We've put about three MX races and nearly a dozen rides on theses guards and they are still at about 95 percent. The durable clear coating resists scratches and seems to be thick enough to handle at least a couple seasons of riding. The only negative comment we have is that they've peeled up a little on the edge toward the rear of the ATV. The frame rails do curve slightly toward the back, and the guards are just a little too stiff to match it. However, only about 1/8 inch has peeled up, and it doesn't seem to be progressing.
At $76.96, the scuff guards are a little pricey, but so is everything made of real carbon fiber. The value comes in the fact that you won't be replacing them after a couple of rides like a cheap set of vinyl guards. So if your LT-R is looking a little ragged in the frame rail area, these scuff guards are the best solution we've found yet. --Ray Gauger
| Hard Parts | 93 |
| Installation | 19/20 |
| Function | 48/50 |
| Durability | 9/10 |
| Design | 9/10 |
| Price | 8/10 |
Bottom Line: No two ways about it, the LT-R needs frame rail protection and this is one of the best-looking and -functioning sets you can buy.
Trail Tech Vapor Digital Gauge
The Vapor from Trail Tech is a fully functional digital gauge for your ATV or motorcycle. The Vapor features a bar-type tachometer, digital speedometer, temperature gauge as well as distance and time measurements. It also has yellow and red LED lights that can be programmed for shift lights and temperature warnings and a backlight for night or low-light riding.
Installing the Vapor was fairly straightforward. The tachometer requires a wire to be wrapped around the spark plug lead, similar to an hourmeter. To hook up the speedometer, you need to replace one of the brake rotor bolts with the included magnetic sensor and use the included mount to run a lead down to the wheel hub. Calibrating the speedo is easy, too; just measure your tire and put the info into the simple formula in the instructions, then punch the number into the unit. The temp gauge requires splicing a sensor into one of the coolant lines, but all the hardware is included so the process was relatively painless. It is recommended that you hook the Vapor up to the ATV's battery, but if your quad doesn't have one, the unit will run on its internal battery, the only caveat being a dimmer backlight.
One of the great features of the Vapor is its ease of use. If you can work a digital watch, you can work the Vapor computer. It only has two buttons on the face to worry about and is split into three selectable screens, each one with different information. Selecting the custom functions is easy, too; just hold down both buttons to get to the setup mode, then cycle through the settings with one button and change them with the other. All of the important settings are customizable: speed/temp measurement, shift indicator lights, temp indicator lights, clock format, etc. The only problem we ran into was that we had initially hooked up the ground wires incorrectly, but in our defense, the instructions lacked a little detail in that area. However, the guys at Trail Tech were easy to reach on the phone and helped get our wires uncrossed in no time.
The Vapor comes with a plastic bracket to mount it to your ATV's handlebar. We were a little skeptical at first, but once it was all tightened down, the plastic mount was actually very stable. But if you want something a little more rugged and slick looking, Trail Tech carries billet-aluminum dash mounts for most ATVs.