experience, spend the extra money up front and get a brand name bike. Chinese bikes are absolute rubbish and a brand name will always hold its value and be more reliable.
A Banshee may be a bit much, id be looking at a TRX250, no clutch and has reverse, more than enough power for the missus. Next step up would be a TRX400 or Raptor 350, still have reverse but are fully manual.

[mr_mike]

We had a china quad up Wedge a few years ago, was a 110cc semi auto. On the hard pack beach it was fine even with my 100kg+ on it but soon as you hit a boggy patch its struggled.
Didnt even attempt to ride up a dune with it.

Brother had another chinese 110 semi auto down parents property, was fun to bomb about the paddocks on and had enough go to drift around corners but it only took this abuse for a few months before the frame cracked in half
we welded a piece of 8mm plate on the bottom of it to brace it up but then kept on snapping bolts on the axle. It had a fucking hard life.

I have found a lot of the chinese quads need a fair bit of prep work on them before use. Most of the bolts are made of a cheese/plastic alloy with a shiny coating and need to be swapped out.

Only thing china quads are good for it putting PVC drain pipe over the back wheels and having mario cart style drift races with your mates when drunk.

[2jzlux]

The other thing with the banshee is getting off and pushing the thing backwards every time you/your Mrs gets into a tight spot.
And they have the worst suspension and handling of any quad ever.(except Chinese shit )
This isn't much of a problem if you are just going to Lancelin to ride in circles 10m from where the cars park with a can of warm export in one hand and a ciggy in the other with no helmet while you dinky your 8 kids.

[mr_mike]

lol not to stereotype or anything hahahaha

[Jezzza]

Alright, looks like I need to save some more coin
Will look into a TRX, sounds like a safer option rather than the banshee

Will def be getting something with gears!

[mr_mike]

Could you convince her to ride a 2 wheeler instead?

[fourseven]

Avoid anything Chinese. We have hundreds of customers bring Chinese crap through the shop and we're sick of fixing them. Banshee's are a lot of fun but if you're going to ride it regularly be prepared for repairs. Much cheaper to fix but they'll go bang over and over again before a 4 stroke, and we see at least one person a month mangle themselves because they aren't prepared for it. We purchased 6 brand new Polaris quads mid last year and we can't fault them, but there's nothing available locally between the Outlaw 90cc and Hawkeye 300cc, and the Hawkeye is an ag/farm setup.

Anything in the Honda TRX or Yamaha Raptor range would suit but you'll need decent coin. Steve at Midvale Yamaha or Kevin at Polaris Central will look after you, tell them West Moto Park sent you.

[rgvlee]

Granted the chinese stuff is shit, but what about for just a general farm run about?
I've got a need for something cheap and cheerful to get around the firebreaks for maintenance etc, surely they would be ok for light duties?

[fourseven]

Granted the chinese stuff is shit, but what about for just a general farm run about?
I've got a need for something cheap and cheerful to get around the firebreaks for maintenance etc, surely they would be ok for light duties?

If you stay on top of maintenance something Chinese would probably suit. The further you go, the longer the walk back :D

[rgvlee]

That's what I was thinking.
It's only a couple of hectares and it'd be useful for carrying gear/towing a cart when doing work around the block.
I know my way around bikes so maintenance, provided parts are available, isn't an issue.

[mr_mike]

For light duties (what you described) they will be fine. Keep an eye on bolts backing out from the vibrations, Start giving it a hard time and it will significantly shorten its life span

[Oversteer]

China shit works for a while....but saying its shit is an understatement ! Its not just shit its dangerous.

I bought a 110cc 4 stroke trail bike thing for the kids...was that cheap delivered its not funny(~$500) but its fucking dangerous compared to the way a xr80 or whatever jap bike rides, and it didn't take long before the suspension, brakes and gearbox were fucked and it was falling apart.

Young fella stacked it a couple of times ringing it out on soft/hard tracks etc and it wasn't completely because he was an inexperienced rider it was 80% the bike.....making it very difficult to learn to ride well.

Mate bought a 250cc quad for his daughter...again so cheap, didn't look too bad(for the money)....when i finally rode it out bush...fuck me, suspension = death.

China shit works...but if your at all concerned about safety stay away...

[mr_mike]

I guess the cheap china bikes are ok if you have a kid that wants to "try" riding. They arent going to know if suspension is crap etc and it allows you to give them the opportunity to have a try without dropping a heap of coin on a japper.

[Brett_J]

To bring this back up, looking probably at a farm spec quad, we used to have a 400cc or similar at Jandakot Airport, was a Suzuki I think, still went pretty fucking quick for a big heavy bike, I want something that me and the missus can play around on and do some offroading kind of stuff. I think AWD is an option on some?
Don't want to spend heaps, but not china shit, had china shit before, one day it's good, next day it'll never run again.

[mr_mike]

There was a Polaris posted on the bike buy/sell page recently. Front and rear IRS, 4wd, auto, on the fly hi/lo range switch oh yeah and had a 1ltr motor in it!!!!

Was only $14k lol