Part 1 of 2 – Trail Day

With all the big bore ATVs getting the press, we thought it would be a good idea to take a look at a mid-size sport four wheel drive machine. Our choice was a Yamaha 450 Wolverine 4 wheel drive quad. Yamaha has always been known for making excellent quality products that are very durable.

    We’ve always liked the Suzuki LTZ 400 sport ATV. When originally released to an eager sport quad crowd in '02 (as an ’03 model), it offered features, handling and performance that made it an instant hit, and it rapidly overshadowed its only rival at the time, the Honda TRX 400EX. The new Suzuki sport quad came with a state-of-the-art, water-cooled, four-stroke motor, a high-strength steel frame, race-inspired styling and an aggressive stance and riding style.

Perhaps in sunny southern California, near the stunning Lake Arrowhead Resort which lies nestled in the San Bernardino mountains, there should be signs posted saying “Watch for Grizzlies”, since that area was noticeably overrun recently with Yamaha’s newest utility ATV in their now complete lineup of impressive vehicles, as editors from around the country (and continent!) were invited to spend a day with Yamaha in order to get well acquainted with their newest addition to the utility ATV market.  What better machine to fill the space between the popular Grizzly 450 and the ever-p

While most overseas ATV manufacturers are happy  producing motors and parts for their well-known American counterparts, there's one company that has decided to go after its own piece of the American ATV pie, as it were. Adly Moto, the US division of Her Chee Industrial (an OEM supplier for companies such as Arctic Cat and Bombardier), has entered the American market this year, bringing with it an all-new ATV targeting the entry-level/mid-size sport quad market.

Yamaha riders can rejoice; the long wait is over.  For years Yamaha riders have hung on every rumor from supposed test riders, and from information gleaned from internet web sites, but until today there was only the hope and rumor of a new YFZ performance ATV equipped with fuel injection and an all new aluminum chassis.  What finally arrived was much more. 

Yamaha grabbed the holeshot on every other major ATV manufacturer when they first released the YFZ 450 several years ago, and since then it has won countless races and numerous championships at every level, and it still

I vividly remember when I laid eyes on my very first YFZ 450. It was late 2003, when Yamaha’s brand-new sport ATV model finally hit the showroom floor. It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut so I wouldn’t drool on the sleek, sexy, Yamaha-blue fenders that arched menacingly over tires that were obviously meant for some serious competition. Up until then the most aggressive four-stroke sport machines available were Honda’s 400EX, with its air-cooled engine and balloon-ish tires, and Yamaha’s Raptor 660, a somewhat tall and bullheaded torque monster.

Polaris has unapologetically done things in its own way since the first days of its ATV program. When everybody else’s motor required riders to shift with their foot, Polaris introduced a CVT transmission directly descended from its snowmobile lineup. While skeptics chuckled at the floorboards and bulky CVT case, factory engineers on the opposite side of the planet were quick to grasp the user-friendly advantages, and the potential for watershed change in utility ATVs. The new name in the ATV game was an outlaw.

On a recent visit to Washington, DC’s, Smithsonian Air and Space Institute, my belief in Can-Am’s commitment to engineering and high-tech development was forever cemented in place. Just inside the entrance to this phenomenal museum you will find the welcome desk, which is sponsored by none other than Bombardier, Can-Am’s parent company. Bombardier has been influential in the air and space industries for years and has passed on that heritage, passion and knowledge to its Can-Am subsidiary.

Suzuki introduced the QuadSport Z400 in 2002 as a sport ATV designed to deliver the best high-performance ride available. Its liquid-cooled DOHC engine – at the time the first in its class – gave sport enthusiasts more than they thought possible from a stock ATV. And the Z’s cutting-edge style boasted of its Suzuki heritage.

Every year around the end of February occurs an event that has ignited passionate battles in every quad and sand-sports magazine editor’s office, the kind of passions that have resulted in feuds, vendettas, revolutions, wars and other cataclysmic events in human history.

In its first year of ATV production, KTM has already risen to the top of the field and the 525XC was the first Open-class machine to take the checkered flag in our books. The KTM 525XC is a purpose-built ATV for trail riding and racing and not intended for a laid-back jaunt around the farm. It comes stock with things that many people would consider “extras”, such as tether kill switch, Ohlins fully-adjustable shocks, quality tires, free-flowing exhaust, a hydraulic clutch and more.

We’re not just a bunch of picture takers and keyboard peckers at ATV Illustrated, we’re the real deal--ATV nut jobs, just like you! We eat and breathe this stuff because it’s in our blood, and besides—we love racing! So when we received an invitation from PIAA and the World Off Road Championship Series to come race their first annual 8-Hour Endurance race, we were all over it!

If you’ve ever wondered what you’d get if you combined the lightest ATV in its class, the most powerful, the most innovative and one of the most intellectually advanced, wonder no more—what you’d get is the DS450 from Can-Am. All of those attributes, along with being the best-handling 450 on the market, helped make the DS450 ATV Illustrated’s 450 Sport ATV of the Year!

(Originally published January 2008)
Yamaha team riders Bill Ballance and Traci Cecco have captured their GNCC (Grand National Cross-Country Series) class titles so many times that the factory actually hosts an annual trip to the season finale in Indiana, and even plans a yearly launch of a couple special edition ATVs, around the event.